Bethany Eldridge named U.S. Fulbright Scholar

Lipscomb senior Bethany Eldridge was announced last week as a Fulbright U.S. Student grant recipient, allowing her to study global development in The Netherlands. The grant will send Eldridge, a soon-to-be graduate in law, justice and society, to the University of Maastricht in The Netherlands to obtain her master’s degree in European Studies on Society, Science and Technology. Eldridge said the first half of the one-year program is focused on background, study skills and techniques on how education and technology are used in global development, and the second half allows participants to do their own research. “It kind of means to me that all of my dreams and goals are happening, and there was a reason I’ve had this desire to do something larger than myself,” Eldridge said of what the award means to her. “Now I have the platform to do it. It kind of makes my life make sense now that things match up.” Eldridge said she hopes to use her Netherlands experience to learn how to better educate girls in developing nations. “I want to learn the practical steps in how you help the underserved girls in the world with education,” Eldridge said, “and how people have overcome [barriers] and what needs to be done still.” Paul Prill, director of the Honors College, serves as the faculty adviser for students interested in applying for the Fulbright program. He said the U.S. only awards 800 grants for undergraduate students, and he estimates that more than 15 thousand students apply each year. “She’s in the top one tenth of one percent of students in the country in terms of her intellectual ability...

Women’s Professional Event teaches how to dress for success

On Nov. 14, Lipscomb’s College of Arts and Sciences and College of Business hosted the first ever Professional Women’s Event entitled “How to Project a Professional Image.” The event, held in Shamblin Theater, offered female students the chance to network with Lipscomb alumna and other business leaders around the community. Mila Grigg, the owner of Moda Image Consulting located in Green Hills, gave a keynote address. After Grigg’s presentation, female students modeled some of the latest fashions in professional wear from Dillards department store. Grigg spoke to the audience about the importance of a woman’s appearance in her professional life and even more importantly about the first impression she makes on a future employer. “In the world of instant destruction and instant reward, it’s about being the best you can be to the potential employer,” said Grigg. “We are first seen, not heard, so as silly as it may sound, what you look like is crucial. The key to finding what fits you best is finding your personal brand and take the responsibility to emanate what’s on the inside.” Grigg also talked about personal success and how when people dress well, they feel good, and when they feel good, they produce good things. By dressing to a level of success, it is possible to inspire others. The main focus of the night was to encourage students to dress the part when interviewing for internships or jobs for the first time. “Your clothes say, ‘What you see, is what you get,’” Grigg said. “If you can look the part, the interviewers will say, ‘She’s probably capable of what she looks like.’”...

Black Friday: torture or delightful?

Commercials litter football games and Thanksgiving Day programs, and the newspaper is stuffed with ads the day before Black Friday. Some people stay up the night before to make sure they’re at the store on time, others sleep off the turkey and others go all out. Eric Heath, a senior law, justice and society major from Atlanta, Ga., has been planning a Black Friday Bash for the past five years. Festivities begin at 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving night in the Best Buy parking lot. Extension cords are brought in to generate power to the multiple televisions, heaters and even crock-pots. Lawn chairs are set up in theater style seating in front of one TV playing movies and another with video games. There is no doubt they go all out for this event. “This has been a tradition in my friend group for many years,” Heath said. “We’re being stupid in a safe way. Everyone comes for the experience, but only half of us really stay for the shopping. We’re not there for the consumerism; it’s for the friendship, the community and the experience, not for the sales.” Some have strict traditions. “On Thanksgiving, we lay out all the ads and map out our plan,” said Sydney Hale, a sophomore nursing major from White House, Tenn. “You have to really organize to get the best deals. We usually hit up Target and Toys-R-Us first, and then the mall once we’ve had some sleep.” Others are not so enthused. Many find it annoying and unnecessary. “I don’t go out on Black Friday because of all the crazy people,” said Megan Inman, a...

Reverse Career Fair puts new twist on networking

Students from the university’s clubs and societies promoted themselves to local professionals on Nov. 3 as a part of the first annual reverse career fair. Students set up tables and presented to visiting businesses and professionals about their participation in campus organizations and about themselves. Leslie Shelby, assistant director of the Career Development Center, implemented this event. “We were struggling to get students to come to traditional career fairs,” Shelby said. “So this was an event proposed to fix that problem. We always have employers asking us for interns. They wanted to meet the leaders on campus, and we thought this would be a great way to do that.” The career fair was capped at 20 teams, and 30 employers attended. There was diversity of businesses as well as teams represented at the fair. The teams that were represented included the Society of Professional Journalists, Futuro, social clubs and others. Businesses included Caterpillar Finance, Aegis, Metro Police and even small businesses like Cullen Web Services. Cindy Cullen of Cullen Web Services said she was excited about this opportunity. “I got the email and was thrilled to come. I really enjoy working with interns,” Cullen said. “They have so much energy!” Most of the professionals asked the teams about their majors, goals and how hard they work to achieve them. After each round, employers were asked to grade the teams, and at the end of the night, the teams with the highest points won cash prizes. This year’s winner was the Campus Veterans Organization. “This career fair was very successful,” said Shelby. “We are already planning to do another one...
Missions fair highlights more than 45 trips

Missions fair highlights more than 45 trips

The 2011 fall missions fair went off without a hitch last week. Trips around the world were represented in the student center on Tuesday, with many team leaders from each trip there to speak to students. “The missions fair is a very important event for our trip,” said Northern Ireland leader John Williams. “It is a chance for us to talk to nearly 100 students about what we do and why we are so excited about going to Northern Ireland year after year.” The fair also had many new trips added to the selection. Daley Hilburn, event and student work coordinator for the office of admissions, is organizing a trip to her hometown of Patterson, Calif. “The missions fair was a great success,” said Hilburn. “I was a little apprehensive at first as to how my trip would be received as it is a very small, grass-roots type of trip to the middle-of-nowhere, California. But everyone I spoke with really liked the idea. I’m so excited to see what God has planned for this trip!” The next step in the missions process is to attend an interest meeting. The meetings will be held from now until Oct. 30. For this week’s meetings, click on the schedule to the right. The missions department will host a commitment week from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4, when future participants commit to their particular trip. There are tons of trips to choose from, so make sure you take the time to learn about which one is right for you! For more information, visit the mission department...