Scholarship Recipient Dedicated to Global Goal

Of the 105,000 children residing in Ukraine orphanages, only one out of 10 becomes a functional member of society, and Abigail Mills is dedicated to changing this statistic. On October 6 at the University Club of Orlando, she explained her sense of purpose to the members of the organization responsible for her scholarship. “I have a strong aspiration to help people see the value within themselves,” she said. “Setting limitations on people groups based on nationality, social status, gender, religion, and education robs a society of its potential.”

An English major with a writing minor at the Holt School, Mills chose her college carefully. “I wanted college to be the huge stepping stone I needed in order to be a valuable player in the global community in which we live,” she said. “I fell in love with Rollins’ mission statement, which says, ‘Rollins College educates students for global citizenship and responsible leadership.’”

In her final year at Rollins, Mills has already begun her mission “to help those whom society rejects” by working with the homeless in Mexico and orphans in Sri Lanka and Ukraine through nonprofit organization initiatives. The orphans of Ukraine, most of whom “are lost to drugs, crime, sex trafficking, and suicide,” especially touched her. “In an effort to show them that we were not superior to them and to better understand their situation, we lived as they did, sleeping in an empty classroom at the orphanage, eating the same gruel and bread they ate, and helping them with their chores: pulling weeds, gathering firewood, and sweeping floors,” she said.

Using her education to accomplish her goals, Mills intends to teach English in Ukraine and learn about the social structure before focusing on her ultimate goal. “I plan to eventually publish stories and poems specifically targeting those who are helpless, hoping the ideas within them will empower individuals while encouraging healthy community,” she said. Mills closed her speech with the statement she hopes will be said of herself one day: “She was a woman dedicated to the simple, joyful, and rare belief that we are all responsible for each other.”