Indianapolis, IN (February 2011)—IUPUI University College would like to acknowledge Oaksoon Callahan as the 2011 recipient of The First-Year Experience Undergraduate Student Fellowship Award at the 30th Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience. For the past year Callahan was the President of the University College Student Council which focuses on promoting events that support incoming freshman. Callahan’s supervisor, Lauren Chism, noticed her leadership and involvement with the student government and suggested that she apply for the fellowship. “When I found out that I was the recipient of this award, I was actually in the middle of finals week. I opened the e-mail during my busiest night of writing papers. I was really excited because my hopes weren’t so high about receiving such an award….so I guess you could say that I was really surprised.”
Callahan was given the opportunity to attend an all-expense-paid trip to the 30thAnnual National Resource Center’s First-Year Experience Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. She will be surrounded by educators and other student leaders that share common interests. “This award is beneficial to me because I have the opportunity to engage in learning about ways in which universities are enriching the experience of first-year students all over the country…. I hope to be able to bring back many ideas that will better the experience of incoming students here at IUPUI.” A model IUPUI achiever, excelling in both academics and leadership, Callahan is a full-time student, a Bepko Scholar, involved in student government on campus, and is currently a themed learning community assistant.