Applications are now being accepted for Elon’s new Social Entrepreneurship Scholars Program, which will teach students how to conduct community-based research, analyze social issues and develop partnerships with local agencies to address community needs.
The three-year program which focuses on bringing scholarship and service-learning together to respond to needs in the local community is open to rising sophomores. Scholars will participate in course work, service-learning, seminars, workshops, and service trips “that will engage them in understanding the needs and problems of the local community and how to respond to these needs.”
“The big thing we want to instill is a commitment to bettering one’s community,” said Angela Lewellyn Jones, an associate professor of sociology and academic coordinator for the Social Entrepreneurship Scholars Program. Mary Morrison with the Kernodle Center for Service Learning is the co-curricular coordinator.
In their junior and senior years, students will work with younger participants as mentors and consultants, which is one way that community initiatives undertaken by each class will continue into the future.
Moreover, Jones said, students will pick up practical skills like learning how to write grant applications and organizing fundraising efforts. “Some students may be interested in this program because they’re interested in non-profit work,” she said. “They’re going to have the opportunity to connect and work with numerous agencies in our community as they investigate and seek to provide sustainable solutions to local social issues.”
Twenty-four students will be selected for the first class. Information for the program, including an application form, can be found by clicking on the link below.
Completed applications must be received by April 2.