Tara Westover Awards



Educated tara westover awards

Finalist for the Autobiography Award from the National Book Critics Circle Award One of the New York Times’ 10 Best Books of 2018 Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Autobiography Alex Award from the American Library Association Audie Award for Autobiography/Memoir Audie Award for Best Female Narrator (because Julia is fab). Tara Westover, The New York Times best-selling author of “Educated,” will discuss her quest for knowledge that began at age 17 when she stepped foot in a classroom for the very first time. This virtual event will be moderated by Helen V. Griffith ’81, executive director of The Preuss School UC San Diego.

Growing up in a town of 234 people in rural Idaho, Tara Westover barely considered attending college, let alone envisioned that one day she would be headed to the University of Cambridge for postgraduate studies with a prestigious scholarship worth more than $37,000.

Westover, 21, and a Brigham Young University senior majoring in history, was recently named one of 45 U.S. college students to receive the highly competitive Gates Cambridge Scholarship. She is the third BYU student to receive the award since 2004.

Four of this year's recipients come from Harvard, two each from Yale and Princeton and one from Stanford.

'The Gates Scholarship is to Cambridge what the Rhodes is to Oxford: it immediately identifies Tara as a self-motivated learner, a disciplined and well-rounded person, and a stand-out student in her major,' said Madison Sowell, director of BYU's Honors Program, of which Westover is a part. Archos 97 xenon drivers download for windows 10, 8.1, 7, vista, xp.

The Gates Trust, established by a formative donation to Cambridge in 2000 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, seeks to support young individuals who excel intellectually, with strong leadership potential and a desire to serve society.

Having seen economic and social challenges in the agricultural region around Clifton, Idaho where she was raised, Westover hopes to pursue research that will identify the political and historical reasons that prevent individuals from becoming successful and economically independent.

Black wolf driver download for windows 10. 'The Gates are very much interested in helping people who want to do work for humanitarian or social improvement,' she said. 'I think what made me stand out to them was that I could tie my research into my life story.'

Westover's formidable academic achievements at BYU include a 3.9 GPA and serving in the following positions:

  • An officer in the Phi Alpha Theta History Honors Society
  • Editor of The Thetean, a student journal for historic writing
  • A member of BYU's Model European Union team, which recently competed in Seattle

Belied by her collegiate success, Westover did not always have plans to pursue higher education.
'It didn't seriously occur to me to go to school until my older brother went to BYU,' said the youngest of seven children. 'None of my other siblings went to college, but my brother came home from school and suggested that I go.'

Tyler Westover, now a BYU graduate, is pursuing a doctorate in mechanical engineering at Purdue University.

'Tara has worked very hard to achieve her goals, and I think BYU was a great place for that, because of the excellent, helpful faculty and the students she could work with,' he said.

When she first arrived at BYU, Westover found her coursework to be extremely challenging. Several of her professors took notice of her unique potential and sought to help her develop through mentorship. Download undrea p driver.

Paul Kerry, an associate professor in BYU's Department of History who is currently the Vaughan Visiting Fellow at Princeton University, spent many hours reviewing Westover's papers with her for his writing-intensive class. He helped her apply and ultimately be accepted to BYU's study abroad program to Cambridge in the summer of 2007.

'The Cambridge experience released Tara's potential,' Kerry said. 'She would often write much more than was required and would discuss her ideas regularly with classmates and faculty.'

A highlight of Westover's BYU experience was the professional relationships she formed with faculty.

'When I think of the professors I respect most at BYU, I think the ones that really stand out to me are the ones that are very careful about assessing the potential of students,' Westover said. 'When I came to BYU, I would have looked extremely unpromising.'

Westover will graduate in April with University Honors. At Cambridge, she will pursue a Masters of Philosophy in political thought and intellectual history, focusing on contradictions and reconciliations of John Stuart Mill's liberal philosophies and political writings.

Eventually she hopes to complete a doctorate and teach at a university, but before that, she wants to work for a non-profit organization or think tank, perhaps focusing on international relations. She and others credit her success to her drive for learning and determination.

'There is a wealth of opportunities at BYU, but you have to look for them and hope one works out,' she said. 'I've applied for lots of jobs at BYU that I didn't get. I have worked really hard on a lot of assignments that I didn't do well on, but I think if you keep doing it, people will help you. If you keep looking for those opportunities and keep applying yourself, you may just find one that works out.'

Writer: Chris Giovarelli

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Sep 16, 2020

Educated By Tara Westover Awards

Educated tara westover awards

A Geisel Library 50th Anniversary Signature Event

Tara Westover, The New York Times best-selling author of “Educated,” will discuss her quest for knowledge that began at age 17 when she stepped foot in a classroom for the very first time. This virtual event will be moderated by Helen V. Griffith ’81, executive director of The Preuss School UC San Diego.

Registration is now closed.

How Much Money Did Tara Westover Make

About Tara Westover

Born in Idaho to a father opposed to public education, Tara Westover never attended school. An older brother taught her to read, and after that her education was erratic and haphazard, with most of her days spent working in her father’s junkyard or stewing herbs for her mother. Westover was 17 years old the first time she set foot in a classroom. After that first encounter with education, she pursued learning for a decade, graduating magna cum laude from Brigham Young University in 2008 and subsequently winning a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. She received an MPhil from Trinity College, Cambridge in 2009 and in 2014 was awarded a PhD in history. Currently, she is a senior research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, working on projects related to media and political polarization.

Educated Tara Westover Awards

In 2018, Westover published her memoir, “Educated,” which explores her struggle to reconcile her desire for education and autonomy with her desire to be loyal to her family. “Educated” instantly became a critical and commercial success, debuting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and remaining on the list for more than two years. It was a finalist for numerous national awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The New York Times named “Educated” one of the 10 Best Books of 2018, saying in their review, “Westover has somehow managed not only to capture her unsurpassably exceptional upbringing, but to make her current situation seem not so exceptional at all, and resonant for many others.”

To date, “Educated” has sold more than 4 million copies and has been translated into 41 languages. President Barack Obama included “Educated” on his annual reading list, calling it “remarkable,” and Bill Gates listed it as one of his favorite books of the year, saying, “It’s even better than you’ve heard.” For her staggering impact, Time magazine named Westover one of the 100 most influential people of 2018.

Tara Westover Awards

About Helen Griffith

Helen V. Griffith ’81 is the inaugural executive director of The Preuss School UC San Diego. Most recently Griffith was the founding executive director and CEO of е3 Civic High, a public charter high school located in the San Diego Central Public Library, a role which she has held since 2012. Griffith has over 20 years of experience as an educator and principal, specializing in leadership development, school transformation and educational entrepreneurship.

Prior to joining e3 Civic High, Griffith served as dean of students at Crawford High School, vice principal at Lincoln High School and founding principal of Millennial Tech Middle School. In recognition of her transformational work, Griffith has received numerous professional honors, including Outstanding Woman Leader in the field of Education, 79th District, by the California State Assembly in 2018 and Educator of the Year from the California League of Middle Schools in 2010. In addition, she was also invited by Congresswoman Susan Davis to Washington, D.C., to participate in the National Summit on Teacher Diversity sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education in 2016.

Griffith earned her bachelor’s degree in communication from UC San Diego, and her master’s in educational technology and doctorate in educational leadership from San Diego State University.

All 50th anniversary signature events are complementary. Donations are welcome, and a gift of any amount grants membership to Library Associates, a group comprised of alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and dedicated community members who recognize that the Library is at the heart of UC San Diego’s academic mission. More information about the Geisel Library’s 50th anniversary celebration can be found at geisel50.ucsd.edu.

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