Stamps Scholar Conference 2015
April 27, 2015
On April 10, the third Stamps Scholars National Convention hosted approximately 500 Stamps Leadership Scholars from 41 universities around the US. Featured were speeches from Scholarship founders Roe and Penny Stamps, Professor Bill George of Harvard Business School, public speaker and educator Bill Curry, and CNN journalist Tom Foreman, who is the father of a Stamps Scholar alumna. The goal of the convention reflects the change in the Stamps Scholars Foundation from a small program to a growing group of diverse young people who can work together to find solutions to the major issues facing the world today.
Among the 15 Purdue Stamps Scholars, in attendance were first-year Honors College students Beau DeLaet (Construction Engineering and Management), Emma Alexander (First Year Engineering), and Hannah Basham (Wildlife ).
Left to right: Claire Lee, Anne Rodino, Allison Murray, Hannah Basham, Mrs. Penny Stamps, Emily Grimm, Claire Lee, Sam Albert, Eric Buedel and Beau DeLaet
Scholars with similar academic interests worked together in professionally focused “threads”. Beau DeLaet describes the experience.
The convention was organized into different “threads,” such as engineering, law and politics, social courage, etc. ...During these group sessions, speakers presented their ideas. For example, a professor of physics at Georgia Tech presented the concept of Fermi estimation and what physicists actually do behind closed doors. During another group session, Stamps Scholars were broken into groups to analyze a case study of the scholarship and its development. The groups were tasked with choosing one aspect of the scholarship, such as its reputation, the network of scholars, or the number of scholarships provided, and provide tangible methods to improve the area of concern. The goal of this was to help the Stamps Foundation make decisions for the future of the program. I was a part of the outdoor leadership thread, so I actually had the opportunity to go whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River in Tennessee.
They were also given the opportunity to see work by fellow Stamps Scholars in an exposition as well as enjoy speeches given by selected scholars. Emma Alexander describes her favorite speech:
One of the best parts of the trip was probably the speech given by Bill Curry. It took place after a formal dinner on Saturday night, and he completely took us all by surprise. Speaking as someone with a passion for public speaking, Curry’s ability to entirely captivate every member of the audience for the entirety of what was a pretty lengthy speech was quite admirable and really inspiring!
In 2006, Penny and Roe Stamps formed the Stamps Scholars Program at their alma maters: the University of Michigan and the Georgia Institute of Technology, respectively. Since then, the scholarship has grown to over 700 current and graduated Scholars and is one of the nation’s largest merit-based national scholarship programs. Purdue University is proud to be one of a select group of universities affiliated with the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation since 2011. At Purdue, the Stamps Leadership Scholarship covers the full educational costs of a bachelor’s degree and provides up to $10, 000 enrichment funds to cover expenses for summer research internships, professional academic conferences to present research poster, Purdue study abroad programs and unpaid internships or co-ops.
The Stamps family had a large impact on Hannah Basham.
I’m completely blown away by the generosity of Roe and Penny Stamps. Getting to hear more of the stories of the other scholars really brought into perspective how big of an influence the Stamps are making and how wonderful they are for investing in us.
Emma says:
My experience at the convention really empowered me and motivated me to power through these last few weeks of the semester and try to further increase my involvement on campus and in the community. I really want to use the invaluable opportunities the Stamps family has given me to give back!
