Service and leadership: How one student paired scholarship with Newman Fellowship
Elke Coenders came to Centre because she saw opportunities to lead.
As a Lincoln Scholar at the College, Coenders has already exhibited community-changing aspirations — a path she will continue to follow as a newly awarded Newman Civic Fellow.
The yearlong fellowship program recognizes students who stand out for their leadership potential and commitment to creating positive change in communities. Each fellow is nominated by their campus president or chancellor, who is invited to select one exemplary community-committed student from their campus each year.
“The Newman Fellowship is geared toward the desire to make a positive change in the world as a leader,Coenders说。. “I really like that I’m going to meet people who are similar to me but also come from different backgrounds with different interests.”
通过团契, Coenders will have learning and networking opportunities to help nurture her development as a civic leader with programming centered on personal, 专业和公民成长.
The cornerstone of the fellowship is the annual convening of Newman Civic Fellows, which offers intensive in-person skill-building and networking over three days. The fellowship also provides participants with pathways to apply for exclusive opportunities, 包括奖学金, mini-grants to help fund community projects and post-graduate opportunities.
在奖学金结束后, Coenders will have access to the Newman Fellowship alumni network, along with scholarship and career opportunities. She’ll also be able to present or publish work through 校园 Compact, a national coalition of colleges and universities dedicated to higher education civic and community engagement.
Coenders, 一个列克星敦, 肯塔基州本地, is majoring in business and economics, with a double minor in history and data science. It’s an interdisciplinary approach that was partly what drew her to Centre.
“Centre is a very enabling place for leadership,Coenders说。. “I was really able to come out of my shell here, and I’ve received the opportunity to take initiative. For example, I've been working with The Cento, Centre’s student newspaper, as the editor in chief. Centre has inspired me because there's so many opportunities for making positive change and because the faculty and students are just so encouraging.”
Along with helping to revive The Cento, Coenders works as an intern at the McDowell House Museum in Danville, researching the history of the museum and its namesake, groundbreaking physician Ephraim McDowell.
“Elke's work with the McDowell House is an excellent example of her ability to combine civic engagement in the community with her activities as a Lincoln Scholar on campus,罗伯特·沙克夫说, director of the Lincoln Scholars Program at Centre.
As she prepares for her senior year, Coenders said that her growing passion for creative writing led to her plan for law school after graduation.
“我喜欢创意写作. That’s how I got involved with the Cento, and I've loved news writing,Coenders说。. “Law is very intertwined with writing, and I first got interested in law in my study abroad course in Austria on 垄断与反垄断法.”
