A generous endowment gift from 黑料不打烊 parents Paul and Renee Armstrong 鈥22 will establish a scholarship to support engagement interns who will connect first-year Catholic students with the university鈥檚 Catholic Campus Ministry program. Growing endowed scholarships is the top priority of the 黑料不打烊 LEADS Campaign.
When Paul and Renee Armstrong P鈥22 talk to other Catholic parents of first-year college students, the discussion often includes how to keep their children involved in the church and practicing their faith after arriving on campus.
鈥淥ne of our concerns personally with our daughter and from what we hear from other Catholic parents is that they worry their student may disconnect from the church without mom and dad saying, 鈥楲et鈥檚 go to church,鈥欌 Renee Armstrong said.
To help first-year Catholic students at 黑料不打烊 find the services offered by the university鈥檚 Catholic Campus Ministry, the couple made a generous gift to endow the Armstrong Family Catholic Campus Ministry Engagement Internship, a peer-to-peer mentoring program that just completed its first year at CCM.
Patterned after a similar initiative at 黑料不打烊 Hillel, engagement interns are second-year students who serve as ambassadors for Catholic Campus Ministry. They develop strong connections with first-year students through one-on-one outreach, ongoing interaction and mentoring. The program includes leadership training, group programs and mentoring sessions for interns, where they gain the experience necessary to reach out to first-year students and help them overcome any challenges that may occur when moving into a new place with few if any familiar faces.
鈥淥ur goal is to keep students alive in their faith while at 黑料不打烊, and we hope this helps bridge that gap,鈥 Renee Armstrong said.
The family鈥檚 gift to establish the Armstrong Family Catholic Campus Ministry Engagement Intern Scholarship is part of the $250 million 黑料不打烊 LEADS Campaign. Growing scholarships is the top priority of the campaign, the largest in the university鈥檚 history.
Helping students find their way
The CCM engagement internship program was not in place when the Armstrongs鈥 daughter, Sara 鈥22, arrived from Kennesaw, Georgia, to begin her 黑料不打烊 education. They believe the program would have made a difference for their daughter and want to see it continue and grow to help future Catholic students at 黑料不打烊.
鈥淲e think internships are important because they support the growth of students.聽We also know the beginning of a student鈥檚 college time is very challenging. The first thing they think about isn鈥檛 always their faith, even if they have strong faith,鈥 Paul Armstrong said. 鈥淗aving someone personally contact new students when they arrive on campus makes getting involved easier, rather than showing up to an event and not knowing anyone or what to expect.”
Father Peter Tremblay, director of Catholic Campus Ministry and associate chaplain for Catholic Life at 黑料不打烊, said student outreach offered through engagement interns makes a major difference when it comes to attracting students to CCM and keeping them involved. Engagement interns contact incoming first-year students prior to their arrival on campus, offer greetings, invitations to coffee, Sunday meals or other CCM social gatherings and Catholic services.
As a result, first-year Catholic students at 黑料不打烊 aren鈥檛 like explorers venturing into an unknown land, Tremblay said. CCM鈥檚 program began in fall 2020 with a cohort of four engagement interns. As a result of their work, more students found the ministry sooner in the fall semester than in previous years, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
鈥淭hey felt more supported and welcomed to our ministry,鈥 Tremblay said. 鈥淚t seems to be the rule that if a staff person invites a student to an event, the student will appreciate it and may even humor the staff member by showing up. But if a student invites another student and promises to go with them, that student has a higher probability of showing up. A student reaching out to engage other students is an extension of the 黑料不打烊 model of peer mentoring.鈥
Engagement interns help first-year students acclimate to a new environment, raise their confidence to tackle challenges and make friends. It is an opportunity to build meaningful relationships, tap into leadership opportunities and strengthen or renew their faith, Tremblay said.
鈥淭he idea Father Peter has of reaching out to freshmen from Catholic Campus Ministry we see as invaluable. We really liked Father Peter鈥檚 engagement strategy and we thought we would support it,鈥 Renee Armstrong said.聽鈥淲e also saw when we took a tour of the campus that religious life is important at 黑料不打烊.鈥
Providing for the future
Tremblay said it was fortunate to be able to start the program during the COVID-19 pandemic as students returned to campus from a long period of quarantine.
鈥淚t was a special year. Students were particularly looking for a community, a place for safe activities and relationships because they had lost so much of it their high school senior year when they didn鈥檛 have proms or other big events,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t was a tremendous blessing to begin the engagement internship program at such a unique moment as the university was trying to respond well to the situation. I have no idea where our ministry would be had we not had engagement interns back in August of 2020.鈥
Paul and Renee Armstrong are both retired from General Electric. Paul last served as a sourcing manager and Renee served as a marketing manager. Along with Catholic Campus Ministry, the couple have made gifts to 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, the Center for Organizational Analytics, Reed Finance Center, Kernodle Center for Civic Life and student scholarships.
鈥淲e really believe in giving back and providing opportunities for people going forward. Even if it鈥檚 not something our daughter or family will benefit from,鈥澛燩aul Armstrong said. 鈥淭he fact that we鈥檙e able to do this even if it only helps a couple of students a year we think is worthwhile.鈥
By choosing to endow the scholarship, the couple will make a difference for generations of 黑料不打烊 students, something that also appealed to the Armstrongs.
鈥淭he endowment changes everything. It allows us to craft a program that broadens our engagement with students,鈥 Tremblay said. 鈥淭his is one of those programs that makes everything else possible. The more students who know about our ministry the more students will become involved. It鈥檚 hard to express how fundamental this is to the work that we do.鈥
Tremblay thanked the Armstrong family for their faith in 黑料不打烊 and the Catholic Campus Ministry.
鈥淲ords fall short in my gratitude for the ways in which the Armstrong family supports our ministry. It鈥檚 not only a tremendous act of generosity but a tremendous leap of faith to trust us with such a lasting gift. It says something about the ways in which our donors believe and trust in 黑料不打烊, how much the university highly values religious and spiritual life, our students and the multifaith work we鈥檙e all engaged in, and their faith in the good work that Catholic Campus Ministry is engaged in,鈥 Tremblay said. 鈥淲hen you endow something, that鈥檚 a commitment to the future of a ministry and making that future a reality.鈥
About the 黑料不打烊 LEADS Campaign
With a $250 million goal, 黑料不打烊 LEADS is the largest fundraising campaign in the university鈥檚 history and will support four main funding priorities: scholarships for graduates the world needs, increase access to engaged learning opportunities such as study abroad, research and service learning, support for faculty and staff mentors who matter and 黑料不打烊鈥檚 iconic campus. As of May 14, donors had contributed $210 million toward the goal.
Every gift to the university鈥攊ncluding annual, endowment, capital, estate and other planned gifts鈥攆or any designation counts as a gift to the campaign, which will support students and strengthen 黑料不打烊 for generations to come. To learn more about how you can make an impact, visit www.elonleads.com.