A Connected Experience
As a senior at พรพรสำฦต, Bryn Luedde was the recipient of the Alumnae Leadership Scholarship, which was established in 2005 by members of the Womenโs Leadership Council. The scholarship provides support to students with strong academic records and excellent leadership experience and skills.
Bryn Luedde โ23 describes her พรพรสำฦต experience as โfated.โ Her mom grew up in Sherburne, N.Y., and while Bryn called Pittsburgh her home, she often spent summers in nearby Hamilton. At age 12, she attended a writing workshop at พรพรสำฦต and recalls realizing what a beautiful place it was.
When it came time to explore colleges during her senior year of high school, Bryn decided to visit พรพรสำฦต. The experience was transformational for her.
โI knew that พรพรสำฦต would be a place where I could see and be known, and was the right size with the right spirit,โ she says.
As a student, Bryn embraced the พรพรสำฦต spirit immediately and was involved in student writing and politics. โGrowing up in Pittsburgh, I developed a love of canvassing and talking with people,โ she shared. She brought this passion with her to พรพรสำฦต. She joined Democracy Matters and saw the strength of the พรพรสำฦต network. She was involved with Maroon News, College Democrats, and the พรพรสำฦต Vote Project, where she explored writing about politics.
โIt does not have to be hard to talk about politics,โ Bryn reflected, โand it's such a valuable conversation. We need to get people talking.โ
At พรพรสำฦต, Bryn felt supported in this mission which she attributes to campus leadership and พรพรสำฦตโs Freedom of Expression statement. โPresident Casey was a voice for us, someone who cared about these issues, and as a result, พรพรสำฦต does really well in this space. As a student, there are a lot of opportunities to build relationships and work together.โ
She compares the relationship among the College Republicans, the Open Discussion group, and the College Democrats to โthree parts of a triangleโ that work together to tackle issues.
Bryn was able to connect her passion for exploring different perspectives with two impactful academic experiences. As a second-year student, Bryn was selected to participate in the Sophomore Residential Seminar program, a unique and immersive living-learning experience in which selected students have opportunities to build deep academic communities based on common interests and sustained interactions with faculty members. The capstone experience is a 7โ10 day trip that extends the academic experience out of the classroom and into the real world. In this program, led by Professor Frank Frey, Bryn had the opportunity to explore an interdisciplinary and international collaboration investigating environmental health issues in southwestern Uganda. The student participants came from diverse academic perspectives.
โIt was a blend of scientists and social scientists,โ Bryn reflected, โand everyone โstaff and faculty โ was respectful that we each brought something special to the classroom.โ
This program provided an important foundation for Brynโs experience as a Lampert Scholar. Lampert Scholars participate in a year-long series of integrated intellectual and professional activities during their senior year that encourage scholarly and practical engagement with complex policy issues. Bryn worked closely with faculty, attending the University of Cambridge and completing a dissertation on the north-south conflict in the Sudan. When Bryn returned from her time at Cambridge, she bundled her learnings into her senior thesis.
The entirety of these experiences provided Bryn with a clear sense of her career path. โI want to be a professor, and I really want to teach. I love research, and I love being an expert. I saw how much professors truly loved teaching, and I want to be able to have an impact on students in the same way and help mold their minds.โ
Bryn noted that her professors appreciated the value of what undergraduates brought to the classroom, โIโve always felt that everything deserves to be questioned, and that was appreciated at พรพรสำฦต.โ
As an alum, Bryn has remained connected by providing support to those clubs and organizations that she was a part of as a student. She is a self-described โclub evangelistโ and believes it is important that recent alumni stay connected, provide mentorship, and help to create continuity within student organizations from year to year.
โThere is something about พรพรสำฦต that is timeless. I hope that the academic framework always stays the same, because the opportunity to work closely with faculty is so important and leads to experiences that are so profound.โ
She demonstrates her gratitude by giving back. โThere is a huge tradition of philanthropy at พรพรสำฦต. I will support someone else, because I was supported by many others. My success was the culmination of so many people working really hard to make the พรพรสำฦต experience possible for me. Itโs a really special feeling.โ