Simon Fellow Spotlight

The 2009-2010 William E. Simon Fellowship winners were announced at the annual Templeton Culture of Enterprise awards ceremony in August.

Dr. John Templeton, Sahil Singh Gujral, Emily Ghods-Esfahani, Andrew Boyd, and T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr. (from right to left)

William E. Simon (1927–2000) was the 63rd Secretary of the Treasury. He was a distinguished public servant, businessman of the United States, and philanthropist.

ISI has established the William E. Simon Fellowship for Noble Purpose to recognize graduating college seniors who are pursuing lives dedicated to and distinguished by honor, generosity, service, and respect. The fellowship is named for William E. Simon.

The William E. Simon Fellowship is funded by the John Templeton Foundation, created by renowned investor, Sir John Templeton to encourage a fresh appreciation of the importance of the moral and spiritual dimensions of life for all peoples and cultures.

The Fellowship:
The Simon Fellowship is a $40,000 unrestricted grant awarded to those graduating college seniors who have demonstrated passion, dedication, a high capacity for self-direction, and originality in pursuit of a goal that will strengthen civil society. In addition, awards of $20,000 and $10,000 are made to two other outstanding students.

Examples of how recipients may use the award include:

• Engage directly in the civic life of their community.
• Help to create opportunity for others, including job creation.
• Advance their expertise.
• Fund the ultimate realization of their noble purpose.

Application Evaluation:
Applicants are evaluated on the basis of the mature conception of and passion for what they hope to accomplish as well as their academic records, extracurricular activities, and letters of recommendation.

Students must provide completed applications that include:

• An application form
• A 5-10 page narrative essays detailing past efforts, future plans, and individual philosophy for living a life of noble purpose
• A one page outline of prior education, awards, fellowships, and internships
• Official transcripts of all undergraduate course work
• A letter of recommendation relevant to the applicant's noble purpose

Application guidelines

• The postmark deadline for applications is January 16, 2010. The 2010–2011 fellows will be announced in April 2010. ISI will notify each applicant by mail.
• Applicants must be U.S. citizens, who graduated in Fall 2009, or who will graduate in Spring 2010.
• Narrative essays must be 12 point standard font, and double spaced.
• Academic letters of recommendation must be sent by the recommender.
• Transcripts may be mailed by the issuing institution or the applicant.

Note: Applications that do not meet the above criteria will not be considered.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Applications should be postmarked by January 16, 2010.

Mail application materials to:

Simon Fellowship
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
3901 Centerville Road
Wilmington, DE 19807-1938

Please direct all inquiries to simon@isi.org.

Past Simon Fellowship Winners

• 2008-2009
• 2007-2008
• 2006-2007
• 2005-2006

Bryan Mauk - John Carroll University • $40,000 Fellowship

Bryan  serves the homeless on the streets of his hometown of Cleve­land by building relationships with them. For four years, he has been leading an outreach ministry that he cofounded to visit the homeless where they live: under bridges, in alleyways, and on park benches. This ministry focuses not on the food and blankets they bring, but on friendship—and forming powerful, motivating relationships with the homeless. His nonprofit will uses abandoned and foreclosed houses to help the homeless, repairing the condemned buildings and providing job training opportunities in the process.

Emily Byers - Louisiana State University • $5,000 Fellowship

Emily volunteers as an extended-term missionary with the Missioners of Christ in Comayagua, Honduras. During her time of missionary service, Emily helped to organize a small library for the local community: the Biblioteca Project. The library serves as a quiet study space for students of all ages and provides valuable resources for the existing tutoring, literacy, and scholarship programs run by the Missioners in cooperation with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.

Megan McGinnity - Arizona State University • $5,000 Fellowship

Volunteering in Romanian orphanages inspired Megan to investigate international trafficking in persons. A recipient of the Truman Scholar­ship and Circumnavigator’s Scholarship, she traveled around the world researching the economics of human trafficking and completed her thesis on the subject. Having spent several months in Egypt, she saw a great need to aid women and children who are trafficked through (and within) Egypt for commercial sexual exploitation. With the William E. Simon Fellowship, she helped equip local stakeholders with the informa­tion and analysis needed to establish holistic restoration programs for society’s most vulnerable.

Rebekah Emanuel - Yale University • $40,000 Fellowship

Rebekah seeks to address simultaneously some of the pressing medical, spiritual, and economic needs of Ugandans by fostering grassroots innovation in that African country's healthcare system. Rebekah, with the help of the Ugandan medical profession will foster a caregiver-to-employed-aide program to create a low-technology health care service sector that can provide at least some families with a path out of the cycle of poverty and disease.

Cassandra DeBenedetto - Princeton University • $5,000 Fellowship

Cassandra plans to launch an intercollegiate project to advance the values of marriage, family, and faithful love among today's young people, called the Love and Fidelity Network. Cassy now plans to work with students nationwide to establish societies on their campuses which pay tribute to the values and commitments of university students who wish to defend family, marriage, and chastity through discussion and respectful debate with those who hold opposing views.

Jason Buck - Franciscan University of Steubenville • $5,000 Fellowship

Jason founded the non-profit, Culture of Life, Inc., while still in high school. This fall Jason will continue his efforts to bring the pro-life message to youth-oriented media, and he will develop a "Culture of Life ToolBox," an online community networking pro-life advocates nationally.

Catherine Herman - University of Notre Dame • $40,000 Fellowship

Inspired by the principles of community and citizen initiative, Catherine plans to create an innovative home for the elderly in her native New York City.  The residence will serve as a space for cooperative living supported with professional and medical services.

Elizabeth Ashamu - Yale University • $5,000 Fellowship

Recognized for her work recording the social histories of Southern Sudanese communities affected by genocide, Elizabeth will spend a year in Kigali, Rwanda, with Africa Rights, a London-based human rights organization.  From there she will return to Southern Sudan to record personal accounts of refugees.

Jordan Hylden - Harvard University • $5,000 Fellowship

Jordan is the founding editor of Harvard University's first undergraduate journal of contemporary Christian thought, Ichthus.  He will create a network of similar such journals on college campuses nationwide.

George Srour - College of William and Mary • $40,000 Fellowship

Awarded for his outstanding work with HIV-positive children in Kampala, Uganda, George founded Building Tomorrow, a nationwide initiative empowering college students to raise funds to benefit orphans in and around the Ugandan capital city.

Scott Erwin - University of Richmond • $5,000 Fellowship

In 2003, Scott established the Ambassadors of Democracy to teach the rule of law and democracy in Iraq.  Currently, the Ambassadors have chapters in Russia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United States.

Margaret Mosher - Franciscan University of Steubenville • $5,000 Fellowship

Margaret began her life of service at age six while working on a Navajo reservation with Mother Teresa in Chichiltah, New Mexico.  She continues to serve others as a special education teacher at a grade school in Kansas City.

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Simon Fellow George Srour with Bono

"Focusing your life on bringing hope and justice to those in despair and poverty, one person, one family at a time, is not just all you can do...it is everything." — Bono, U2 Frontman and Founder of ONE, the global campaign to make poverty history