Claes Nobel presents NSHSS scholarship to Spelman College freshman Natasha Ward Claes Nobel was honored at Graumans Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles on November 11, 2007, at the 4th annual Artivist Film Festival & Artivist Awards ceremony. He was recognized for his commitment to global leadership in environmental ethics and youth outreach, and for establishing The National Society of High School Scholars based on his belief in the power of youth to change the world.

Dear NSHSS Family,

I continue to be heartened and encouraged by the dedication and achievement of our Society members as NSHSS moves into its sixth year! The years since I helped to found this group in 2002 have been busy and rewarding. During 2007, I was delighted to be able to travel to Australian again with a wonderful group of young people, NSHSS students who learned together, lived together, and kept me young each day with their enthusiasm and joy in our adventure together. I look forward to more globe-trotting with NSHSS this summer to Ireland and again to Australia. And I was overwhelmed at the gathering of so many of our members and their families at our end of year Holiday program in Atlanta at The Carter Center. College admissions officials from sixteen universities came to meet and advise our students. I was inspired by the worlds of UNCF President Dr. Michael Lomax, and Student Council Member Erick Paulino, who spoke of beating the odds to overcome a number of challenges to become not only a first generation college student in his family but a Gates Millennium Scholar and Horatio Alger Scholar as well! The President of the United States sent personal greetings, as did both of Georgia's Senators, congratulating the achievements of our members.

I am excited to report that we now have members from over 180 countries, and have become truly an international honor society. We want to reach out to young people all over the world to help them change this planet for us all. A number of students from countries abroad have joined our NSHSS Student Council, as well. You can read about NSHSS Student Council Member Raheal Boadi traveling alone from Ghana to study at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

Earlier in the year of 2007, we had wonderful programs for our members at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where Nobel Laureate Dr. Herbert Kroemer spoke and met our students. We have an article from a UCSB art student who is working to use art to improve society through the "Open Container" Project to design livable quarters from cardboard boxes.

This past October, we were also fortunate to meet Dr. Robert Curl, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and Dr. Ferid Murad, NSHSS Board Member, who won the Prize in Medicine, at member events at the University of Texas in the friendly city of Austin, Texas. These Laureates were eager to share their personal passion and academic success with our members at the event. And I was especially proud that the governors of both Oklahoma and Georgia proclaimed official NSHSS Scholars Days when we held events in those two states.

I am always eager to present scholarships to our deserving young scholars and enjoy following their intellectual progress through college. We awarded a record number of scholarships this academic year and are very pleased to offer new scholarship opportunities in 2008 from Abercrombie & Fitch, and academic competitions from IBM, as well as a number of great opportunities for summer enrichment through our educational partners.

Even with all of the challenges facing our planet and people, I am hopeful when I see and hear of the great determination and dedication of our youth to make the world better. I am pleased that we are able to highlight and hear of the accomplishments of our members in so many areas--service, scholarship, environmental research, literary accomplishments, math, and so much more.

I commend these and all of our members, who strive to make use of their talents and forge a better future for us all. I hope to meet many more of you throughout this year, and look forward to our next event hosted by Louisiana State University in March and I look forward to our annual Scholar's Day in Washington, D.C. on May 30. I also hope to see many of you this summer as we learn and travel in Ireland and Australia.

I leave you with the theme of our Holiday Program at The Carter Center: "Learn, Lead, Change the World!"

In Service to Earth and Humanity,
Claes Nobel