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June 2006
Jepson graduated its 12th class on May 14, 2006, and
not surprisingly, leadership studies students once again ranked
among the top students at the University in terms of their
accomplishments.
Consider the following: The Jepson class of 2006
comprised 35 majors and 24 minors for a total of 59 students,
representing 7 percent of the University’s graduating class of 787
students. Yet Jepson seniors accounted for 14 percent of students
admitted into Phi Beta Kappa (the nation’s most prestigious academic
honor society), 18 percent of students admitted into Mortar Board (the
national leadership, service and academic honor society), 32 percent
of students admitted into Omicron Delta Kappa (the national leadership
honor society) and 23 percent of students recognized by Who’s Who
Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.
But statistics don’t tell the whole story. A look at
the curricular, co-curricular and extracurricular accomplishments of
this class only serves to confirm the evidence gleaned from
statistical data.
The class excelled academically as a group and
boasted Jepson’s first-ever (and the University’s seventh) Truman
scholar, Jacquelyn Knupp. This past academic year, all four recipients
of the Class of 1964 Scholarship, awarded to one student in each of
the four undergraduate schools on the basis of character, leadership
and scholarship, were leadership studies majors: Braxton Bragg, ’06,
Robins School of Business; Jacquelyn Knupp, ’06, Westhampton College;
Ethan McWilliams, ’07, Richmond College; and Theodore Straub, ’06,
Jepson School of Leadership Studies.
This past year marked the first time Jepson students
presented their leadership studies senior honors theses at the Arts
and Sciences Symposium. Alyson Emrick and Ashley Pyle made poster
presentations on the topics of “The Effects of Single-Sex Student
Leadership Positions” and “The Impact of Gender-Linked Tasks on Female
and Male Leaders,” respectively. Jacquelyn Knupp gave a 10-minute oral
presentation titled “How Should Physicians Be Motivated to Fulfill
Social Obligations?”
An article titled
"Kant's
Assessment of Motivation in the Fulfillment of Social Obligations"
based on part of a chapter from Knupp's senior honors thesis appears
in the current issue of the Penn Bioethics Journal, a well-respected
publication of the University of Pennsylvania that features
undergraduate research in the field of bioethics.
Members of Jepson’s class of 2006 held some of the
top leadership positions in the University’s governing bodies,
including the following: Hunter Allen, student representative on the
Student Development Committee, Board of Trustees; Braxton Bragg,
president, Richmond College Student Government Association; Elizabeth
Friend, student representative on the Business Management Committee,
Board of Trustees, and student representative on the Richmond Council;
and Michelle Swartz, president, Jepson Student Government
Association.
Likewise, Jepson seniors held leadership positions in
a wide variety of clubs and campus organizations, including the
following: Ashley Bolding, co-chairwoman, the University’s Hurricane
Katrina Relief Fund; Saona Chapman, co-captain, women’s basketball
team; Meredith Clarke, president, Delta Gamma Sorority; Meredith
Clarke and Ryan Kefer, co-presidents, campus chapter of Habitat for
Humanity; Alyson Emrick, co-captain, women’s club rugby; Robin Hace,
captain, SpinnURs Dance Team; Ryan Kefer, president, Delta Delta Delta
Sorority; Jacquelyn Knupp, captain, University Dancers; Whitney
McComis, co-captain, Student Athlete Advisory Committee; Courtney
McRae, co-founder, Black Student Alliance; Ashleigh Smith, president,
Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority; Theodore Straub, campus campaign manager,
Teach for America; Michelle Swartz, co-captain, mock trial team.
The highly competitive Teach for America program
chose three leadership studies majors—Alyson Emrick, Whitney McComis,
Theodore Straub—and one leadership studies minor—Elleni
Ghebremicael—to serve in their two-year teaching program. In addition,
leadership studies minor Kevin Panicker will work for one-year for the
equally selective AmeriCorps.
In a final salute to their alma mater, two leadership
studies students spoke during the graduation ceremonies on May 14,
2006. Leadership studies major Jacquelyn Knupp gave the student
address at the Baccalaureate Service and leadership studies minor
Kevin Panicker gave the invocation at Commencement.
Members of the class of 2006 certainly knew how to
put the leadership in the name Jepson School of Leadership Studies. |