2025 Mark M. Welter World Citizen Award recipient, Art of Scholarship Celebration 2025 attendee
Dr. Parker and I did the Speed Dating Painting [during the Art of Scholarship]; it was so fun. While she was painting, she said she wanted to try to be like Bob Ross, lol. So we let loose and did whatever came to mind. After we were done, Dr. Parker told me she did the painting for me. It was her masterpiece, which she signed and dated. The painting was of a starfish, the ocean, and trees. I was speechless, Dr. Parker has a starfish story she tells. (This story is from https://www.thestarfishchange.org/starfish-tale).
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“A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.
She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”
The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied,
“Well, I made a difference for that one!”
The old man looked at the girl inquisitively and thought about what she had done and said. Inspired, he joined the little girl in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined, and all the starfish were saved.”