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.