2010-2011 Wilberforce Fellows

On August 20th, Students for Life of America (SFLA) launched its inaugural Wilberforce Leadership Fellowship at their National Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

The vision of the Fellowship is to equip and further train student pro-life leaders to form national and state leaders that will help end abortion in our lifetime.
For the kick-off weekend, SFLA welcomed the 2010-2011 class of Wilberforce Leadership Fellows. During the weekend, Fellows heard from David Bereit, National Coordinator for 40 Days for Life and participated in seminars on the history of the pro-life movement, pro-life apologetics, how to build and cultivate pro-life campus groups, and leadership training given by Students for Life staff.

Upon finishing the Wilberforce Leadership Fellowship Kick-Off Weekend, Kristan Hawkins, Executive Director of Students for Life, remarked: “These students are the rockstars of the campus pro-life movement. The Fellowship will help to continue their growth in leadership as well as propel them into a pro-life career by networking them with mentors and leaders from the national pro-life movement. We are so excited to be working with them this school year!”

Throughout the 2010-2011 school year, each of the Wilberforce Fellows will be participating in a pro-life leadership training program to help them build their campus groups and to become better leaders. The Fellows will be reading various books and articles on leadership, listening to webcasts and seminars on leadership in the pro-life movement, and will be meeting and talking with mentors on a regular basis. Each Wilberforce Fellow has been paired with a national pro-life leader to help them get the training and experience they need to start a career in the pro-life movement.

Students for Life of America selected 9 Wilberforce Fellows, all of whom are leaders in their University Students for Life groups:

•    Angela Bevilacqua, Arizona State University
•    Devyn Nelson, North Dakota State University
•    Kelsey Hazzard, University of Virginia School of Law
•    Megan Redmond, Sacramento State University
•    Natalie Fohl, McGill University in Montreal, Canada
•    Jessica Brown, Cardinal Stritch University
•    Sean Maguire, Liberty University
•    Sarah Piron, Northern Kentucky University
•    Shea Hasenauer, Cornell University.

The mentors for the 2010-2011 Wilberforce Fellows include:

•    David Bereit, National Campaign Director 40 Days for Life
•    Steven Ertelt, Editor and CEO of Life News.com
•    Marjorie Dannedfelser, President of Susan B. Anthony List
•    Daniel McConchie, Vice President of Government Affairs for Americans United for Life (AUL)
•    Peggy Hartshorn, President of Heartbeat International
•    Tom McClusky, Senior Vice President of FRC Action
•    Brad Mattes, Executive Director of Life Issues Institute
•    Olivia Gans, President of the Virginia Society for Human Life
•    Steve Aden, Senior Legal Counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund
•    Kristan Hawkins, Executive Director of Students for Life of America

After listening to one of the mentors’ speech, David Bereit of 40 Days for Life, the Wilberforce Fellows were inspired to carry Bereit’s message of hope back to their campuses. “It gave me a boost in passion and I just want to get out there and see it done and actually end abortion,” said Sean Maguire from Liberty University. “It is so encouraging that there is so much faith and hope in this movement; that we are coming on a time when [abortion] will end!”

Angela Bevilacqua from Arizona State University added, “This whole weekend has been a God-send for me and my club.”

The Wilberforce Fellowship begins in August of 2010 and will end in July of 2011. “I can only imagine that by the time I’m done with the Wilberforce Fellowship, I will have gained so much knowledge and understanding,” said Jessica Brown from Cardinal Stritch University.

For more information on the Wilberforce Fellowship, please contact Mary Powers, Communications Director for Students for Life of America. mpowers@studentsforlife.org or 703-351-6280.

For the past week, Students for Life of America (SFLA) has been investigating a serious issue involving the University of North Carolina System’s student abortion health care policies. While SFLA has been trying to work with the UNC System, there are still have many concerns and questions that remain unanswered.

Today, Students for Life has sent a letter expressing our concerns to the Governor of North Carolina, UNC System President, as well as the North Carolina Congressional delegation in Washington, D.C. asking them to investigate the matter further. You can view the letter and find more information relating to the case online at http://www.noabortioninhealthcare.com.

Upon sending the letter, Kristan Hawkins, Executive Director, remarked “It is necessary that state and federal officials look into the UNC abortion health care situation. The UNC system clearly had a choice when adopting its health care policies and chose to include abortion. It wasn’t until North Carolinians and Americans expressed outrage that an ‘opt out’ policy was even offered. Since that time, we have received no reassurances that students who ‘opt out’ of abortion coverage will not be paying for other students’ abortions or that federal funds will not be used to help cover the cost of the abortion health care plans. Abortion is not health care neither for the women of North Carolina nor their preborn children.”

For more information you can go to www.noaboritoninhealthcare.com or you can reference the Fox News article and Jill Stanek’s latest article.

Please contact Mary Powers, Communications Director, at 703-351-6280 or at mpowers@studentsforlife.org.