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Jessica M Lipschultz

Biography

Graduate Scholarship Biography (prepared September 2005):
First named a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar in 2002 through the Undergraduate Scholarship Program, Jessica Lipschultz initially engaged in community service activities because her parents said helping others was the right thing to do. Then she got hooked on what she saw and learned. She worked with senior citizens in respite homes, homeless families moving from shelter to shelter, and émigré children struggling to learn English. She structured internships and paid jobs to learn more, including three months working with advocates in Washington seeking changes in the No Child Left Behind law.

Enrolling in AmericCorps, Jessica finally discovered how she wanted to apply this commitment to service in her career. Charged with creating educational programs for homeless young women who were pregnant or parenting, she grew upset that "all too many counselors, teachers, and social workers assume that the teen mothers and their children will remain dependent on the state, that they'd be lucky to earn their GEDs." Jessica disagreed. She developed a curriculum "that encourages and enables them to pursue their interests and acquire the knowledge and skills needed in order to be successful." "Nothing," Jessica learned, "is more invigorating than helping a person begin to dream again."

Jessica - who graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from the University of Idaho - now heads to Stanford University to begin her advanced preparation to put these lessons to work in her professional life. She will study educational teaching strategies as well as literature and composition and learn how best to empower students - and transform public schools.

Undergraduate Scholarship Biography (prepared Oct. 2002):
After graduating as valedictorian of her high school class, Jessica Lipschultz was confident in her ability to earn high marks in college. But through her involvement in the University of Idaho Honors Program, Jessica has taken on a wide range of classes and extracurricular activities that have challenged her previous notions of academic achievement. "I now realize that grades alone do not define academic excellence. Grades are merely a reflection, and not always an accurate one, of how well I utilize my available educational opportunities," she says.

An English and American studies major, Jessica believes the university has provided her a new method of learning that has challenged her critical thinking skills and have helped her appreciate the exchange of ideas that is fundamental to a liberal arts education.

Jessica serves in leadership positions in service-oriented campus groups, including chair of the student government's first committee dedicated to facilitating student participation in social activism and community volunteer organizations. "The incredible enthusiasm (among students) to volunteer has inspired me to reassess my life goals and place an even greater importance on public service," she says.

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