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Mentor of the Year - Dawin Wright, Marilyn Gripper, and Tom Parkhill
Mentor of the Year Award: honors an individual who provides youth (25 and under) with the confidence and assets to be successful.
Dawin Wright, Marilyn Gripper, and Tom Parkhill mentor with TeamGM Cares as part of the GM Student Corps. They select Detroit student interns for the summer and task them with creating, planning, and executing their own community service projects in their neighborhoods, under their supervision. The team put the students through intense life skills sessions to equip them with problem solving abilities to navigate through high school and beyond. Many students in the neighborhood lack resources and face several serious challenges. Since 2013, the trio has worked with 40 Frank Cody High School students, helping them form clearly defined goals, increasing their personal and professional skill set and giving them a greater exposure to the opportunities beyond what they see every day in Detroit. Every student who has gone through the GM Student Corps program with Team Cody has gone on to graduate from high school. Said one mentee, “My greatest achievement so far in my life would be graduating high school and attending a four year university. Honestly, where I'm from it isn't very common to actually go away to college and try to make something of yourself. Most people wouldn't think graduating high school is a huge accomplishment but in my eyes it is and it’s just a starter kit to chase after my dreams. I feel like if I graduated once I can do it again. There's nothing too big that I can’t conquer.”