BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University junior Paige Maynard was recently awarded a scholarship to attend the One Voice trip to Washington D.C., sponsored by the Economic Development Council (EDC) of Bloomington-Normal.

A double major in sociology and economics, Maynard will travel with a group of local community leaders in March to meet with Illinois congressional representatives. While there, she will lobby for programs that will benefit the economic development of McLean County.

Maynard, a native of Granite City, Ill., was initially approached by Action Research Center (ARC) Coordinator Deborah Halperin to apply for the scholarship. As a student who is interested in local issues, Maynard submitted her application and was one of three students interviewed by five community leaders. With experience in local projects such as working with the Downtown Bloomington Farmers’ Market, and coursework focusing on public finance and social organization, Maynard demonstrated to the panel that she was a strong candidate and was granted the scholarship.

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Two Illinois Wesleyan students have received Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships to support study abroad programs. Cassandra-Lee Jordan and Bianca Spratt each received $4,000 to study abroad with the School of International Training (SIT).

Jordan, a sophomore anthropology major, is studying Chinese culture and ethnic minorities in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. She left for China on Jan. 28 to spend a few weeks in Nanjing and Xi’an with her sister, who currently lives there, before beginning her program at SIT, which will run from Feb. 21 to June 5. “I hope to do research in my independent study in China that I can continue in my anthropology and religion independent studies at Illinois Wesleyan,” said Jordan, “and on a personal level, I would like to be able to fluently communicate with my Chinese roommate, Li Li, (in Chinese) by the time I return to Illinois Wesleyan.”

The Gilman scholarship requires recipients to complete a follow up project on their study abroad experience within six months of returning to the United States. For her project, Jordan is keeping a blog of her experience. You can read her blog at blogs.iwu.edu/cjordan/. “The ultimate goal of this project is to promote international education,” said Jordan. She also has plans to arrange a dinner this fall when she returns to campus in order to share her experience at SIT with other students on campus.

Spratt, a junior sociology major, is currently studying multiculturalism and human rights through SIT in Cape Town, South Africa. “I hope to gain the South African Perspective on life, culture and the issues that affect the people there on a daily basis,” said Spratt. “I intend on learning as much as I can from the excursions, home stays and the people I am surrounded by.” Spratt says her goal is to one day travel throughout Africa and live with the people there.

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The White House Office of Correspondence serves the lofty purpose of keeping one of the most powerful people on the planet in touch with everyday Americans. It is a purpose with which Illinois Wesleyan University senior Jessica Kong became intimately acquainted.

Kong, a native of Lake Forest, Ill., spent last summer as an intern at the Office of Correspondence. “The Office is really a bridge between the President and the American people,” said Kong, who was one of nearly 100 interns serving at the White House.

According to the Office’s Web site, the White House receives more than 165,000 letters, e-mails and faxes each week. Members of the staff and interns for the Office of Correspondence go through each message received. Kong said she saw messages to President Obama that ran the gamut. “You would hear the most heartfelt and horrific stories of people losing their homes or jobs, and then you would hear these wonderful messages of thanks or congratulations,” she said. “The whole experience definitely opened my mind to see what is happening in the nation.”

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill.—Two Illinois Wesleyan University students, Scott Krabbe, a senior chemistry major from Kirkland, Ill., and Maggie Olson, a senior biology major from Glen Ellyn, Ill., have been awarded a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduate (NSF REU) Chemistry Leadership Group Travel Award.

Only 25 students in the nation were selected to receive this stipend, which will help with Krabbe’s and Olson’s travel expenses to attend the American Chemical Society’s national conference in San Francisco on March 22. Both students will present their summer research findings as part of the NSF REU programs.

Last summer Krabbe spent 10 weeks at Boston University and Olson spent 10 weeks in Bangkok, Thailand, doing research under the ThaiREU program.

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University students Lindsey Haines and Kenny Woodard are the recipients of the Weir Fellowship that honors students who make a deep commitment to volunteering in the community.

The $1,250 fellowships come through Illinois Wesleyan’s Action Research Center (ARC), which links Illinois Wesleyan students and research projects for not-for-profit organizations. Students chosen as Weir Fellows must have previously worked closely with community partners and proposed collaborative projects with them.

Haines, a senior economics and political science major from Crete, Ill. is working with the West Bloomington Revitalization Project (WBRP), a local not-for-profit organization seeking to assist Bloomington’s Westside neighborhood in a renewal effort. Haines’ work is focused on securing a not-for-profit federal tax status for the WBRP, as well as certifying the organization. With this status the WBRP will be able to use grant money to purchase and rehabilitate houses. Haines said, “Bloomington’s west side, one of the oldest parts of the city, is a great community of history. The WBRP wants to help community members preserve and maintain the housing stock.”

Haines plans to continue her interest in community involvement by pursuing a master’s degree in urban planning after graduating Illinois Wesleyan.

Woodard, a senior political science major from Chicago is working with Habitat for Humanity, to develop and implement a marketing strategy that would allow Habitat to improve their ties with members of the Westside churches. He is also assisting the Christ Temple Church with their neighborhood block party event. Woodard began his service work as a peer mentor with Project Rise at Heartland Community College, a program that gives low income, handicapped and first-generation college students a mentor to help them succeed in college.

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University student Ronald Fowle Grider of East Peoria, Ill., is the recipient of an American Chemical Society (ACS) Scholar Program award.

The program awards minority students who want to enter the field of chemistry or other chemistry-related fields, such as environmental science, toxicology and chemical technology.

A sophomore chemistry major, Grider has been researching the synthesis of macrocyclic compounds. According to Chemistry Department Chair Rebecca Roesner, Grider also participated in a National Science Foundation-sponsored the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program at Southern Illinois University last summer, studying aspects of mass spectroscopy.

Grider is violinist in the Illinois Wesleyan Civic Orchestra and a volunteer at the Advocate BroMenn Medical Center.

The last Illinois Wesleyan student to receive the ACS award was alumna Laura Pinelo of Orange Park, Fla., who was honored in 2006.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Emily Vock, a senior political science and history double major from Wheaton, Ill., has been named Illinois Wesleyan University’s recipient of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois Student Laureate Award. Each year, the academy honors seniors from each of Illinois’ higher learning institutions who have excelled in academics or extra-curricular programs.

The Lincoln Academy of Illinois honored the student laureates for their contributions to Illinois society with a ceremony held on Nov. 7 at the Old State Capitol in Springfield and a luncheon in the Governor’s Mansion, where they received a certificate and a medallion.

A committee chose Vock from a pool of Illinois Wesleyan seniors in late October. Said Vock, “I feel so honored to have been named the Lincoln Laureate. I am surrounded by incredible students who simultaneously excel in the classroom and work to improve our campus and community through extracurricular activities and involvement. To have even been considered for such an award among our amazing student body is a very humbling experience.”

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Iranian presidential election was a topic of international discussion and dispute this summer. The election garnered worldwide attention, especially after protestors took to the streets of Iran disputing the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Information about the election was limited for international observers. All foreign press was expelled from Iran during the election. While the election proceedings were closed to the rest of the world, Illinois Wesleyan University junior Sara Ghadiri was able to spend the summer in Tehran and witness first-hand the election fervor.

Ghadiri, whose father was born in Iran, claims dual-citizenship and was therefore able to vote in the presidential elections. As a political science major, Ghadiri was excited by the amount of political activism that occurred in Iran during the election. “People of all convictions, all social classes and all beliefs came to the polls. I was so amazed to see the mass turnout, what ended up being over 70 percent of the eligible voting population,” said Ghadiri.

Iranian citizens also became active in the campaign process. “Pre-election, I can tell you that the atmosphere was absolutely electric. There were people in the street every night handing out posters and flyers,” said Ghadiri, “So many people were involved in campaigning that it was impossible to walk down the street in Tehran without seeing someone handing out literature, a newspaper or a green piece of ribbon or cloth.” Green was the color of Mousavi’s campaign advertisements, while Ahmadinejad chose red.

Ghadiri collected many of these campaign materials and brought them back with her to the Illinois Wesleyan campus in order to analyze them. “My research is still in data collection phase now. I have collected, cataloged and translated everything I brought back,” said Ghadiri. Her ability to read and speak Farsi, the official language of Iran, has been helpful in her analysis of campaign materials. “I am now working on a thesis synthesizing my research. I have been working with both Professor Jim Simeone and Professor Kathleen Montgomery on the project, so it’s still evolving,” said Ghadiri.

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