Shown with Phillips Scholarship recipient Jenny Le (third from left) at the Phillips Foundation scholarship reception are, left to right: Pete Wareham, financial aid coordinator of the Phillips Foundation Scholarship applications at St. Thomas; Dr. Ellen Kennedy, Le's project adviser; (Le); Sheila Vang, a previous UST recipient; Susan Brady, assistant director of financial aid at St. Thomas; and Matt Marguggi, director of the Tutor-Mentor Program.
Student Jenny Le wins prestigious Phillips Scholarship
Jenny Le, a sophomore advertising major, is the recipient of a $14,000 Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation Scholarship. The award is designed not only to support academic studies but also to develop and encourage students' lifelong commitment to community service, to build leadership and to make a significant difference for children, people with disabilities or immigrant communities.
Le had to propose a community-based project that she will plan over the coming academic year and implement during summer 2007. In her winning proposal, "Pulitzer Prize Workshop: Hidden Treasures in Our Community," she will recruit St. Thomas students, in collaboration with the Tutor-Mentor Program, to partner with immigrant and refugee youth at Lincoln International High School in Minneapolis for a summer writing workshop. The goal is for Lincoln students to write stories about their ethnic backgrounds, their communities here in their new country, and their dreams for the future. The St. Thomas students will coordinate resources, assist the students with their writing skills and work with local ethnic newspapers to get the students' stories published.
Le is a founder and board member of the St. Thomas chapter of the Genocide Intervention Network and a member of the student advisory board of The Changing Faces of Minnesota project.
