Eastern Student Laurel Cannon Receives Ella T. Grasso Award

2018 Apr 5

Among those honored at Eastern Connecticut State University's annual Ella T. Grasso Distinguished Service Awards ceremony on March 28 was student Laurel Cannon '18 of Ellington. She was honored for her work with the Cannon Project, an organization Cannon created to educate, empower and support women of color. Cannon double majors in Biology and Psychology.

Passionate about uplifting young women, Cannon plans to enter the field of clinical research and eventually pursue her Ph.D. The Cannon Project encourages academic excellence from young women of color as they transition into college, with the long-term goal of increasing representation in STEM fields and other non-inclusive professional spaces. Her organization promotes healthy, successful lifetstyles for women.

Other award recipients at the 2018 ceremony included English Professor Maureen McDonnell, director of Eastern's Women's and Gender Studies program; and community members Donna Mims and Regina Lester-Harriat, who are leaders of the Pretty Brown Girl Club #85 at Metacomet Elemtary School in Bloomfield. The ceremony's keynote speaker was Shelby Brown, managing director of Everyday Democracy, a national organization dedicated to building an equitable, participatory democracy at all levels.

The Ella T. Grasso Distinguished Service Awards, established in 2009, recognize people who demonstrate courage, perseverance and leadership by promoting justice and peace. Previous recipients include 2014 winner Betsy Wade, the first woman to be a copy editor at The New York Times; 2015 winner Cara Bergstrom-Lynch, Eastern professor of sociology; 2016 winner Leigh Duffy, director of the Windham No Freeze Hospitality Center; and 2017 winner Valerie Vance, Eastern sociology student and veteran of the United States Navy.