Overcoming the Odds (OTO) Awards
The Awards
While Student Advocacy can ensure that a student has the educational opportunities to which she or he is entitled, that student must have the spunk and perseverance to take advantage of them. For many students, that is an enormous feat. In 1996, Student Advocacy initiated the Overcoming the Odds (OTO) Awards to honor four students who are making significant strides forward in school despite the odds which they have had to overcome.
Rather than honor one particular group, these awards are intentionally broad in scope so that young people who face any kind of significant obstacle to school success can be recognized. As a result, our past award winners have included a young woman with Cerebral Palsy, a young man paralyzed by a random shooting, a young woman who is mentally retarded and living in foster care, a young woman with Traumatic Brain Injury, a child who lived through a serious domestic violence situation, a young woman seriously injured in a fire, a young man who is a dwarf, a young man with severe learning disabilities, a young woman who had serious family problems and ended up in the foster care system, a young man who is autistic, and a young man who abused drugs. As you can see, some kids helped to create the very obstacle which they had to overcome; others faced an obstacle through no fault of their own.
Every school district in Westchester and Putnam counties is invited to submit nominations for students. In addition, Student Advocacy nominates candidates. Each year, a new Selection Committee is created to select the winners. The Selection Committee consists of two members of Student Advocacy's Board of Directors and at least ten community members. The awards are presented at our annual dinner in the spring.
What Do the Awards Accomplish?
The OTO Awards program has achieved many of our original goals. Each year, through the awards program, we are able to:- Recognize four outstanding students who have overcome the odds to school success.
- Promote greater sensitivity within schools to the needs of students struggling to overcome the odds. Over 350 letters requesting nominations are sent to encourage schools to identify students who have overcome the odds. The mother of a 1997 winner said, "After my daughter received an OTO award, her school district began to really help other students with disabilities. It's almost as if they began to believe that kids with disabilities could overcome the odds."
- Encourage and support district efforts to recognize and support students who are trying to overcome the odds. The Peekskill City School District initiated its own Overcoming the Odds Awards modeled after ours. Students are nominated and recognized within the district; some of these nominations are then submitted to Student Advocacy's awards program.
- Bring greater awareness to the entire community—through the public presentation of the awards and media coverage–that investments to help youth overcome the odds can be successful.
Nomination Timeline
Nominate a Student
Download the nomination form here.