Center for Leadership supports student as she pursues her aspirations from a non-profit program to studying abroad.
Junior Yasmine Arrington, a strategic communications and history double major and African American studies minor, plans to use her leadership and ambition to turn her many aspirations into realities after graduation.
Some of her many goals include expanding her non-profit scholarship-mentoring program, ScholarCHIPS, into a national program, becoming a professional part-time plus size catalog model and TV talk show host, and ultimately becoming a professor and minister.
“These goals all touch on my passions in life,” she said. “I know if I dedicate myself, I can do it.”
Her experiences at Elon University, both in and out of the classroom, have equipped her with a skillset to help put these plans into action. One of the most influential and rewarding experiences Arrington has been being a part of is the Center for Leadership’s LEAD Program. She considers the decision to join one of the best she’s made at Elon.
“The Center for Leadership helped me recognize and understand my strengths as a leader and how I can use those strengths for the betterment of those in my life and the organizations I am a part of,” she said.
The Center for Leadership has played a role in defining Arrington’s success at Elon and she still has a full year left on campus to continue making her mark and leaving her legacy. She said that the LEAD workshops and retreats ignite real-life discussion about recognizing privilege, how you identify yourself and how those two things impact how you view the world and interact with others.
“These are real life discussions that you rarely get to have in the classroom setting,” she said. “It makes me a more aware, informed and well-rounded person and that’s what true leaders ought to be.”
With a $750 grant from the Center for Leadership, Arrington was given the opportunity to step outside her comfort zone and study abroad. Additionally, she has landed internships at both PBS as a public relations intern and Ogilvy & Mather as an account management intern. She has conducted her own research on the effects of mass incarceration through her Elon College Arts & Sciences fellowship and has drawn national attention to the issue through her non-profit, ScholarCHIPS, having received recognition from media such as The Washington Post, The Washington Times, and Forbes.
“Yasmine is a powerhouse,” said Steve Mencarini, director of the Center for Leadership. “I have really enjoyed seeing Yasmine grow as a leader over the past few years. She’s already made a big impact on her various communities and it will only grow!”
In addition to the LEAD Program, Arrington is also involved with the Elon University Gospel Choir, the 2015 Periclean Scholars, Elon College Arts & Science Fellows and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated.