The College of Charleston’s official news site published profiles of three of their Bonner Leaders.
Madison Meeks ‘25 — Student Leader Inspires, Enacts Change on Campus, in STEM and Beyond
Junior biochemistry major Madison Meeks was one of three students selected to ask U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris a question during her visit to the College of Charleston on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023.
Madison Meeks, ‘25 posing question to Vice President Kamala Harris.
“The opportunity to meet and witness Vice President Kamala Harris on campus was surreal. To be afforded the opportunity to meet such a trailblazing Black woman and my sorority sister was heartwarming,” says Meeks, an Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Leadership Fellow. “I am grateful to have been able to ask her a question regarding voting rights, which is an issue I am passionate about. Her words of encouragement and empowerment reinvigorated the fiery passion for social justice and civic engagement for me. I left her presence feeling enriched, empowered and emboldened. I’m a better person for it.”
“Nothing has compared to the way I’m challenged and the way I’ve become more conscious of being civically engaged as a Bonner Leader,” says Meeks, who grew up in the Mississippi Delta, a place where many efforts for the civil rights movement were birthed. “I grew up playing at Broad Street Park, the place where Stokely Carmichael first said the empowering phrase ‘Black power.’ Being in Charleston and understanding the importance of this place as a part of my history has been transformative. As a Bonner Leader, I’ve learned how to embrace that history and empower change while reanalyzing how language, place and lived experiences affect our daily lives.”
Read full profile here.
Zara Johnson ‘24 — Scholarship Recipient Carries on Legacy of Service, Light, Love
As the first recipient of the Jennifer Demyan ’21 Endowed Memorial Scholarship, Zara Johnson hopes she can carry on the legacy of light, laughter and love that the scholarship’s namesake embodied.
During the selection process for the first recipient of the Jennifer Demyan Memorial Scholarship, the awards committee placed great importance on the applicants’ dedication to helping others.
What they didn’t expect was the striking similarities between one applicant and Demyan herself: Not only is Johnson from just outside of Demyan’s hometown, she has an interest in journalism and public policy – and a passion for service and community engagement.
“Receiving this scholarship is a huge honor,” says the Bonner Leader, who is double majoring in communication and international studies and has been active both on campus, promoting a culture of sustainability and civic engagement, and off campus, volunteering weekly at the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry.
The scholarship allowed her to add another service project last spring, when she worked with the Center for Civic Engagement and anti-censorship organization Free The Facts to plan an Alternative Break trip to Washington, D.C.
“I am fortunate that the Demyan scholarship has given me the financial breathing room I needed to pursue planning this trip,” she says, noting that she credits the scholarship and the College for many of the opportunities she’s had. “Through the College, I am still discovering more about myself and the person I will become.”
Read full profile here.
Tyler Godson ‘25 — Political Science Major Is Fraternity of One, Force of Many
Vice President Kamala Harris had been answering questions in Sottile Theatre for more than an hour during her “Fight for Our Freedoms” campus tour in October, when the last questioner, junior Tyler Gadson, posed one about climate change.
“This is a wonderful question,” Harris said, “and thank you for your leadership in so many capacities.”
It’s not every day that the second-in-command of the United States gives you props, but Gadson does so much at the College of Charleston, he certainly deserves the acknowledgement. To wit, he’s a senior intern in the Bonner Leader Program; a student-athlete academic mentor, helping student-athletes stay on top of their grades; secretary for the Student Ambassadors, whose goal is to recruit and retain first-generation students of color; basileus of the Beta Mu chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity; and CEO of Born to Prosper, a company he started with his mom with the goal of promoting a “pathway to prosperity.”
And that doesn’t even count a full course load in political science with a concentration in crime, law and society, as well as a part-time job selling clothes at J. Fredric’s Clothiers in Charleston Place.
“All of those things are things I love doing,” he says. “My parents told me that when you get a job, make sure it doesn’t feel like a job, so when I go to Bonner or mentor or recruit or work at J. Fredric’s, I forget about the clock and am just having fun. My friends are like, ‘Oh, you have to go to work on a Saturday,’ but I’m going to have fun.”
Read full profile here.