Emerging Leaders Scholarship Program

2011-12 Emerging Leaders Scholars:

Children's Programs: Rebecca Sullivan (November Junior Interim Meeting photo essay)

Middle School Friends: Kody Hersh and Greg Woods (Halloween Gathering report)

Young Friends (High School): Sarah Burgess

Emerging Leaders Scholarship Program application:

-Do you need to build your resume with internships, honors, and the like?

-Do you want to support the Young Friends, Middle School Friends, and the Children’s programs in PYM?

-Do you want to have some money to pay for your attendance at Quaker events or other events/experiences that could be considered professional development towards Quaker service?

If you said yes to these questions, then the Emerging Leaders Scholarship Program (ELSP) might very well speak to thy condition!

This is how it works:

-PYM selects up to 5 Young Adult Friends (2 for the Children’s Program, 2 for the Middle School Friends Program, and 1 for the Young Friends Program)

-They volunteer as Friendly Adult Presences for 3 weekend-long youth programs (and if they want to have the experience, will have an opportunity to plan and run a gathering), and serve on a working-group attached to the youth program they volunteer for.

-Each ELSP recipient receives $500 to be spent on their participation in Quaker events or on experiences that can clearly support the development of gifts that can be used in service to the PYM and Quaker community. The YAF coordinator and program coordinator for each youth program will approve and distribute the funds after receiving proposals from each participant explaining how the money is to be spent.

-Recipients must to create short reports (in writing, video, art, poetry, music, etc.) about their experience serving the youth programs, which would later be shared with the Yearly Meeting at its annual sessions.

We tried this program out with the Middle School Friends program in 2010-11, Kamali Busch and Richard George were the ELSPers for the MSF program, and it was a huge success, so we’re expanding it to the other youth programs. You can check out some art, writing, and poetry reports of their experience as ELSPers here: http://www.pym.org/blogs/stephen-dotson/emerging-leaders-scholars-reflect-dec-msf-gathering .

At the bottom of this page is the application form for the ELSP program, please share this with other YAFs who you think would be interested.