Submitted by University of Puget Sound
Four students have been awarded four-year college scholarships at University of Puget Sound through two of the universitiy’s scholarships – The Matelich Scholarship and the Lillis Scholarship.
The Matelich Scholarship
The scholarship is funded by a generous gift from George E. Matelich ’78 and Susan E. Matelich, and targets students who have the character and commitment to make a difference, and who demonstrate the motivation to positively impact their communities. Finalists were selected from a pool of about 300 applicants, who were among the 6,000 students applying to enroll at Puget Sound for fall 2017.
Fleming and Piorier are members of Puget Sound’s Class of 2021 and part of a cohort of Matelich Scholars named since the program began making awards in 2012.
Anneke Fleming (Eastsound, Wash.)
Fleming attended Orcas Island High School. She was enrolled simultaneously with the highly selective Stanford Online High School. Once in class she joined the rowing team, and became captain. She joined the women’s soccer team, and again became captain.
An enterprising self-starter, Fleming helped organize Orcas Island’s first debate team and relaunched the school newspaper. She founded Tissues (Teen Issues), a group for teenage activism, and joined the Island Reproductive Health Initiative. She also co-taught English for Spanish speakers and co-founded a movement to make San Juan County a sanctuary for immigrants.
Fleming plans to pursue biochemistry and public health, and aims to find ways to contribute to those in need. She will combine her Puget Sound studies with experiential learning, including enrollment in the Practicum in Clinical Bioethics. She also plans to join social justice clubs and to improve her Spanish so she can advocate for immigrant communities.
Emma Piorier (Saint Paul, Minn.)
Piorier joins Puget Sound this fall with a portfolio of achievements in spheres where few teenagers dare venture. She did her first political internship just out of eighth grade and registered voters in public housing. “For the first time I was confronted with questions about mental illness, welfare, disability, and race in the context of voter accessibility,” she wrote.
At Great River School she became student council president and volunteered on campaigns for Twin Cities’ politicians. After working as a writing intern for Minnesota’s biggest political action committee, she applied for a job as campaign manager for her city council member. She won the post and became the youngest manager in the St. Paul Coordinate Democratic Farmer Labor Party Campaign. That November, her candidate won.
Piorier, who excelled in International Baccalaureate courses at high school, now serves as a student leader for the Identity, Racial Awareness, and Cultural Education (IRACE) Summit. Outside of her political and social activism, Piorier also was a member of the Minnesota Ultimate Frisbee team. She aspires to pursue a future in international politics and humanitarian service.
The Lillis Scholarship
The Lillis Scholarship, generously funded by a gift from Gwendolyn H. Lillis P’05 and Charles M. Lillis P’05 through The Lillis Foundation, is the national liberal arts college’s premier award for students who demonstrate exceptional promise in academics and scholarship.
Lillis Scholars thrive on learning and exploring ideas, and are chosen for their outstanding academic performance, intellectual independence, and drive to pursue excellence throughout their lives. Finalists were selected from a pool of 350 applicants, who were among the 6,000 students applying to enroll at Puget Sound for fall 2017.
Bethany Llewellyn and Manya Mutschler-Aldine, both from Corvallis, Ore., will receive scholarships covering their tuition, fees, and room and board at University of Puget Sound for up to four years.
Bethany Llewellyn (Corvallis, Ore.)
After reading Philip Connors’ book Fire Season, Bethany Llewellyn began to see her lifelong love of natural places through a different lens. America’s wild landscapes, the Corvallis High School graduate realized, needed help.
The book introduced her to the classic land management conflict as portrayed by naturalist John Muir, who believed in leaving wilderness untouched, and forester Gifford Pinchot, who wanted stewardship of the land to ensure society could always enjoy its resources.
At Puget Sound Llewellyn will study biology and environmental science in the hope of pursuing a career to bring “a tiny bit more balance back” into the co-existence of nature and society. While at high school, Llewellyn juggled a rigorous schedule of Advanced Placement classes, playing flute in the band, and captaining the ultimate and cross-country teams. Making the most of her gap year, she spent the spring of this year in Peru, studying Spanish and experiencing the local culture.
Manya Mutschler-Aldine (Corvallis, Ore.)
“My life has been shaped by music,” Manya Mutschler-Aldine wrote in her Lillis essay. “My dad’s jazz, my mom’s folk and Latin—all that I loved, but none were really mine.” Then along came a Zimbabwean marimba band that practiced for its gigs across the street from her home.
A growing interest in social inequity drew Mutschler-Aldine to read Charles Dickens and to devour the political pages of newspapers. As her knowledge grew, so grew her desire to help change a system in which the poor and disadvantaged are held down—a plight, she wrote, sustained by “how our society is constructed, not something inherent.” That, she added, means it “can be changed.”
This year Mutschler-Aldine earned top marks in a curriculum of honors and Advanced Placement courses, while also volunteering for community service with the Key Club, Rotary Interact Club, and Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Mutschler-Aldine aims to study mathematics and physics at Puget Sound, with a view to becoming an engineer. However, she stresses, regardless of her career path, she intends to use her own privilege to combat the inequities that created it.
