BAY VIEW ACADEMY ANNOUNCES the OUTSTANDING ALUMNAE OF 2014

East Providence, RI –  Bay View Academy is proud to announce the selection of their Outstanding Alumnae for 2014: Navy Lieutenant Katherine Florence Worstell  ’98 has been named Bay View’s Outstanding Alumna and Bethany Ellis ’09 has been named Bay View’s Outstanding Young Alumna. The Outstanding Young Alumna is a woman who graduated from the Academy within the past ten years and the Outstanding Alumna is a woman who graduated from the Academy eleven or more years ago.

The award winners were announced and honored at the Alumnae Association Reception on March 20th at the Hope Club in Providence.

Bethany Ellis ‘09, Bay View’s Outstanding Young Alumna, grew up in East Greenwich. She was an exceptional student, served as president of the Bay View Chapter of the National Honor Society and graduated first in her class. She went on to major in International Political Economy at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a 3.9 GPA. While at Georgetown, Bethany chose to study a semester abroad at Al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. This choice was primarily driven by her desire to understand women’s issues in Middle Eastern cultures and to perfect her Modern Standard Arabic and French language skills.

Bethany was nominated for the Outstanding Young Alumna distinction by her father, Bill Ellis (East Greenwich, RI), for her volunteer work with a global non-profit, the International Justice Mission. IJM was founded in 1997 to fight against slavery, human trafficking, bonded service and other forms of oppression in countries where rule-of-law does not exist, or is ineffective. Bethany spent one summer as an intern for the IJM Washington DC headquarters and is now a full-time volunteer living in South Asia.

Bethany’s current role at IJM is with the Structural Transformation Team, working with local government and law enforcement authorities to strengthen community factors that deter potential abuse and oppression. According to Bill, she raised full support for and participated in a rescue mission, freeing several bonded laborers from a sugar cane farm. Many of these laborers were born into this form of slavery and had never experienced freedom. After such a rescue, Bethany’s team works tirelessly to prosecute the oppressors and provide survivor aftercare, all while working the structural transformation in parallel.

Bill closed his nomination with this touching sentiment: “I know as parents our view toward Bethany may be somewhat biased. But even in the process of filling out this nomination, objectively cataloging her young life, we can't help but be incredibly proud of, in awe of, and frankly inspired by this courageous young woman, living a life that reflects and reveals Jesus in all that she does.”

Bay View Academy’s Outstanding Alumna of the Year and North Kingstown resident, Navy Lieutenant Katherine Florence Worstell ‘98, was nominated by her aunt, Claire Dolan (also of North Kingstown), whose two daughters presently attend Bay View. According to Claire, “Katie demonstrates the ultimate service to others through her selfless service to her country.”

Katie graduated from Bay View in 1998 and went on to play basketball at Bucknell University. She obtained her law degree concurrently with an MBA at the University of Dayton School of Law. In 2005, she was selected for the United States Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps and was commissioned into the Navy upon passing the bar. Katie had a great deal of operational experience and continually volunteered and accepted the most difficult assignments, as made evident by her tours in Iraq and Bahrain. During her tour in Iraq, Katie was responsible for presenting US evidence against Al Qaeda detainees for trials in the Iraqi courts. She extended for an additional six months and was embedded with the 10th Mountain Division working on detainee operations, operations law and rule of law for Multi-National Division Center.”

Katie has been the recipient of many awards and distinctions, including the Joint Commendation Medal, Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal (two awards), the Joint Meritorious Unit Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Overseas Service Ribbon and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. In 2012, Katie was one of only five women (one from each branch of the armed forces) to be honored by the USO with a prestigious Woman of the Year Award for her dedication, achievement and exceptional service to the country. In the program for the USO awards ceremony, Katie is described as leading the way for women on foreign warships:

Lieutenant Worstell was selected to deploy on a Republic of Korea ship with a military that does not yet have women officers at sea. She worked hard to show a foreign military that women are valuable members of the leadership team who can excel in a forward deployed environment. The Korean Admiral took her on visits to other foreign ships to show those nations that a female officer can seamlessly integrate into a deployed wardroom.

Currently, Katie is an Operations Law instructor at the Naval Justice School in Newport. Captain Stacy Pedrozo, commanding officer of the Naval Justice School, is quoted in the U.S. Navy JAG Corps Official Blog, referencing Katie as a role model to women within the JAG Corps. She says, “Lt. Worstell has demonstrated exceptional leadership in helping the Basic Lawyer Course students make the adjustment to become naval officers and has taught them to not only be better JAGs, but to be strong female officers.”

Katie has been selected for promotion to Lieutenant Commander and will pin on September 1, 2014. As Bay View’s Outstanding Alumna of the Year, Katie continues to be a role model for women and an inspiration for all Bay View students