Q February 19,1998
Changing Elon's fellows
programs: Is mission possible?
News
Board changes
process on youth
Trustee selection
Jason Dennis
Pendulum Reporter
Dr. Dan Wright, director of
the honors program, is on a mission
— he wants quality fellows at Elon
College.
“If they want to be here, they ’ 11
be active. If they want to be here,
they will do their best to finish. If
they have to be here, they can kind
of take the easy path. I want kids to
push themselves,” he said.
Wright is referring to students’
desire to be in Elon College's fel
lows programs.
Wright is definitely not alone
in his mission.
Susan Klopman, assistant
dean of admissions, says the school
is looking for students who display
interest and enthusiasm from the
get-go.
“We have been looking for a
way to really enhance the academic
tracks and separate the scholarship
awarding process from the aca
demic programs," she said.
"We want these fellows pro
grams to rise to the top and shine on
their own,” she added.
So, what is happening to im
prove these programs?
Whether it is competition for
fellows programs, more scholar
ship money, or lateral entry into
special programs at Elon, change is
evident in the fellows programs.
Incoming freshmen can now
compete to become Jefferson-Pilot
Business Fellows and Isabella Can
non Leadership Fellows whereas
previous competition consisted
only for the science and honors
programs.
The difference will be seen
next year when approximately 20-
25 freshmen are selected for each
program.
“We spent the summer revis
ing the programs, coming up with
new things, new twists to our own
existing programs,” Wright said.
“Each of the programs has cer
tain perks for students that may be
interested," he added.
To receive those perks, high
school seniors can participate in
Elon Fellows Day on Friday, March
13.
It used to be called Honors
Day, but now it is focusing more on
alt five of the fellows programs,
including honors, science,
Jefferson-Pilot business, Isabella
Cannon leadership, and NC teach
ing fellows.
“On Fellows Day, we’re try
ing to showcase good aspects of
each program. Hopefully, we’re
going to have 200-plus students on
campus,” Wright said.
Students who are thinking
about going to Elon will get a letter
from the director of a specific fel
lows program encouraging them to
apply.
It is then up to the student to
get into the program.
“Money is not the motivating
factor. The academic or fellows
program is the motivating factor,”
Klopman said. "You don't have to
be a scholarship winner to get in."
Elon Fellows Day is the final
competition for a place in one of
the four included programs .
The NC Teaching Fellows Pro
gram are decided at a different time.
“Incoming freshmen who are
nominated for the honors program
and are also interested in the lead
ership program, they can seek com
petition to be in the leadership pro
gram as well,” said Catherine Wil
liams, associate director of admis
sions.
Currently, the Jefferson-Pilot
business fellowship and Isabella
Cannon leadership fellows pro
grams are only available to upper
classmen.
However, the changes don’t
stop there.
Elon’s merit scholarship pro
gram will now be awarding more
money to incoming qualified fresh
men.
Roughly, the top one-fourth of
these new Elon students will re
ceive Presidential Scholarships
with monetary values of $2,000,
$2,500 or $3,000.
Qualification for these general
scholarships is based solely on aca
demic achievements while in high
school, which includes Scholastic
Aptitude Test (SAT), grade point
average (GPA), and demanding
curriculum in high school.
Awards will be distributed
upon confirmation of attending
Elon.
In addition, ten more scholar
ships will be awarded in both the
Honors and the Science Fellows
programs, while two will be
awarded in each of the Jefferson-
Pilot Business and Isabella Cannon
Leadership Fellows programs.
Currently, all four of these pro
grams are also looking closely at
their procedures for lateral entry.
"Although the monetary
awards are obviously not as great,
these students are very interested
and active in the honors program.
They’re interested in retreats, the
class size, studying abroad, etc.,"
said senior and honors fellow Me
lissa Pace.
Back to the point Wright wants
to emphasize — quality, not just
quantity is wanted and needed in
the honors program.
“I think the size of the honors
program will probably go down a
bit initially, but I think we’ll get a
stronger crowd. I say stronger,
meaning people dedicated to the
program,” he said.
“Instead of having 100, maybe
we’ll have 80, but those 80 are
going to be in the program and their
admission to the program isn’t tied
to scholarship money," he said.
Hie Elon College Board of
Trastees has changed the selec
tion of the youth Trustee.
The by-laws provide for the
election of one youth Trustee at
the annual March meeting.
The youth Trustee serves a
two-year term beginning June
Students graduating with the
class of 1998 are now eligible for
nomination a youth Trustee.
Theselectioncritena Include
campus leadership, honors and
awards and grade point average.
PHC • We would
like to congratulate all seven so
rorities on a successful rush!
IK • We would liketo
congratulate our new
members. We are very pleased with
the results of our first formal rush
atElon. Also, thank you to Heather
McAuliffe, our rush chair, and to
theday chairs. Congratulations to
all the other sororities on a suc
cessful rush.
• The sisters of
SEE would like to congratulate all
our 36 new members. Thank you
Nominations should be
sent to theyouth Trustee selec
tion committee at 2185 Cam
pus Box or sent via e-mail to
petersos@numen.elon.edu by
March 2, 1998..
The selection committee,
which is composed of students,
faculty and staff will select two
or thr^ finalists firom the list of
nominees and present those
names tothemembershipcom-
mittee of theBoard of Trustees
for consideration.
Leigh Sweeney and Brooke
McAlees for an awesome job aJ
rush chairs. Congratulations to al
other sororities on their new mem
ber classes.
AKA • We would like tcj
thank everyone for participating ir
this week's activities co-sponsorec
with Alpha Phi Alpha firatemit>
which commemorated Black His
tory Month. We would like to an
nounce a rush meeting on Sunday
Feb. 22 at 5 p.m. at the AKA house
Please bring a letter of interest, ar
official transcript in a sealed enve
lope.
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