Saint Peter’s Student Wins 2003 James Madison Fellowship

April 29, 2003— Jersey City, NJ– Saint Peter’s College senior Tynika Young (Washington, DC) haswon a James Madison Fellowship for 2003, which honors a select group of college seniors interested in pursuing careers in teaching history, social studies and the American Constitution. Young will receive $24,000 in graduate school scholarships and will attend the James Madison Fellowship Summer Institute program this summer at Georgetown University.

Young will attend Rutgers University or Teachers College, Columbia University next fall utilizing the scholarship money from the Foundation.

“I am extremely excited to receive such a distinguished honor,” Young said. “Although I have some anxieties about graduate school and the summer institute, I am confident that the academic and professional preparation I have acquired at Saint Peter’s will be tremendously important and helpful. As I enter the classroom as a teacher, I can’t wait to share my personal experience and knowledge with my future students.”

Young is a double major in history and secondary education with a 3.6 grade point average. She is president of the Black Action Committee at Saint Peter’s and serves as a Senior Resident Assistant. Young is a member of two honor societies – history’s Phil Alpha Theta and education’s Kappa Delta Pi International. She previously won a competitive internship and spent last summer at the University of California at Berkeley.

Named in honor of the fourth President of the United States, acknowledged as “Father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights,” a James Madison Fellowship funds up to $24,000 of each Fellow’s course of study toward a master’s degree. That program must include a concentration of courses on the history and principles of the United States Constitution.

James Madison Fellows must teach American history or social studies in a secondary school for at least one year for each year of fellowship support. The award is intended to recognize promising and distinguished teachers, to strengthen their knowledge of the origins and development of American constitutional government, and thus to expose the nation’s secondary school students to accurate knowledge of the nation’s constitutional heritage.

Saint Peter’s College is the Jesuit College of New Jersey. Founded in 1872, Saint Peter’s has an enrollment of more than 3,000 students in undergraduate and graduate programs. The main campus is located in Jersey City and a branch campus, specializing in adult education, is located in Englewood Cliffs. Saint Peter’s also offers classes in downtown Jersey City near the waterfront financial district.