Leadership Award
December 19, 2005 (Hollywood, CA)
The Church of Scientology’s Celebrity Center in Hollywood Ca., site of many a fabled happening hosted by Tom Cruise and John Travolta, was the backdrop to the Second Annual Shuttleworth Society International Leadership Award presentation hosted by the Founder of the Shuttleworth Academies, Mary Shuttleworth. One of the three winners of the 2005 Leadership Award was Traveling Space Museum’s Founder, Ivor Dawson.
The Award: “For inspiring youth and giving them the values, skills, opportunities and confidence to become leaders.” was given in recognition of Dawson’s work done with two Shuttleworth alumni: Justin Houchin and Claire Kevitt. In 2002, 16-year-old Justin Houchin was chosen to represent Traveling Space Museum as a teen candidate to become the youngest to fly in space. (See “First Teenager in Space” articles) Justin has spoken to students across the country and has been a guest at several NASA and Lockheed-Martin functions.
In 2005 15-year-old Claire Kevitt, Youth President of Youth for Human Rights International, was ‘adopted’ by Dawson’s Canoga Park -Winnetka Rotary Club in Canoga Park Ca and Rotary District 5260. The Canoga Park –Winnetka Rotary Club spearheaded fund raising drives that raised thousands to help send Claire to India to attend a Youth for Human Rights International conference. Claire is currently working to raise awareness about human slavery that still exists around the world. Read Claire’s blog for Human Rights: http://yhri.blogspot.com/2006/03/why-im-blogging-for-human-rights-my.html
Both Justin and Claire were teammates on the FIRST Robotics Team –The ThunderBots –winners of the FIRST’s 2004 LA Regional Robotics competition
If the name: Shuttleworth sounds familiar to you space enthusiasts it should; Mary Shuttleworth is the aunt of billionaire space tourist Mark Shuttleworth who, upon landing purchased his Soyuz spacecraft as a souvenir!
Among the 6 winners of the Shuttleworth Leadership Society International Award includes, FIRST Robotics and the Shakespeare Festival- LA.
