As a gifted scholar, generous volunteer, and talented leader, this student has used her considerable talents to help make positive changes not only at Grinnell, but within the wider community as well. She has earned top grades as a religious studies major, and she earned a prestigious Truman Scholarship to help her pursue graduate school after Grinnell. Her peers note that she is "deeply passionate about social justice," and believe that her volunteer achievements are even more impressive than her academic ones. She serves co-coordinator of the alternative break program, which sends more than 100 students each year on volunteer trips in locations across the United States. As a leader of the Newton Prison Writing Workshop, she helped turn the fledgling program into a thriving organization with more than 20 members. In addition to these long-term commitments, she has taken on additional projects, including organizing and presiding over a symposium on capital punishment. To students and professors alike, she ha s served as an inspiration and an example of Grinnell's call to service. For her commitment to academic excellence and her work to improve the lives of some of the most often neglected populations in society, Grinnell is proud to honor Katherine E. Jares '07.