
Morgan Guess
After experiencing bullying in third grade, Morgan has spent a decade talking about mental health, while working with her regional mental health center to open a youth drop-in center. She recently secured approval from the Kentucky Special License Plate Commission for an official Be Kind Kentucky license plate. The initiative has the potential to donate more than $1.7 million over the next 10 years. In May of 2020, she brought her community together to create a kindness mural with members of the NAACP, police officers, business leaders, students, artists, and ministers who gathered in a tunnel of the Greenway Trail to paint a call to action – Be Kind Paducah. The effort resulted in a Youth4Change project with the head of the community’s NAACP: a six-point plan focused on providing opportunities to Paducah’s Black community. In the fall, Morgan will attend Duke University to study public policy.
NSHSS Mental Health Awareness Scholarship awards students for their positive efforts in spreading awareness and effecting change regarding mental health.