The Northwestern Women in Leadership program received 10 nominations for its award that honors strong, successful female student leaders this year.
The WIL program seeks to help women who are leaders network and connect as a community, said Jason Hanson, the coordinator of student organizations at the Norris University Center. The program gives an annual achievement award to four women from each undergraduate class.
Female students are “nominated by faculty, staff, alumni, or fellow students based on (their) ability to represent NU as a well-rounded and exceptional student,” according to the organization’s website. A team of NU staff then evaluates candidates’ GPA, letters of recommendation, leadership roles, academic honors and extracurricular activities.
WIL co-chair Amy Li, a Medill freshman, said the organization received about 10 nominations two weeks ago. All nominees will then be invited to complete the program’s online application, which was released last week, Li said. The organization asked members of the Women’s Center, Multicultural Student Affairs and Chicago Field Studies programs to serve on the selection panel that will choose the final winners. Applications will be accepted until Wednesday and winners will be announced at a banquet May 9, Li said.
Past WIL award recipient McCall Vollum (MEAS ’11) said she believes the WIL award encourages students to attain their own goals by promoting their peers’ success.
“It’s important to have leadership awards like this, not necessarily to motivate people – because I don’t think people are motivated by awards at all at NU – but to recognize people’s achievements and to advertise to the community what different students are doing,” Vollum said. “I think seeing what other people have done says, ‘This NU student did this; you can too.'”
SESP junior Zoe Goodman, who won the award last spring, said she appreciated the award but would have continued her work with Multicultural Student Affairs whether or not she had received accolades.
“For me the valuable part was realizing I didn’t need recognition to do what I was doing,” Goodman said.
Casey Geraldo, a correspondent for NU’s branch of Her Campus, an online publication that primarily targets college females, said NU has many powerful and inspirational women.
“I think especially in an academic environment like NU, when we see what other people are able to do, it pushes us to want to be better and try more things,” the Medill junior said. “Highlighting those women that are taking on the leadership roles and engaging in our community will encourage other women to do the same.”
With its Leadership Speaker Series and mentorship program, WIL also aids women beyond graduation, Hanson said.
Looking ahead, Goodman said she would like to see student leaders commended regardless of their gender.
“I think it is nice we give a little bit of a shout-out to women on campus, but I don’t think the award was necessarily intended for women to realize or to think about themselves as a separate category,” Goodman said. “Someday very soon I hope we won’t need a Women in Leadership award. I hope we have a Young People in Leadership award.”
