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Trinity awarded Lilly Endowment grant aimed at leadership development
Trinity International University has received a $600,000 grant to help establish a summer leadership program for high school students.
Trinity International University has received a $600,000 grant to help establish a summer leadership program for high school students.
It is part of Lilly Endowment’s High School Youth Theology Institutes initiative, which seeks to encourage young people to explore their religious beliefs and their concerns about contemporary challenges by studying theology and examining how faith calls them to lives of service.
The intensive course will be taught during a 12-day period each summer and is tentatively titled the 360 Leadership Academy. It will introduce high school students to a rigorous theological and liberal arts education, according to the proposal Lilly accepted in awarding the grant. Students can earn college credit that can be applied within Trinity’s general education curriculum.
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Trinity already offers the highly successful Emerging Kingdom Leader program to incoming freshmen who commit to exploring leadership and faith through their first two semesters. Their capstone project is to host a leadership conference for high school students on the Trinity campus each spring.
“The new summer academy will further strengthen Trinity’s commitment to developing Christian leaders,” Director of Student Leadership Katherine Jeffery said. “We are grateful for this grant and pray that we can continue to take part in God’s redemptive story in the lives of His people.”
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During the summer institute, high school students will bond with students from the college, sharing curricular and recreational activities.
Trinity faculty members will provide the instruction for the institute. Philosophy Department Chair Chris L. Firestone will be the teacher of record. He has taught at Trinity for 16 years.
“We are truly grateful to Lilly Endowment for this generous grant,” President David S. Dockery said. “We salute and congratulate Katherine Jeffery and those involved in Trinity’s outstanding leadership program for their capable oversight for this important initiative.”
