PEOPLE: Student Scholarships at All Three Schools
In this article
Jordan Gonzalez BA ’21 double majored in math and chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences. Originally from Chandler, Arizona, Gonzalez is a first-generation college student who participated in the John S. Rogers Science Program, servedas pitcher and team leader of the baseball team, and cochaired the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He was a Pamplin and Goldwater Scholar as well as a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.
What do you love most about Lewis & Clark?
I love the people the most. As a student, I found I was able to surround myself with creative thinking, hardworking, diligent people. Unlike other schools, the small cohort size really allowed me to interact with a lot of different people of different backgrounds, and get to know my professors.
What do you think the world needs most, and how is Lewis & Clark preparing students for that?
I think the world needs empathetic leaders and people who are willing to understand a perspective that is different from their own personal beliefs. Here at Lewis & Clark, those are exactly the type of students and leaders we are forming.
How did scholarship support make a difference in your L&C experience?
I could focus solely on my studies, which is obviously the most important thing I needed to do. I could be a student first.
Natalie Hollabaugh JD ’21 recently graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School with certificates in criminal law and justice as well as public interest law. Hollabaugh decided to go to law school after working as a public school teacher and seeing the impact of the criminal justice system on her teenage students. Her goal is to fight for justice for youth who are incarcerated. She received the 2020 Harpole Memorial Scholarship, and upon graduation, was selected for the prestigious two-year Equal Justice Works Fellowship with L&C’s Criminal Justice Reform Clinic, where she is sponsored by Intel and Munger, Tolles, & Olson.
What sets Lewis & Clark Law School apart from others?
A close-knit community. There’s never been a time where I have felt isolated or alone because I’ve always had someone that I could reach out to. It’s about all of us getting to be lawyers someday and making a difference in our community, wherever that community ends up being. I think that students who really deeply care about the world, and about equity, come to Lewis & Clark.
Can you give me some specific examples of what the world needs most?
We need more lawyers and more professionals with lived experience in what they’re going into. I think that Lewis & Clark does a really good job of welcoming those students and then allowing them to explore and to find what they’re passionate about.
What has having a scholarship meant for you?
I remember opening the letter and finding out I got enough scholarship money to make it work. I just cried because I could realize my dream. I would not have come to law school without a scholarship. I would have been happy to continue being an educator—I love being a teacher—but I really wouldn’t have been able to do what I do now, which is help youth who are incarcerated and who are navigating the criminal justice system.
How important is it for prospective donors and alumni to continue supporting people like yourself?
I think more people need to go to law school who are not from dominant backgrounds. That means more people who grew up like myself living in poverty. That means more people of color. If we’re going to make the profession better, I think that we need to support people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to be here without that scholarship money.
Erin Burgess MA ’23 is a student in the Professional Mental Health Counseling Program at Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling. Burgess, a Delaware native, is specializing in addictions in order to work with people with personality disorders. She is a Craig MacLeod Graduate Scholarship recipient.
What stands out to you about L&C?
It’s cool to be at an institution that swears by social justice and equity. I came into the school with a background in film, so it’s been really nice to feel welcomed by the faculty. I feel like the faculty fully believes in me and my abilities, even though my undergraduate degree was in another field. I appreciate that, especially in my research classes.
Why did you choose the addictions track at L&C?
I really want to work specifically with individuals diagnosed with personality disorders because I feel like there’s not a lot of people who want to work with that population. A lot of them also deal with addiction.
What has having a scholarship meant to you?
My impostor syndrome is really present day to day, just because my background is so different from most of my cohort. It was just really nice to feel like my efforts were being recognized and acknowledged.
If you could tell donors anything, what would that be?
I think scholarships make it more possible for people like me to remain in higher education, because it is really hard for a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, person of color) individual to be at this level. Lewis & Clark creates a really awesome space for BIPOC individuals, and scholarships make it possible since graduate work is expensive.
Exploring for the Global Good
A Foodie With a Taste for Business
An Even Brighter Future
Designing a Career in Cultural Heritage
Exploring for the Global Good
In its first major fundraising campaign in a generation, Lewis & Clark focuses on its people, places, and programs.
PLACES: A Revitalized Student Center
PROGRAMS: New Health Studies Initiative
Student-Athletes Break Records and Excel on the National Stage
Last spring, first-year competitors in men’s track and field and softball achieved national recognition and etched their names in the Lewis & Clark record books.
Arleigh Dodson
Creative PDX
Diplomacy & Diversity
Paloma González BA ’04 works to diversify the U.S. Foreign Service at home and abroad.
Favorite Places at Lewis & Clark
Reaching the Retirement Milestone
Tackling Real-World Software Problems
‘People’ Initiatives
Scholarships
Expanded need-based scholarships will enable Lewis & Clark to address college affordability challenges and help sustain the bright, dynamic student body that defines all three schools. (See story at left.)
Endowed professorships
These professorships will allow all three schools to recruit and retain diverse scholars at the top of their fields. With this campaign, the institution will establish new endowed professorships in the College of Arts & Sciences in areas such as entrepreneurship. It also hopes to establish the first endowed position at the graduate school to support teaching that focuses on community service and social justice, along with endowing positions in environmental and criminal law at the law school.
Posse Foundation Scholars
Student support
The undergraduate college will develop a more robust student support system by investing in mental and physical wellness initiatives; making overseas study and research opportunities accessible to all through scholarships; and enhancing career preparation services.
Credit: Robert Reynolds
