Isis Carter
Lois and Irving Blum Social Justice Activism Scholarship Bestows First Award to Western Graduate, Isis Carter, Class of 2020
Western High School Foundation, established to preserve and strengthen the shining legacy and excellence of the nation’s oldest all-girls public high school, today announced the launch of the Lois and Irving Blum Social Justice Activism Scholarship program at Western High School and its first Western recipient, Isis Carter (WHS 2020).
The scholarship program is made possible by Carolyn Patty Blum (WHS 1967), Clinical Professor of Law, Emerita at Berkeley Law, University of California, who founded and directed the International Human Rights Law Clinic, and her family. The $5,000 scholarship will be awarded annually to the Western senior class applicant demonstrating social justice activism in the city or state.
“When I learned about the new Foundation and its mission to preserve and strengthen Western’s legacy, my family was thrilled to be a part of that effort,” said Prof. Blum. “This new Foundation dovetailed perfectly with my family’s plan to create social justice activism scholarships at the Baltimore high schools each family member attended - to honor our parents’ values and to recognize the schools where we had grown intellectually and developed lifelong friendships. I asked our close family friend, Margaret ‘Peg’ Cohen (WHS 1966), to join the selection committee for Western.”
Carter, Western’s first Blum Scholar, was selected for her advocacy in creating a more just and equitable Baltimore as well as her plan for continued activism. She is a program coordinator for No Boundaries Youth Coalition, a youth member under the 21217 Youth Leadership Program for HeartSmiles, and a youth leader for Youth Rising Coalition. In these roles, she conducts events and workshops, mentors other youth leaders, recruits members and supporters, and facilitates weekly conversations that provide Baltimore youth access to job opportunities and potential partnerships. Carter will attend Goucher College this fall, majoring in psychology with plans to become a psychotherapist.
In mentoring, Carter focuses on young people developing and acting on personal goals. “These goals can function as reminders of ambition, permitting them to prevail when they feel defeated by unjust factors in their environment,” she says. Carter was so effective in her results-oriented activism, one supervisor referred to her as an entrepreneur, using the term to describe her mindset, rather than a business trait. Carter considers herself a social entrepreneur, and the Blum selection committee concurred.
“We are so thankful to Prof. Blum and her family for this donation and for the opportunities the scholarship will afford Western students moving forward to serve their community,” said Carolyn O’Keefe (WHS 1974), president of the Western High School Foundation. “I hope more alumnae will follow Prof. Blum’s example to donate time, talent and treasure to benefit the school via the Foundation.”
Western High School Foundation was formally incorporated in March 2020 to preserve and strengthen the shining legacy and excellence of Western High School. In honor of Western’s 175th Anniversary, the Foundation’s 175 Years of Light Committee is highlighting notable alumnae and planning events for 2021.
Carolyn Patty Blum is a Clinical Professor of Law, Emerita at Berkeley Law, University of California, where she founded and directed the International Human Rights Law Clinic. She graduated from Northeastern University Law School in 1976 and began practicing immigration and refugee law at a legal services agency. She started at UC Berkeley in 1980 and taught Immigration Law, Refugee Law and International Human Rights Law and developed a clinical program first in immigration and asylum law and later in International Human Rights Law.
Professor Blum retired from Berkeley in 2003 to move to New York. She recently returned to California and sits on the Advisory Board for the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center and will teach a human rights writing seminar at UC Berkeley next year.
Professor Blum also is on the faculty of the Oxford Masters in International Human Rights Law Program. She has worked with various academic, philanthropic and human rights organizations throughout her career. She was the Senior Legal Adviser to the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), a San Francisco-based NGO that seeks to bring human rights abusers to justice. Professor Blum worked on its docket of cases seeking justice and accountability for torture, massacres, and extra-judicial killings during the Salvadoran state terror of the 1980s, including successful cases against senior military commanders that also led to their removal from the U.S.
Professor Blum was born and raised in Baltimore and is a 1967 graduate of Western High School, when it was still located downtown on Howard Street, She recently co-authored a book based on her parents’ World War II correspondence entitled Somewhere: The Story of Irv, Lois, and a World at War. Fun fact: Professor Blum was born on St. Patrick’s Day, so everyone calls her Patty.
