Matthew Murphy, Campus Carrier Deputy News Editor
Over the summer, junior Rachel Quillin received a scholarship from Lambda Sigma, an honor society for second-year students.
Quillin, former president of Berry’s Lambda Sigma chapter, said an individual from each of the 40 chapters was nominated for scholarships.
“One person from every chapter is nominated by that chapter and then they go into the running for [a limited number of] scholarships,” Quillin said.
According to the Lambda Sigma website, there are four scholarships that are offered annually to members of individual chapters.
Quillin said she had to take part in an application process involving outside recommendations.
“I had to get three letters of recommendation as well as a letter of nomination from the chapter,” Quillin said.
The letter of nomination for the chapter was written by Kenneth Martin, an associate professor of chemistry and the faculty sponsor for Lambda Sigma.
Martin said he believed that Quillin was an excellent candidate for nomination because she demonstrated a high level of scholarship as well as leadership—two of the four pillars of Lambda Sigma.
“She was an exemplar of both [leadership and scholarship],” Martin said. “She was an excellent president for the chapter and under her leadership the chapter did quite a few on-campus and off-campus activities.”
“She was very deserving of the award if for no other reason just her GPA,” Martin said.
Martin also said Quillin demonstrated fellowship and service, which are the other two pillars of Lambda Sigma.
“Rachel did an excellent job organizing not only people in the chapter to fellowship with each other but people across the campus and off the campus,” Martin said.
Martin said Quillin got involved with the Open Door Children’s Home and started a literacy program for orphaned children.
“She identified the Open Door Children’s Home and got membership of the chapter involved with it,” Martin said. “What she discovered is that these children are functionally illiterate because they don’t have parenting at home, so she started a literacy program for the Open Door Children’s Home and that really caught a lot of people’s attention.”
Quillin said she was surprised when she learned she had received the scholarship.
“I wasn’t necessarily anticipating anything and I hadn’t heard anything in a while so I thought that somebody else had probably been named, but I was definitely very flattered and honored to have received it,” Quillin said.
Martin was also very excited when he found out that Quillin had received the scholarship.
“I was elated,” Martin said. “It’s the first time it’s happened to a Berry student, and as soon as I found out about it I wanted to make sure there was some PR on it.”
Quillin said the scholarship was worth $500 and she was allowed to use the money in any way she wanted.
“I personally have used a lot of it [the scholarship money] to go towards the Open Door Home and my program there,” Quillin said.
Martin said students who are interested in scholarships such as the one Quillin received need to identify and pursue their passions.
“Just like Rachel, they need to stand out from the crowd,” Martin said. “Identify what your passion is, find out how you can plug in to that passion, and when you are doing something that you enjoy doing and helping others along the way, you can’t help but get noticed.”