This year, ChiWIP offered our first annual Scholarship for the Advancement of Women in Law or STEM Graduate Studies. We have been hoping to bring a scholarship to the student community for some time, and are thrilled to be able to launch this year when so many students have such need. This $1,500 scholarship will support a woman who has completed their first year of law school or graduate school studies in the fields of law, science, technology, engineering, or math and/or is a recent graduate thereof seeking professional testing/certification for the first time. The scholarship recipient was selected based upon her exceptional academics, financial need, and demonstrated commitment to service of her community. We are pleased to announce that this year’s scholarship recipient is Elise Wu.
Elise is a JD candidate at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, with her JD expected in 2023. Elise graduated from Northwestern University with her Bachelor of Arts in Legal Studies and Global Health Studies in 2019 with a 3.85 GPA. She is also currently a candidate for a Masters of Science in Chemistry, expected in August 2022 from Ohio University, where she currently carries a 3.57 GPA.
Elise is highly engaged in her community. As an undergraduate student, she was President of Girl Up, a campus chapter of the UN Foundation. As president, she made it a priority to increase access to opportunities for girls in low-income neighborhoods in Evanston and the Chicagoland area. For example, the organization hosted over one hundred girls who participated in programming on leadership, health and civics during their annual Summit. During a tour of the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center in Chicago, Elise was struck by the realities facing juveniles in detention, and in particular the girls incarcerated there. As a result of that visit, Elise founded Plan J for the Detention Center’s 15 incarcerated girls, where together with her co-founders they designed a curriculum and educational lessons on reproductive and sexual health and positive relationship to give them more information about their bodies and lives when they are released. After graduation, she was selected as a Northwestern University Public Interest Fellow, where she was given the opportunity to work with Brave Initiatives, an education technology nonprofit where she helped girls in underserved communities in Chicago build their confidence and address issues they faced in their communities using coding and design thinking. The girls created apps and websites addressing food insecurity, climate change, and gun violence.
We are thrilled to honor Elise with our inaugural ChiWIP Scholarship for the Advancement of Women in Law or STEM Graduate Studies and recognize her academic achievements and contributions to the community, and in particular contributions in advancement of women and girls. Congratulations, Elise!