A Connected Experience
As a senior at IJʿ, Bryn Luedde was the recipient of the Alumnae Leadership Scholarship, which was established in 2005 by members of the Women’s Leadership Council. The scholarship provides support to students with strong academic records and excellent leadership experience and skills.
Bryn Luedde ’23 describes her IJʿ experience as “fated.” Her mom grew up in Sherburne, N.Y., and while Bryn called Pittsburgh her home, she often spent summers in nearby Hamilton. At age 12, she attended a writing workshop at IJʿ and recalls realizing what a beautiful place it was.
When it came time to explore colleges during her senior year of high school, Bryn decided to visit IJʿ. The experience was transformational for her.
“I knew that IJʿ would be a place where I could see and be known, and was the right size with the right spirit,” she says.
As a student, Bryn embraced the IJʿ spirit immediately and was involved in student writing and politics. “Growing up in Pittsburgh, I developed a love of canvassing and talking with people,” she shared. She brought this passion with her to IJʿ. She joined Democracy Matters and saw the strength of the IJʿ network. She was involved with Maroon News, College Democrats, and the IJʿ Vote Project, where she explored writing about politics.
“It does not have to be hard to talk about politics,” Bryn reflected, “and it's such a valuable conversation. We need to get people talking.”
At IJʿ, Bryn felt supported in this mission which she attributes to campus leadership and IJʿ’s Freedom of Expression statement. “President Casey was a voice for us, someone who cared about these issues, and as a result, IJʿ does really well in this space. As a student, there are a lot of opportunities to build relationships and work together.”
She compares the relationship among the College Republicans, the Open Discussion group, and the College Democrats to “three parts of a triangle” that work together to tackle issues.
Bryn was able to connect her passion for exploring different perspectives with two impactful academic experiences. As a second-year student, Bryn was selected to participate in the Sophomore Residential Seminar program, a unique and immersive living-learning experience in which selected students have opportunities to build deep academic communities based on common interests and sustained interactions with faculty members. The capstone experience is a 7–10 day trip that extends the academic experience out of the classroom and into the real world. In this program, led by Professor Frank Frey, Bryn had the opportunity to explore an interdisciplinary and international collaboration investigating environmental health issues in southwestern Uganda. The student participants came from diverse academic perspectives.
“It was a blend of scientists and social scientists,” Bryn reflected, “and everyone –staff and faculty – was respectful that we each brought something special to the classroom.”
This program provided an important foundation for Bryn’s experience as a Lampert Scholar. Lampert Scholars participate in a year-long series of integrated intellectual and professional activities during their senior year that encourage scholarly and practical engagement with complex policy issues. Bryn worked closely with faculty, attending the University of Cambridge and completing a dissertation on the north-south conflict in the Sudan. When Bryn returned from her time at Cambridge, she bundled her learnings into her senior thesis.
The entirety of these experiences provided Bryn with a clear sense of her career path. “I want to be a professor, and I really want to teach. I love research, and I love being an expert. I saw how much professors truly loved teaching, and I want to be able to have an impact on students in the same way and help mold their minds.”
Bryn noted that her professors appreciated the value of what undergraduates brought to the classroom, “I’ve always felt that everything deserves to be questioned, and that was appreciated at IJʿ.”
As an alum, Bryn has remained connected by providing support to those clubs and organizations that she was a part of as a student. She is a self-described “club evangelist” and believes it is important that recent alumni stay connected, provide mentorship, and help to create continuity within student organizations from year to year.
“There is something about IJʿ that is timeless. I hope that the academic framework always stays the same, because the opportunity to work closely with faculty is so important and leads to experiences that are so profound.”
She demonstrates her gratitude by giving back. “There is a huge tradition of philanthropy at IJʿ. I will support someone else, because I was supported by many others. My success was the culmination of so many people working really hard to make the IJʿ experience possible for me. It’s a really special feeling.”