Extraordinary Leaders, November
HPU's November Extraordinary Leaders, Madison Wallace and Taylor Zickefoose.
The Office of Student Life presents the Extraordinary Leader award to outstanding students each month. According to Gail Tuttle, vice president of Student Life, the entire HPU community – students, faculty and staff, make nominations, and the nominees are asked to complete an online survey about their academic, social and charitable involvement on campus and in the community.
A committee of HPU administrators selects the students that best embody true leadership. Results are printed in the Campus Chronicle each month.
The student leaders for the month of November are Madison Wallace and Taylor Zickefoose.
Wallace, who has made the Dean’s list every semester during her time at HPU, has found the perfect outlet for giving back to the community – her sorority, Kappa Delta.
She has always felt a calling towards helping people through the health care profession, which is why she’s studying biology and chemistry at HPU with plans to head to dental school after she graduates. Her academic achievements are endless as she’s been inducted into the National Biological Honors Society (Beta Beta Beta), the National Society of Leadership and Success (Sigma Alpha Pi), and the of Order of Omega (Greek Honors Society), all of which have high GPA requirements.
She’s given back to others through the four national philanthropies of her sorority. She worked alongside a local Girl Scout troop in Greensboro and helped build several houses in High Point through Habitat for Humanity. Her favorite volunteer experience, however, was at an organization called Church World Service, where she taught and promoted health literacy to incoming refugees in Greensboro, N.C. This was arranged through an Americorps program , and she assisted the refugees in filling out medical-related paperwork, helping them schedule doctor’s appointments and riding with them on public transportation buses to those appointments, as well as showing them how to behave in an American social setting. She volunteered more than 300 hours in this program, and in turn, she received the Project Shine Scholarship to help fund her education.
The most important thing at a university for Zickefoose is academics. She says that’s exactly why she chose HPU – for “a curriculum that allows me to explore my interests, but still provides a rigorous classroom setting.”
Her academic endeavors have skyrocketed since her first day on campus. Honors she has received include being inducted into the Order of Omega Greek Honor Society, Phi Alpha Delta Pre Law Fraternity, HPU Honors Scholars Program, and the National Society of Leadership and Success, all while earning an HPU Presidential Scholarship and earning dean’s list recognition for all four semesters she’s been at HPU. She juggles these honors with serving as the Executive Vice President for the Student Government Association, an assistant resident director a member of Phi Mu, a student ambassador and the Odyssey Club’s public relations coordinator.
The things she learns on campus, however, have extended beyond equations and theories. She says she has learned to have values, and one she truly holds dear is that of integrity. “It’s important to learn to do what is right even when no one is watching,” she says. “This encompasses doing honest work, carrying out responsibilities, being truthful and following rules and laws. A person who values integrity is a great role model, because he or she can be trusted to do what is right at all times, not just when it matters.”