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In addition to maintaining at least a 3.0 GPA, our returning scholars submit a letter of support from a faculty member and an essay detailing their experiences during the year, future plans for summer, and plans for the next academic year. We know you will enjoy hearing more about the scholars that you support through The Sunflower Initiative.
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Marley Forest spent the spring semester at the University of Edinburgh, where she continued studying the Middle East (and Scottish Song!) and is on her way to spend the summer as a counselor at the Seeds of Peace camp in Maine where some years ago she developed her own interests in conflict resolution. She will work with students from Israel and Palestine, as well as from the United States, to consider issues of immigration, race, gender, religion, and more. She is glad to have this chance to give back to a new generation after having been so inspired there herself. Next year she will graduate from Wellesley, which has awarded her a summer internship through the Madeline Albright Institute that she may use anywhere. Her hope is to use it in a Spanish- or Arabic-speaking location in order to strengthen her language skills.
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Ilse Meiler discovered an even keener fascination with mathematics from her first hour of coursework at Smith in an all-female (of course) class on Discrete Mathematics taught by a woman. So, in addition to her well-established love of history and chemistry, she now contemplates a double major in chemistry and math. She won a coveted research position in chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and is spending the summer generating compounds to be tested for use as antibiotics or anticancer drugs. She looks forward to returning to Smith where once again she will be a coxswain on the crew team.
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Emily Moss’s involvement in the 2016 electoral campaign and Wellesley courses in economics moved her attention from global affairs and the making of political promises toward actual delivery on those promises in improving the well-being of local communities. Her academic interests have turned toward homelessness and urban poverty, rent control, and the impact of urban development on community health. She is spending this summer as a research intern in the New Economy Project in New York City, and is now considering an academic career in community development, poverty, and social justice.
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We are pleased to introduce Maggie Micklo of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, as the 2017 Harriet Fitzgerald Scholar. Maggie’s enthusiasm, articulateness, and pursuit of intellectual and societal challenges were evident during interviews with the TSI scholarship committee. She writes that her time at Barnard College’s Young Women’s Leadership Institute was a pivotal experience. “My two weeks at Barnard showed me the power of women’s voices in a way I had never experienced in my co-educational high school. I added my perspective to the intelligent, motivated voices of my peers in discussions that not only changed my thinking, but also changed the direction of my life. Women’s colleges create leaders, and strong leaders change the world. “
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In addition to a stellar high school record, Maggie served as Senior Class President, participated in theatre productions, concert and madrigal choirs, speech and debate teams, and volunteered with at-risk children, bi-lingual students, LGBTQ youth and children with autism. As president of the Gender Equality Club at her school, she recruited both boys and girls to work on projects for women and children in homeless shelters in the Chicago area. She was an exchange student in Marseille, France, and has hosted French exchange students in the U.S. Her teachers note that she is a fearsome debater because of her analytical skills and incredible grasp of the language. She is active in local politics, passionate about the rights of individuals and displays a “deep sense of empathy and concern for people who have individual differences.”
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This summer, Maggie is interning for the Coalition for a Better Illinois 6th, a group of over 25 grassroots programs organized to monitor and hold accountable the representative from the 6th Illinois district. She has helped conduct forums, canvass neighborhoods, phone bank, and meet with local leaders, gaining valuable knowledge about political and community organizing.
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Maggie is looking forward to enrolling at Mt. Holyoke College in the fall.
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For The Sunflower Initiative Board of Directors, spring is always an exciting time because it’s the time we review applications and award a new Harriet Fitzgerald Scholarship. The applications from smart, curious and promising young women reinforce our dedication to TSI’s mission and energize our activities. This spring was no different, and in this newsletter the Board is happy to introduce you to one such student, Maggie Micklo, our latest Fitzgerald Scholar. Please also see short updates about our three current scholars, all doing well at their respective women’s colleges.
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We continue our new “Women We Have Known” with Molly Westling’s write-up about Katherine (Kate) Cudlipp, R-MWC ’64. If you have someone that you would like remembered, please let us know.
For those of you who have supported us through the years, this is a time to feel proud about your investment in these young women. Thank you for continuing to provide assistance to the Fitzgerald Scholars and to colleges committed to educating women.
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Women We Have Known:
Katherine Yeamans Cudlipp
A Tribute to
a 1964 R-MWC Classmate
by Louise (Molly) Westling
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Katherine Yeamans Cudlipp arrived as a freshman at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in 1960. She was an award-winning student and leader, serving as editor of the student newspaper and Student Government President and graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1964 with Phi Beta Kappa honors as well as a Fulbright Scholarship to study mathematics in Australia. Kate had many interesting careers, reinventing herself a number of times while constantly seeking challenges in a life of service until her untimely death from a bicycle accident in 2011.
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An intrepid person, Kate explored Asia alone on her return travels home at the end of her Fulbright Year. She worked first with Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone in Washington, D.C. before deciding on a career change to serve as Associate Director of Admission for Webster College in Missouri. Although this position allowed her to guide promising students into a strong women’s college experience, she resigned after a few years to spend a personal sabbatical considering a more intellectual kind of service.
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Kate returned to Washington to serve as a Senate staffer while studying law at Georgetown University. She joined the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in 1979, acting as Chief Counsel from 1981 to 1987 and minority chief counsel from 1987. There she participated in crafting the landmark reauthorization of the Clean Air Act of 1970, an eleven-year project that produced the successful 1979 Clean Air Act Amendments in 1990. She served as General Counsel to the National Commission on Air Quality from 1979 to 1981 and was a member of the United States' environmental delegation to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1983 and 1988.
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After retiring from the Senate Committee, Kate once again reinvented herself, earning an M.A. from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington and beginning a ministerial role at the Seekers Church. She also coordinated activities for the ecumenical Church of the Savior. She was a board member and chair of the children’s advocacy group, For the Love of Children, and helped with the revitalization of the old 12th Street YMCA to become the Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage.
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Always athletic, she led group bicycle rides around the Potomac area and participated in the 2002 AIDS ride from Raleigh, N.C. to Washington. In 1995 and 1996 she hiked the 800 kilometer Camino de Santiago de Compostela pilgrim trail across northern Spain. Kate Cudlipp was a wonderful example of the 1960s generation of Randolph-Macon women who led in opening up exciting professional opportunities for women, advocating for environmental rights and social justice, and showing where ethical ambitions could lead.
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