Ruth “Dixie” Jokinen Student Activist Award
In 1997, Freedom From Religion Foundation Board Member Richard Mole generously endowed an annual Student Activist Award, in the memory of Ruth “Dixie” Jokinen. The annual award is a $1,000 cash scholarship.
The awards recognize outstanding activism for freethought or the separation of church and state by high school and college students. Recipients have often included litigants or newsmakers who have championed the freedom of conscience or the separation between church and state.
The winner of the 2007 scholarship is Emma Martens, Colorado, whose student club made headlines because it is walking out of school every Thursday to protest “under God” in the intercom-recited Pledge of Allegiance.