Hilaire Pickett ’08 Leadership Grant

The endowed scholarship, the Hilaire Pickett ’08 Leadership Grant, is awarded to students that participate in the Leadership Education and Development at Elon. Awards are granted to support students in their junior or senior years to pursue leadership internships or legacy efforts. The students must demonstrate a significant commitment to their organizations and academics and be active in contributions that have a positive impact on the Elon community.

Presented by Melanie Bullock, Director of the Center for Leadership

Transcript of Commendations

Melanie Bullock, Director of the Center for Leadership

This year’s award recipient will go to Caroline Penfield. Caroline Penfield is currently a second-year student studying Political Science & Policy and Leadership Studies. She is an Isabella Cannon Leadership Fellow and Resident Assistant in the East Neighborhood where she works with the Paideia Living Learning Community. She is also a member of L.E.A.F., Common Ground Fellowship and Model United Nations. Caroline serves as a Multifaith Intern in the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life. Through her internship, she serves as the co-director of the Ripple Conference, Elon’s annual undergraduate interfaith conference. As a recipient of the Hilaire Pickett Grant, Caroline will continue her work with the Ripple Conference with a goal of expanding the diversity in interfaith leadership experiences at Elon.

The grant will support leadership and diversity education training for students planning the Ripple Conference in efforts to create an experience for participants that is more inclusive and one that creates more intersectional spaces where student leaders are inspired to create positive change. The Ripple Conference is an annual, weekend-long, undergraduate interfaith conference for student leaders and educators going on its sixth year that attracts over 120 participants from 20 different colleges and universities.

Caroline’s work will be supported by the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life and the Center for Leadership. Members of our campus community shared how thrilled they are of Caroline’s current work for interfaith initiatives on campus and impressed by “her drive to emphasize intercultural work as crucial to good interfaith work. Her hard work ethic, passion for community building and social change, and various leadership experiences have molded her into an interfaith leader who her peers and supervisors admire.”