Category Archives: Students

Wesleyan Welcomes National Merit Scholars

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University is pleased to announce that eight of the incoming first-year students in the class of 2014 have been named National Merit Scholars. The students are recognized for their exceptional academic ability, potential for success in their college studies and for their accomplishments.

Initiated in 1955, about 200 universities and colleges are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Program. The independent, not-for-profit program recognizes approximately 8,200 high school finalists out of 1.3 million Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) entrants with an award between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study.

Recent Graduate Earns Prestigious Fellowship in Washington, D.C.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Recent Illinois Wesleyan University graduate Charlie Sell of Wauconda, Ill., has been admitted into the prestigious James H. Dunn Memorial Fellowship Program.

The Fellowship will take Sell to Washington D.C. where he will act as a liaison between the federal government and the governor’s office for the state of Illinois. Several Dunn Fellows are chosen each year to work at offices in Springfield and Chicago, but only one fellow is slated to work in the three-person Washington, D.C. office. This is the second year in a row that an Illinois Wesleyan graduate has secured the Washington, D.C. slot. Illinois Wesleyan 2009 alumna Christine Gibbs was honored with the fellowship last year.

Sell, a 2010 graduate with a degree in political science, will be a full-time employee of the Illinois state government for the next year. “The office serves as a point of contact between state-level government and the federal government,” said Sell. “My job will be to help communicate with the governor’s office and see they get the information they need to help the state.” Sell said the office keeps close track of information on topics such as jobs, health care and the stimulus package.

According to Illinois Wesleyan University Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science James Simeone, the D.C. fellowship is bestowed upon top students from the state. “This is a very competitive and very coveted prize for students of political science,” he said.

Summer Enrichment Program Opens Doors to Success

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – For most college students, summer is an opportunity to relax, forget about school and spend time with friends and family. Barbeques, pool parties and excursions to the beach dot the schedules of formerly stressed-out students. However, this summer nine Illinois Wesleyan University students have opted for a slightly different course, participating in the Summer Enrichment Program (SEP).

The rigorous 10-week program, open to all IWU minority students, focuses on three major areas; professional, academic and personal growth of the participants. As a part of the program, the students will receive formal professional training, learn from diversity workshops, have an internship and participate in volunteer activities, including a final social service project.

“Our aim this summer is to make the students into cultural mavens,” said Roshaunda Ross, director of the SEP and multicultural affairs, who chose the 2010 theme of ‘mavens in the making.’ A maven, as defined by author Malcolm Gladwell is “a trusted expert in a particular field who seeks to pass knowledge onto others.”

Students Take Poetry Off of the Page

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – A class at Illinois Wesleyan University recently pulled poetry off the page and placed it into the community.

One of the May Term sections of Introductory to Creative Writing challenged students to not only write poetry and fiction, but to come up with ways of sharing it in the community.

“In the class, we talk a lot about why creative writing is important, and why it is out there. I wanted the students to have the chance to see more than just their own responses to the work,” said Brandi Reissenweber, an adjunct faculty member who was the instructor of the four-week class. May Term is a time when students can take intensive classes within the compressed time period, as opposed to the usual 16-week semester.

The project, called Act of Art, required students to write several works individually, then come together in groups to decide what pieces should be presented to the public, and how their work should be disseminated, said Reissenweber.

Several ideas came to fruition – including plastering a car with poetry and fiction and parking it in various spots around town; and holding a lemonade stand on the Constitution Trail with poetry pasted to the cups. “We thought that a lemonade stand would be a good idea since it was a hot month of May,” said Elise Anderson, a sophomore from Wheaton, Ill. She and fellow student Nicole Taylor led a group of students who wrote poetry in chalk to draw people to the stand, and then gave out lemonade with their poetic creations attached to the cups. “Most people who approached us seemed very interested in our project. They liked to ask questions. Some people even saved the poems that were on the cups.”

Taylor, a sophomore from Lake Zurich, Illinois, remembered one man who came up to to the table after he had his lemonade. “He walked past us after throwing away his cup and held out the part of my poem that was taped on his cup and he said, ‘I am going to pin this on my wall. This is a really good thing you guys are doing,’” said Taylor, who is a biology major. “We all thought that it was really special how he was impacted by our work and appreciated what we were doing.”

Students, Alumni Named to Community’s “25 Under 25”

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Six Illinois Wesleyan University students and two alumni have been selected for 25 Under 25 in McLean County, as part of Global Youth Service Day.

Global Youth Service Day is an annual campaign that celebrates and mobilizes the millions of children and youth who improve their communities each day. This year’s celebration was held last week at Illinois State University, which is one of the local sponsors of the day along with Illinois Wesleyan. Support for the program also comes from Youth Service America and State Farm Companies Foundation.

The 25 Under 25 in McLean County program honors young people who not only demonstrate service to the community, but also possess an interest in further developing leadership skills. All honorees are residents of McLean County or are currently enrolled at a school in McLean County.

Seniors Honored for Service to Campus, Community

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Five Illinois Wesleyan University seniors were recognized for their leadership and service to the campus and community at the annual senior dinner.

Nominated by Illinois Wesleyan faculty and staff, the five students were honored for their distinguished leadership over the course of their time on campus.

The students were:

Erin Bradley, history and Hispanic Studies double major from Normal, Ill.;

Mark Kasperczyk, physics and English literature double major from Winthrop Harbor, Ill;

Scott Krabbe, chemistry major from Creston, Ill;

Garrett Rapp, English and religion double major from Harvard, Ill.;and

Samantha Rohl, nursing major from Kenyon, Minn.

History Major Wins Research Strategies Award

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. –- Samantha Geib, a sophomore history major from Des Plaines, Ill., is the second annual recipient of The Ames Library Artistic and Scholarly Research Strategies Award.

The $500 award, funded through donations to The Ames Library, recognizes students for their outstanding strategies of acquiring information in creating scholarly, artistic or creative projects. To be considered for the award, students must submit an application along with a 500-700 word essay, a digital copy of the project, a letter of support from the faculty member or instructor who assigned the project and signed consent to have the project electronically archived in the Digital Commons. Eligible projects are those completed within the current academic year, regardless of when preparation began.

Geib completed her research, titled “The Boston Molasses Disaster,” that detailed the aftermath of a horrific event that occurred in Boston in 1919.

Faust Awarded Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University senior Jennifer Faust has been awarded a 2009 Fellowship from The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. Faust plans to use the $5,000 Fellowship toward graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Faust, a chemistry major from St. Louis, is among 60 students nationwide to receive the academic honor. Phi Kappa Phi awards more than $800,000 in scholarships a year to applicants, who are selected on the basis of membership in the organization, academic recognition and awards, campus and community involvement, and quality and scope of chosen post-graduate programs.

Santos Wins Technos International Prize

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University senior Janelle Santos has been named the 2010 recipient of the Technos International Prize through the Tanaka Ikueikai Educational Trust in Japan.

The trust, founded by Japanese businessman and honorary Illinois Wesleyan trustee Kenji Tanaka, honors those who are committed to improving and promoting international relations around the world.

A double major in international studies and sociology, Santos traveled to Japan in June of 2008 as one of those chosen to attend Technos International Week, and presented her experiences during an Asian Colloquium back on the Illinois Wesleyan campus.

A Harwood Heights, Ill., native, Santos has completed internships with the Home Sweet Home homeless shelter in Bloomington, the Illinois Department of Human Services in Chicago, and the Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries, which allowed her the chance to work with refugee children from nations including Myanmar, Bhutan and Iraq. “The time I spent with the kids allowed me to discover the stories of actual children and families who were forced to escape from their native countries, and who now seek to make the most of life in America,” Santos said in her award application.

Junior to Receive Scholarship From Risk and Insurance Management Society

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan junior and risk management and economics major Dennis Zic will be awarded a $750 scholarship from the Mid-Illinois Chapter of Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc. (RIMS) on Monday, April 19.

Zic, who is a native of Wood Dale, Ill., was nominated by Assistant Professor of Business Administration Jeungbo Shim who sent the chapter Zic’s resume and personal essay describing his future goals in the field of risk management. Once reviewed by the officers and directors of the Mid-Illinois Chapter, Zic was chosen for the scholarship.

Recipients of the scholarship must be full time undergraduate students, but not seniors, majoring in risk management, insurance or a related field. Students must have a grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and a career objective in one of the aforementioned areas of study.

A not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the practice of risk management, RIMS has 68 chapters in the United States, one of which is the Mid-Illinois Chapter for members residing in Central Illinois.

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