SPRINGFIELD – Rose McCaffery, a sophomore at American International College (AIC) has been awarded a $1,000 scholarship named in memory of former state Rep. David Vigneault.

“When we were reviewing the application essays, when we read Rose’s, I ranked her. I sent Paul and email and said this is the one without a doubt because we could see the spirit of Dave Vigneault in the words that she wrote,” said City Councilor At-Large Jesse Lederman

Vigneault was a prominent figure when it came to social justice. In 1966 he was arrested for joining the freedom riders and driving down to Mississippi to witness the registration of Black voters. The sheriff department charged him with resisting arrest and disturbing the peace.

The scholarship is to honor Vigneault, he was a state representative from Springfield but also an activist who dedicated his entire life to activism and to public service.

“When he passed away two years ago, those of us who had the opportunity to know him and be mentored by him, which essentially includes three generations of elected officials in the city of Springfield, came together and the funds are the proceeds that were left from his estate which was modest. What we wanted to do was be able to inspire the next generation of activists and allow Dave’s work to live on through them,” said Lederman

McCaffery graduated from Sabis International Charter School last year and is majoring in communications and political science.

 “I am very honored. It’s a big honor because someone like Dave Vigneault really represents exactly what I hope to accomplish when I become a person of power of some sort. Fighting for social justice, which I think is extremely important right now, to be able to win that and honor someone who fought so hard for that is a really great honor,” said McCaffery.

McCaffery said her interest in politics started when her former teacher, Dean Berry, the history department head at Sabis got her to join model congress.

“I was really unsure of what I wanted to do and he said okay why don’t you come on this trip and we competed at American International College as model congress and I became hooked. Now I am in love with politics,” said McCaffery.

When it comes to the social justice, she was too young to remember what was going on in Ferguson but now with everything going on in the world, it has swept her into saying, okay I really want to be able to help better this and make sure everyone has the same opportunities.

McCaffery’s goal is to go to law school and her dream job is becoming district attorney. She said she loves the idea of running a campaign and the idea of working in public service.

Within the last few years she has worked with the city’s youth, taught some CCD classes and worked with Girls on The Run at AIC.

“I would like to continue working with the cities youth because i feel the youth really is our future and the only way we can get better as a nation is to work with the youth,” said McCaffery.