Templeton Honors College senior Evan Hewitt received the William E. Simon fellowship offered by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. This award allots Hewitt $40,000 in unrestricted grant funds which may be used for the benefit of civic life, creation of opportunities for others or personal scholarship. Evan was honored at the Templeton Culture of Enterprise awards ceremony this past June.
The William E. Simon Fellowship for Noble Purpose is an award designed to recognize a college senior in pursuit of honor, generosity, service, and respect. The purpose of the Simon Fellowship is to promote an appreciation for the moral and spiritual aspects of life for all. Previous recipients of the Simon Fellowship include students from the College of William and Mary, Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Michigan and Yale University.
In the case of this year’s prize, Hewitt’s winning proposal is to establish Rwanda’s first public library. All the books will be collected through a donation campaign in the United States, then shipped to Rwanda where he will oversee the renovations of a building, also donated for the project, train a local for the position of librarian, and inaugurate the institution with the help of the local government and Anglican diocese.
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is an academic organization that seeks to encourage students in an understanding of the values and establishments that sustain a flourishing society. Amongst its many endeavors, the driving focus of ISI is “to educate for liberty.” To achieve this goal, ISI strives to instill in students our nation’s founding principles of “limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, the rule of law, market economy, and moral norms.” Since its founding in 1953, ISI has become a nation-wide and internationally recognized scholastic institute. Alumni of the Institute include civic leaders, public policy organizers and politicians in federal government.
If you are interested in contributing to Mr. Hewitt’s project, you may e-mail him at ehewitt@eastern.edu. A website is soon to come, GahiniLibrary.org.
To learn more about the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and William E. Simon Fellowship for Noble Purpose, please visit:
http://www.isi.org/programs/fellowships/simon.html?tab=1#tab_box_anchor