PIPs for School Scholar: Maria B.

“My life goal is to always be truthful to myself,” says Maria Boyan-Azumally, a student at Southern New Hampshire University, aspiring private investigator, mother of two, and PIPs for School (P4S) Scholar, “Whether it’s in my personal life or…in my career…I just want to hold [on] to that part where I’m truthful and honest in everything I do.”

Maria’s personal integrity shines through in her participation in the P4S Scholars program. Through her positive impact actions, from refilling a reusable water bottle to helping a family member, Maria earned a $1,000 grant for school — the largest grant a Scholar can receive. Not only did she earn the full grant, but Maria is the first Scholar to do so within the first six months of the year-long program. The source of her motivation is as simple as it is sweet: “I really feel that [the actions promoted in P4S Scholars] help to make you a better person.”

It’s no surprise, then, that one of her favorite PIPs-worthy actions is performing an act of kindness. “Showing kindness doesn’t take much from you,” Maria explains and aptly follows up with, “It’s always nice to be kind.”

Earning for exhibiting good communication skills is key, as well. Maria appreciates how this “helps you to better communicate one-to-one with someone. Not just with someone, but the community, with the world out there. We all need good communication skills.”

Maria places great value on sustainable actions as well: “For example, recycling. That’s less waste going into the environment which could eventually cause damage…We don’t want to see that.” Recycling is an action that one can earn PIPs for by scanning a QR code, an easy yet meaningful — and according to Maria, “really cool” — way to encourage people to build them into habits.

Maria’s optimism is infectious, and she hopes to share it with others, recommending the P4S Scholars program because of the positive behavioral and financial impacts it has had on her. “It is really beneficial to me to complete my studies,” she says about the program and the scholarship it enabled her to achieve.

As she continues on her path towards an associate’s degree in criminal justice, Maria is sure to take with her the values she developed during her time as a P4S Scholar. Summing up the experience she explains, “All [PIPs actions] combined really do help to make you as an individual a better person. [PIPs] gives you that inner peace that you put out there that anything you do; you do it to the best of your ability. [PIPs encourages] that change and that growth not just in how you see the community, but the world.”

Profile prepared by Mikayla Zeitlin
Communications & Marketing Manager, PIPs Rewards LLC
November 17, 2022