San Domenico proudly announces the recipients of this year’s Julie Davis Butler Awards, acknowledged during an assembly held in the Tamara A. Valley Gym. The entire Upper School student body and faculty were in attendance to celebrate these accomplishments.
The Julie Davis Butler (JDB) Awards, granted to San Domenico juniors, provide financial assistance in the students’ service-learning project endeavors carried out during their senior year, known as the ROSE Program. These selected projects—including works of social justice, peace-building, and selfless love—are chosen in honor of Julie Davis Butler ’59, a tireless advocate for human justice throughout her lifetime.
Rooted in the Dominican values of education, service, community, and reflection, the ROSE (Real Opportunities for Service in Education) Program invites students to marry the processes of inquiry and purpose-driven action to give back to their communities in a meaningful way. This two-year process creates a reciprocal relationship between the community and the student. Students learn that true service is not just volunteering, but helping to bridge understanding and continuing to keep the “why,” not just the “what,” front of mind. The ROSE Program is an essential component of the San Domenico graduate’s commitment to finding purpose in their education and beyond.
Congratulations to the 2024 recipients of the Julie Davis Butler Awards:
SD Greenhouse Foundation: Students Break Ground
Lauren K. ’25, Angel O. ’25, Tina T. ’25, Tuan L. ’25, Aivn D. ’25, Max L. ’25
The goal of this group's project is to provide funding and support towards the cost of site preparation and pouring of the foundation for the SD Greenhouse Project, along with volunteering hours throughout the year to help with implementing sustainability goals at SD.
Led by Shelley Flint, Director of Sustainability, the San Domenico Greenhouse Project aims to establish an innovative learning lab, providing students with a unique opportunity to study and engage with the interconnected pillars of sustainability: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and socio-cultural sustainability. A school greenhouse represents a transformative space where learning transcends traditional classroom boundaries, and students can explore the wonders of botany, ecology, and sustainability in a practical and engaging manner.
Ban This Film
Kate E. ’25
Kate will script and create a documentary about the banning of LGBTQ+ media within the United States, and how that is negatively affecting today’s queer youth. Kate will be communicating with LGBTQ+ students around the country, and asking them the same four questions about the negative effect banned books have on them and their community. Their responses will be recorded and video files sent for compilation.
Funds were requested solely for the submission fees to film festivals that would help spread awareness of the issue of banned media and restrictions on school curriculum regarding the LGBTQ+ community. “I want to spread awareness of what we as the community need in the education system,” explains Kate, “and at the moment, the negative effect banned LGBTQ+ related media has on students is getting overlooked.”
A Labyrinth to support mental health, ecological education, and preservation
Kaia B-S. ’25
Kaia’s project is based around repurposing fragments of the current labyrinth that is currently located by the “ruins” near the front of the San Domenico campus, and to help preserve this symbolic space that is connected to San Domenico’s history as a Dominican School and to our integral value of reflection. Labyrinths date back 3000 years, and have remained a means for people to find a way to “quiet the mind, calm anxieties, recover balance in life, enhance creativity and encourage meditation, insight, self-reflection and stress reduction” (Binghamton University). The location of the current labyrinth at San Domenico is situated at the end of the newly constructed Equinox Trail, upon which an Awe Walk was created, encouraging students to reflect on their lives, relieving stress.
Donating and Distributing Excess Food at SD
Will R. ’25
Will is utilizing his past volunteer experience with ExtraFood. Their mission is to coordinate with food providers such as markets, restaurants, and schools, to pick up their excess food, and donate it to institutions like homeless shelters, recovery centers, and assisted living facilities.
Through strategic partnerships and networking, Will proposed to solve for the one remaining roadblock preventing San Domenico from providing literally tons of food to needy members of our community throughout the school year: aluminum trays.
As ExtraFood points out, the benefits of donating food go beyond helping feed less fortunate members of our community. This partnership will enable San Domenico to further reduce its carbon footprint by preventing the amount of methane entering our atmosphere.
Background on the JDB Award
Julie Davis Butler ’59 died in a plane crash in central Burma on October 11, 1987. From her high school years, where she served as class president for three years, until the time of her death, Julie was deeply involved in whatever she undertook. Her husband, Bill, was a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam for more than five years. Julie not only cared for their two children during his absence, she also worked tirelessly to secure humane treatment for and eventual release of American POWs. Julie received the San Domenico Distinguished Alumna Award in 1974.
Funding for the JDB Award has grown from the original endowed fund created by Julie Davis Butler’s family, friends, and foundations. Interest from the endowment enables students to experience learning and service in works of social justice, peace-building, and selfless love – qualities that Julie exemplified.
In the spring of 1988, a committee of graduates from the class of 1959, along with school administration, selected a qualified junior student, Caroline Childs ’89, to be the first recipient of the Julie Davis Butler Award. Caroline was required to present her project and her reflection about the experience to the student body in the fall of 1988. Since then, more than 100 students have received the Julie Davis Butler Award.
Historical News Piece on JDB: Julie Davis Butler KPIX Video
Who can apply:
Junior students may fill out the application for this award with the commitment to continue involvement in social concern, peace, and justice issues. Each applicant must be in good standing academically and uphold the School values as described in the San Domenico Honor Code. All recipients are required to make a presentation to the student body and alumni, describing the project and sharing a personal reflection about the meaning and impact of the experience.