Victoria “Tori” Strange, a freshman from Berwyn, Pa., has been named the first recipient of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Honors Fellows Scholarship at Elon University.
A grant from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust provides a four-year, full-tuition scholarship for the top Honors Fellow enrolling each fall. Strange will have extensive enrichment opportunities, including leadership development, service learning experiences, study abroad, research stipends and internships.
“This is an honor and a great opportunity for me,” said Strange, who has an interest in the environment and tentatively plans to major in environmental studies. “I am very grateful to the Kenan Trust and the commitment they have made not only to me, but the honors program as well.”
Strange graduated from The Shipley School near Philadelphia in 2002 and took a year off before enrolling at Elon for the fall 2003 semester. During that time, worked with the environmental restoration center at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia, where she helped start a research project on amphibians and biodiversity in area forests. She also spent two months hiking in the Utah desert and nearly six months living and working on a ranch with 10 other people in Washington state.
“I wanted to do something other than the typical path to college,” said Strange. “I learned so much about myself and what I want to do in the future by taking that time to grow and develop.”
The William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, based in Chapel Hill, N.C., is one of the most prestigious supporters of higher education in the nation, reserving its support for universities of the highest quality that demonstrate teaching excellence.
A North Carolina native, William R. Kenan, Jr. was a chemist and industrialist with wide-ranging business interests. Upon his death in 1965, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust was created to further his strong interest in education. Since 1966 the Trust has made grants totaling $400 million in support of education.
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