News Center

Junior Joins National Leadership Fellowship Program

CONWAY, Ark. (July 2, 2013) – Jill Nguyen, a junior international relations major from Hanoi, Vietnam, was selected as a Young People For (YP4) fellow.

YP4 is a strategic long-term leadership development program that identifies, engages and empowers the newest generation of progressive leaders to create lasting change in their communities. Fellows are selected through an application and nomination process. Nguyen was nominated for the fellowship by Linh Chuong ’13, a former YP4 fellow. 

Upon selection fellows are paired with a mentor to develop a “blue print” or a project plan for a social justice issue.

Nguyen’s passion and focus is on immigration and reproductive justice.

“I am involved with many policy organizations on campus, I hope to get more students into advocacy and organizing, since after talking and discussing about issues, there needs to be action,” said Nguyen.

She recently completed her fellowship training in New York, N.Y., where she spent her days in workshops learning and discussing issues, important legislations, and skills to organize and mobilize causes.

This summer Nguyen is interning with the Human Right Campaign in Washington, D.C.

“I was very excited to see a focus on intersectionality, and also there was space for story-telling and getting to know other fellows,” she said.

She also plans on collaborating with other fellows for her upcoming projects. After the one year of fellowship, the fellows enter an alumni status and have access to a network of resources from other alumni in the program and continue to mentor new fellows and assist in training. 

During her first two years at Hendrix Nguyen was involved with the Mulicultural Development Committee (MDC), Campus Kitty (a non-profit organization that raises money for local charities), the school newspaper the Profile, served in Couch Hall Council, Shirttails Serenade Committee, TEDxHendrixCollege, Committee on International/Intercultural Studies, an orientation leader, and co-founded the Hendrix chapter of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF) with Chuong.

Upon returning from her studies abroad at the University of Amsterdam in the fall, Nguyen will be a co-chair of the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network at Hendrix and plans to be more involved with Students Advocating Gender Equality (SAGE), TEDx, and work on bringing NAPAWF to more students.

Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is a national leader in engaged liberal arts and sciences education. For the fifth consecutive year, Hendrix was named one of the country’s “Up and Coming” liberal arts colleges by U.S. News and World Report. Hendrix is featured in the 2012 edition of the Princeton Review as one of the country’s best 377 colleges, the latest edition of Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think about Colleges, Forbes magazine's annual list of America's Top 650 Colleges, and the 2013 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.