multiple students last semester with a 4.0 GPA. I believe our program GPA for the entire cohort is 3.0. There are 27 students in the program. We’re driving toward 40 and we’ve been doing that since we made the shift from three students per year. And one of our biggest goals is to really support the students not only when they are here, but also post-graduate, helping them to achieve success.”

“There is a flexible scholarship that ranges from $5,000 to $10,000 per year,” Sims said. “Students are eligible to receive it for four years. What we have found is that many of our students do that, but also have an opportunity to participate in other leadership opportunities that will reduce some of their costs because being in this program serving and leading, they typically have an average of 3.0 GPAs, some with 4.0 GPAs. Some are student athletes. They are typically tapped for other leadership opportunities. Some of them have become resident assistants. Some of them are working in other areas such as America Reads, America Counts. So there are additional opportunities with helping them fund their education. But the Emerging Leaders is really a good first stop for those students to be able to get into the institution. And the students who are coming in are high achievers already.”

And important part of the support system for the Emerging Leaders is the cohort that they enter Edgewood with.

“It’s very important for the students to feel a part of a cohort,” Okelue said. “We really foster community and also belonging. We have a very big ‘family.’ We’re all in this together. We’re all trying to succeed. We’re all trying to really become the next ethical leaders. And the students do a great job of bonding and having that community aspect where we are all in this together. And that aspect is a beauty because not only do they have that support during the day with the amazing staff that we have here, but once we are off campus, they have each other. That’s the best part of supporting each other, helping each other to push through the trials and tribulations that you have in college to succeed and be a true leader.”

In December, Edgewood hosts the Emerging Leaders Night where prospective students and their families can come check out Edgewood and the Emerging Leaders Program.

“What they normally say is that they don’t want to leave,” Sims said about the prospective students. “The students who come to the Emerging Leaders Night want to hang out. For example, this last Emerging Leaders Night, we had students and families staying here and hanging out in our Multicultural Student Lounge. And they didn’t want to leave because the students enjoyed the cohort of students who are here. I’ve always said that there are college students who are exceptional. They do great things. They’re motivated. And they are welcoming. And that is the thing that has been really evident to incoming students who are interested in the Emerging Leaders program. They see the upside and they see the benefits. But then when they meet the students and they have the opportunity to meet Alex or other individuals at the institution who are supporting them, they say, ‘Yeah, I want to come.’”

According to Sims, the big attraction is the genuineness of the Emerging Leaders students and the staff. It creates an environment that prospective students want to be a part of.

“They really, really want to meet the other students,” Sims said about the Emerging Leaders students. “They want to make them feel comfortable. They want to make them feel welcome. And that is all day long. They are authentic. And so students can sniff that out and say, ‘Okay, these people are authentic’ and that’s why they want to come. They are definitely picking Edgewood University for small institution and personal touch. But they are also picking it because of the relationships or the interactions. We have activities during Emerging Leaders Night where they get to interact with the current students outside of just asking them questions about the program and their experience. Via that, they see that they get to see that they get to be with this person and this cohort. And they are actually really good people. So they want to come here because of that. And I do believe that gives them the extra boost to say, ‘If it’s another institution or Edgewood, I’m coming to Edgewood because I have heard directly from the students. Everything that I am being told by Richard and Alex is the real deal. And two, I’ve experienced that for myself that I’m not being sold a bill of goods. It’s the real deal.’”

“The sense of authenticity is big for me,” Okelue added. “Being the alum of a program, the authenticity has developed me as a professional and as an individual. Being able to continue that and pass that torch to the students is really big to me. And it is lovely to see the growth through that genuineness. They truly see it. They truly see our hearts. They truly see that we do want them to succeed, not just here, but also in their futures. And it is contagious. And it’s just getting bigger and bigger and I am excited for what the future holds for the program.”

And it is that genuineness made possible due to Edgewood’s size makes it very attractive to prospective students.

“There’s a lot of benefit from attending a small institution,” Okelue said. “But the beauty of Edgewood is the people here. And I feel a lot of people feel connected to the staff and faculty here and they want to stay. Having that small campus allows more touch points to be able to interact with your professors and staff. They feel supported. They feel like they belong and feel that they can really thrive here.”

Due to the fact that Emerging Leaders is expanding its scope from Dane County to the entire state of Wisconsin means that the Emerging Leaders will not only be diverse ethnically, but also geographically, which can lead to more learning and growth opportunities outside of the classroom.

“I think because of the fact that it’s expanded, it’s maybe allowed us to have some different students in our application pool at the institution that maybe before wouldn’t have looked at us, but now look at us a little more seriously because of this experience,” Sims said. “And I think sometimes, this is the difference between them going to a school where they are from in Northern Wisconsin to here because you do have the draw of the program. The students here are definitely benefiting from having some of that interaction where they may be from Menasha and are making friends with people from Dane County and vice versa. I think there is a big benefit from that. And then the relationships that they are building again are authentic and genuine. It’s really fun to see the relationships grow. It’s also fun to see that when we do have students from the Big Eight schools and they come here and they are in the Emerging Leader program, they may have had, ‘I went to Madison West. You went to East. You went to Verona.’ And now they are in the same cohort. And they work together whereas previously, they may have seem each other as rivals. That’s cool to see that too.”

There are multiple avenues for prospective students and their families to find out more about the Emerging Leaders Program.

“To apply, there is information on our website,” Sims said. “But we do have information sessions during the academic year where students can have the chance to come out. We also do go visit high schools. There’s a partnership with AVID-TOPS where we will go out to the different schools. They can contact the admissions counselor in the admissions office. And if they have any questions, they can reach out to us. They can email me or Alex. We’re really excited about this incoming group of 10 who we will have and I’m excited about the potential of what they are going to bring to this program. We think this group of 10 is exceptional and continues the trend of really, really good students coming into the program. It’s an exciting time.”

While, in the end it is a competitive process, Sims suggests that interested students get on their radar early.

“The first step is the application process to the institution,” Sims said. “That will help you get on the radar. But if you have questions, in March, it’s a little bit tougher because of the number of applications we are receiving. And so I would say early in the year. If a student is an upcoming high school senior and they have any kind of interest in the program, I would tell them to be proactive. You can reach out in August. You can reach out in the summer and start having conversations about that process with us. Typically our Emerging Leaders Night is usually in December. We would invite them and their families to come out and learn more about the program to make sure it’s something that they are interested in. But remember that it is competitive. I don’t want people to think they can apply and we’ll just get you in. It is a competitive process because there is a lot of interest.”

Emerging Leaders may just be the place for graduating high school seniors to take their academic and leadership game to the next level.

For more information, email Richard Sims, rsims@edgewood.edu or Alex Okelue, aokeleu@edgewood.edu

When the transition happened from Community Scholars to Emerging Leaders, the size of each individual scholarship was reduced. However the program put the students in a position to meet their financial needs.