2008 Woodie Awards
Support high achievers
Our view: The university should create an external foundation specifically for leadership development
The Editorial Staff
Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: Opinion
Congratulations to Lida Zlatic, Tsehaitu Retta and Jason Shelton for being chosen as finalists for the Truman Scholarship this year and Phillip Hannam for his successful selection as a Truman Scholar. Phil and his peers are outstanding students who are committed to lives of public service. We need more students like them.
The achievement gap among our best students and the best students of our peer institutions is astounding. Phil is the third Truman Scholar we've had since 1980. In that time, North Carolina has had 28. We don't mention this to belittle the accomplishments of our students: It only highlights that the ones who've persevered have accomplished much in spite of their circumstances.
It is relatively difficult for students here to begin exemplary careers in public service because their work is heavily reliant on philanthropy and government funding. College students rarely have the networks to secure support and guidance - they need help. North Carolina's Morehead-Cain program does just that. It provides its participants with a series of four summer enrichment activities that build upon one another and gives them access to an extensive network of 2,700 alumni.
If we expect our best students to compete with their counterparts at other schools, we need such a program. This idea has been attempted here before: Fourteen freshmen in the class of 2008 were selected for the Leaders for Tomorrow program, which aimed to prepare them for lives of scholarship, leadership and service, but the program ran out of funding after its first year and is no longer active.
We must try again. A blueprint for success could be found, oddly enough, in the rapid ascent of the business school: When university officials initially approached Smith to make a large donation to the school, he declined. A few years later, then-president Brit Kirwan tried again, and Smith gave him an interesting proposition: He would donate to the business school only after they crafted a plan outlining how they would recruit the faculty, students and donors to create a world-class institution.
The approach that made the university a hotbed for business entrepreneurs just might work to create a brooding ground for social entrepreneurs. While the Leaders for Tomorrow program was housed within the Office of Undergraduate Studies, other successful programs such as the one at North Carolina are housed within their own foundations, which have higher visibility and can more easily court potential donors. University administrators should create a foundation with a clear plan to support our best students in their pursuit of excellence. Call it the trickle-down approach to undergraduate education; call it whatever you want. But if we're serious about drawing a more talented applicant pool and enabling our students to succeed once they get here, we need a specific plan to the attract funds critical to getting them started.
POLICY: The signed letters, columns and cartoon represent only the opinions of the authors. The staff editorial represents the opinion of The Diamondback's editorial board and is the responsibility of the editor in chief.
The achievement gap among our best students and the best students of our peer institutions is astounding. Phil is the third Truman Scholar we've had since 1980. In that time, North Carolina has had 28. We don't mention this to belittle the accomplishments of our students: It only highlights that the ones who've persevered have accomplished much in spite of their circumstances.
It is relatively difficult for students here to begin exemplary careers in public service because their work is heavily reliant on philanthropy and government funding. College students rarely have the networks to secure support and guidance - they need help. North Carolina's Morehead-Cain program does just that. It provides its participants with a series of four summer enrichment activities that build upon one another and gives them access to an extensive network of 2,700 alumni.
If we expect our best students to compete with their counterparts at other schools, we need such a program. This idea has been attempted here before: Fourteen freshmen in the class of 2008 were selected for the Leaders for Tomorrow program, which aimed to prepare them for lives of scholarship, leadership and service, but the program ran out of funding after its first year and is no longer active.
We must try again. A blueprint for success could be found, oddly enough, in the rapid ascent of the business school: When university officials initially approached Smith to make a large donation to the school, he declined. A few years later, then-president Brit Kirwan tried again, and Smith gave him an interesting proposition: He would donate to the business school only after they crafted a plan outlining how they would recruit the faculty, students and donors to create a world-class institution.
The approach that made the university a hotbed for business entrepreneurs just might work to create a brooding ground for social entrepreneurs. While the Leaders for Tomorrow program was housed within the Office of Undergraduate Studies, other successful programs such as the one at North Carolina are housed within their own foundations, which have higher visibility and can more easily court potential donors. University administrators should create a foundation with a clear plan to support our best students in their pursuit of excellence. Call it the trickle-down approach to undergraduate education; call it whatever you want. But if we're serious about drawing a more talented applicant pool and enabling our students to succeed once they get here, we need a specific plan to the attract funds critical to getting them started.
POLICY: The signed letters, columns and cartoon represent only the opinions of the authors. The staff editorial represents the opinion of The Diamondback's editorial board and is the responsibility of the editor in chief.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 3
Jerry
posted 3/28/08 @ 9:05 AM EST
I agree 100%. Great idea. Should be explored thoroughly and then implemented at Maryland ASAP. As an alum, I would be very willing to contribute both time and money to help make the program a success. (Continued…)
S
posted 3/28/08 @ 4:52 PM EST
I agree our university doesn't do enough. I have a top GPA and have tons of public service internships, but no one at the University told me about scholarships like these, and by the time I found out myself, it was too late. (Continued…)
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