Clemson National Scholars Program

After two weeks exploring Germany (Berlin, Stuttgart, and Regensburg) with Dr. Pyle, Herr Schmidt, Kris, and Provost Jones, the 2023 cohort has settled in Regensburg for the summer. They will spend the next 6 weeks completing internships with faculty at Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule (OTH) Regensburg, one of Clemson’s partner universities abroad.

While we already miss Summer, Shayar, Briggs, Tulsi, Logan, Carley, Claudia, Gretchen, and Andrew, we are so proud of them and cannot wait to hear all about their summer research and travel experiences!

We’re not totally sure, but we think this is the most remote place the NSP has ever raised the tiger rag!

The 2021 and 2022 cohorts are in Greenland! The group, along with Assoc. Dir. Kris and Prof. Todd Anderson, landed on Friday for a trip that is capping off their spring class titled “Art and Climate Change in the Arctic.” The first stop was the Greenland Ice Sheet, which covers 80% of the country and is the largest sheet in the world after Antarctica.

We are so thrilled to be able to offer experiential learning opportunities like these for our scholars.

Of the three major awards Clemson gives to undergraduate students, our seniors took home two! We are incredibly proud of Helena Harte for being recognized as this year's Norris Medal recipient, given each year to a graduating senior who is judged by the University Scholarships and Awards Committee to be the best all-around student. We are also so proud of Christian Blackburn for his selection as one of the two Algernon Sydney Sullivan Student Awards, given to community members who demonstrate excellence of character and service to humanity. Read more about Helena, Christian, and the rest of the students being recognized this year here! https://rb.gy/de08b4

Last night we celebrated our seniors and their mentors at our Senior Mentor Dinner!

Each senior invited one (or two!) mentors who had an indelible impact on their personal and academic journey at Clemson. The love in the room was palpable, and it was a beautiful night of gratitude, community building, and tear shedding.

The NSP cannot exist without the support of Clemson's incredible faculty and staff, and we were honored to present Awards of Distinction to the nine mentors invited last night. Thank you for your support, and seniors, we love you all dearly.

We are so proud of junior National Scholar Elizabeth Caldwell, who was selected as Clemson's 5th (and NSP's 3rd) Truman scholar! Congratulations Elizabeth! We can't wait to see what's in store for you next.

We were so excited to have two alumni back on campus last week as a part of Clemson Honors Lunch & Learn series. Last Friday’s event, titled “From Honors to the Supreme Court,” featured three Honors alumni who have worked or are currently working at the Supreme Court. Two of these alumni were also NSP alum: Grace Greene, who clerked for Chief Justice Roberts after completing her JD at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dylan Erikson, who interned at SCOTUS as an undergraduate and is now in his first year of law school at New York University.

The Lunch & Learn series continues to be heavily populated by NSP alumni, and it is always a pleasure to get to have members of our NSPham back on campus to share their post-graduate journeys!

Another Scholarship Recruitment Weekend is in the books!

This year, we partnered with the Breakthrough Scholars Program to host a joint selection weekend. Between the two programs, we hosted 41 finalists from across the US (and Brazil, too!).

Every year, this weekend is a chance for our scholars, current and alumni, to come together to share in the community that is the National Scholars Program. Thank you to all the parents and alumni who came this weekend, and to all the others who helped us get to this point by serving as Honors College reviewers.

Junior scholar Elizabeth Caldwell is the latest student spotlight in Clemson News. She discusses her passion for researching rare diseases, advocating for accessibility on campus, and how the NSP has supported her along the way. Elizabeth, we are so proud of you!

‘This passion is literally woven into my DNA’: Clemson student in search of answers for rare diseases Clemson junior and National Scholar Elizabeth Caldwell is using her time to campus to explore rare disease research, while also leading several disability advocacy initiatives. Clemson junior and National Scholar Elizabeth Caldwell is using her time to campus to explore rare disease research, while....

We are so proud of Shannon Kay, who, along with business partner, Nick Ornitz, has been named to the Forbes’ 30 under 30 list for Enterprise Technology. Kay majored in industrial engineering as a National Scholar and Honors student at Clemson.

Kay and Ornitz cofounded Topline Pro, which helps small businesses build and grow an online presence. The company has raised $17 million from investors and has served thousands of primarily small, blue-collar businesses across the country.

Kay continues to be actively involved in the National Scholars Program and Honors College, most recently speaking to scholars and Honors students in early November about building a business and having the courage to follow a path less travelled after graduation.

Congratulations, Shannon!

See more here: https://bit.ly/3Rt4Fvh

Today was a busy day for Clemson Honors and the NSP! The Honors College hosted a lunch and learn event about entrepreneurship and startups. The panel had NSP parent Chris Harte, COO of Kerecis, and NSP alum Shannon Kay, who is the co-founder and CFO of Topline Pro. Afterwards, scholars got to meet individually with the panelists.

After lunch, we headed into the Honors Research Symposium, where senior Grayson Cliff (Mechanical Engineering) and junior Matthew Ployhart (History & Political Science) represented the NSP as selected presenters. Finally, sophomore Sara Alkelani represented the NSP at Legacy Day, an event to celebrate Clemson's history, thank alumni, and honor donors like the Ballengers, whose unrestricted gift led to the formation of the NSP.

What a day for our scholars!

Check out this spotlight on NSP alum Brittany McKelvey (2011 cohort)! As a child survivor of thyroid cancer, Brittany has spent her professional career dedicated to patient advocacy and advances in oncology. After graduating from Clemson in 2015, Brittany went on to get a PhD from John Hopkins in molecular biology and genetics. She now works as the Director of Regulatory Affairs at the Friends of Cancer Research. Brittany, the NSP family is so proud of you and can't wait to see what you do next!

A Voice for Patients McKelvey survived childhood cancer, and now she’s making connections between cancer research and patients

The NSP hosted our 14th annual Family Weekend Tailgate this weekend! It was so good to catch up with old friends and make new ones this weekend. We also crowned another round of Natty Cup champions. Congratulations to the 2021 Scholars (juniors), the 2022 Cohort Parents (sophomores), and the 2013 Alumni Cohort (our 2017 grads) for winning the Natty Cup competition this year.

Thank you for everyone who gave money and time to the program over the past year. We appreciate every member of our NSP family and hope to see you again in February for our Scholarship Selection weekend!

After moving in to Core on Tuesday, our nine first-year scholars spent their first few days at Clemson bonding as a cohort at our annual First-Year Retreat! Led and planned entirely by a group of older National Scholars, the retreat this year included a service project at Our Daily Rest, a s'mores and game night, an escape room, and kayaking at the Outdoor Labs with the first years in our partner program over at the Breakthrough Scholars Program. We rounded out the events with a welcome back dinner for all the scholars of both programs.

We are so thrilled to have our first-years on campus, and are so excited for what this year has in store for them. Welcome to the family, Gretchen, Carley, Shayar, Summer, Briggs, Tulsi, Claudia, Logan, and Andrew!

NSP in DC!

Last week, some of the Honors team got to visit our nation's capital to meet new friends, strengthen our connections with alumni, and imagine future connections between universities and corporations in DC with Clemson Honors.

Associate Director Kris went along to coordinate an event for the NSP. We hosted a dinner with alumni from cohorts as early as 2002 (our third group!) and as recent as the 2019 cohort, who graduated in May. Our DC alumni are federal employees with the Supreme Court, Department of Justice, and the Federal Reserve. They are software engineers, TV critics, lobbyists, and scientists. And, of course, they are all incredible people.

One of the most special things about this program is the network of alumni it boasts, so it was a pleasure to host a dinner with such an accomplished and enthusiastic group. Unfortunately, we didn't get a full group photo, but here are some of our amazing DC alumni (with a bonus current scholar). I guess we'll have to make another trip to get the full picture!

Hi NSP family! We are looking for someone who is interested in directing both the NSP and our partner program, the Breakthrough Scholars Program. If you or someone you know is interested, please apply here: https://bit.ly/CHCScholars

Hi all, this is Kristin Fuller, the new Associate Director of NSP. I’m so excited to be back at Clemson and with NSP, a place that transformed my life.

For alumni, I am updating our NSP directory by having everyone fill out the attached survey. Please do so at your earliest convenience (this is the same one I sent out by email; response rate right now is at 30%). Also, a reminder that your g.Clemson emails will be deactivated next May, so it is in your best interest to give us a different email to contact you with.

For everyone, including alumni, family members, current scholars, and friends of the program, I can’t wait to meet and interact with you all as the year goes on!

Kris

Google Forms: Sign-in Access Google Forms with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).

Congratulations to senior National Scholar Grant Wilkins! We are so proud of you!

Clemson's first-ever Churchill scholar is working to strengthen our energy grid Grant Wilkins, the first-ever Churchill scholar at Clemson University, is working to strengthen our energy grid.

Please help us welcome the new Interim NSP Director, Dr. Andrew Pyle!

Dr. Pyle is taking over for Dr. Sarah Winslow, who stepped down to become Inaugural Dean of the Clemson University Honors College.

Andrew Pyle named interim director of the National Scholars Program Communication faculty member Andrew Pyle has been named Interim Director of the National Scholars Program at Clemson University.

This afternoon Terryn Witherspoon, part of our senior National Scholars cohort and TA for the first-year seminar, spoke to our first-year seminar students about resume building, wellness, and the transition to college.

Terryn is part of a team of National Scholars and Honors students that developed a Creative Inquiry project called CCARE - a safe and welcoming space for students to discuss issues they may face during their first year on campus.

Experiences like this one serve as just one example of how when you become a National Scholar, you join a community that learns and grows together.

Our 2019 Scholar Cohort marked their last first day of class at Clemson today with a group photo!

Welcome Back Dinner 2022 🧡💜

Congratulations to 2018 Scholar Natalie Claypool, this year’s Norris Medalist, who graduated on Friday after spending Spring 2022 in Argentina!

We had so much fun celebrating our 2018 Scholar Cohort during graduation week!

We’re excited about the return of NSP and Honors College study abroad experiences this summer!
Several of our scholars are enjoying their Dixon Global Policy Scholars trip to Paris this week.

Congratulations to our students graduating today and tomorrow, our newest NSP alumni!

“Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.” - Minor Myers, Jr.

Celebrating our senior class one final time for our Senior Send Off event last Friday!

We are so proud of NSP Seniors Natalie Claypool, Ronnie Clevenstine, and Hannah Roebuck for receiving the university’s top undergraduate awards!

Spring 2022 awards ceremony: Nine students, undergraduate and graduate, to be honored Each spring Clemson University honors outstanding students through the University’s Spring Awards ceremony. This year’s awards will be presented at a ceremony on May 9, 2022.

Congratulations to Senior National Scholar Carson Colenbaugh, who received the Outstanding Senior in Horticulture award from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences and the Phi Kappa Phi Certificate of Merit from the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences.

Senior Mentor Dinner 2022

Each year, our senior scholars honor their most impactful mentor they have met during their time at Clemson. Congratulations to all!