The AARP Ethel Percy Andrus Legacy Awards

Source: AARP.org | November 21, 2007

The well-being of tomorrow's adults starts with a solid foundation of educational opportunity for today's teens. Through two awards named for Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, the pioneering California high school principal and AARP founder, we'll buttress that foundation with more than $1 million in grants to American high schools.

The AARP Ethel Percy Andrus Legacy Award is a $100,000 gift for one public high school in each of our seven Celebration Cities. It recognizes schools that promote forward-thinking ideas and foster strong ties to the community and among generations. In June we announced the first award, which is now funding the renovation of a theatre and the establishment of a performing arts curriculum at Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, where Dr. Andrus started making history more than 90 years ago.

The AARP Ethel Percy Andrus Legacy Award for Innovation, a $10,000 grant, will reward a current innovative program or practice in a public high school that has enhanced student achievement or contributed to an improved environment for students, their school, or community. AARP will make one such award in each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In 1916 Dr. Andrus took the reins of East Lost Angeles High School, and became the first woman ever appointed a public high school principal in California. She soon changed the school's name to Abraham Lincoln High School as one of many ways to inspire its 2,500 ethnically diverse students. She raised academic standards and developed a variety of creative programs that involved students in service projects reaching deep into the community. She instituted school assemblies, dances, and other social opportunities that united students of varying cultures and backgrounds.

She later turned her efforts to securing group health insurance for retired educators by founding the National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA). By the time she founded AARP in 1958 to promote independence, dignity, and purpose for mid-life and older Americans, she had built a towering legacy as an educator. These awards carry forth the spirit of educational commitment and civic duty nurtured by Dr. Andrus.

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