Three Duke TIP students honored with leadership awards from Heim Foundation
Contact: Katherine Thomson
Duke University Talent Identification Program
(919) 668-9127
katherine.thomson@duke.edu
Duke TIP students honored with awards recognizing leadership ability
Updated: August 18, 2009
DURHAM, N.C. — Three outstanding students have been named the 2009 Heim Leadership Award winners by the Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) and the Bruce J. Heim Foundation.
Megan Hitchcock, a rising college freshman from Greensboro, N.C.; Devin Pesek, a rising high school junior from Shiner, Texas; and Rosa Sierra, a rising high school junior from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, are the 2009 recipients of the Heim Awards, which recognize their leadership strengths. All three were participants in the 2008 Duke TIP Leadership Institute, held on Duke University’s campus. After the Institute, each completed a year-long community leadership project, known as a Legacy Project.
Hitchcock’s Legacy Project, “Hope in a Teddy Bear,” named a children’s hospital as the beneficiary. With friends and community members, Hitchcock raised money through community fundraisers to provide each child in Brenner Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem, N.C., with a Build-a-Bear stuffed animal.
 The 2009 Duke TIP Leadership Institute Heim Foundation Leadership Award recipients and Heim Foundation representative (pictured left to right): Rosa Sierra, Jim Cunningham (Heim Foundation), Megan Hitchcock, and Devin Pesak. |
Pesek’s Legacy Project raised capital funds to restore an early 20th-century building at his school in Shiner, Texas. This building used to be the primary school building. Working with the principal and pastor of his school, Pesek raised more than $1.5 million in charitable contributions and matching gifts. The building, now restored, will be listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings. Pesek is planning on founding a non-profit organization of his own, called HOPE Into the Future, which will work with the underprivileged in the community.
Sierra’s Legacy Project helped to match cultural liaisons in her home country of the Dominican Republic with volunteers from around the world Working with a non-profit organization, Mission Emmanuel, Sierra enlisting volunteers from her school, to serve as interpreters for community service volunteers.
Hitchcock, Pesek and Sierra were invited to the 2009 Duke TIP Leadership Institute to be recognized by the Bruce J. Heim Foundation and presented with merit financial awards. Each delivered a compelling presentation about their year-long community service projects to inspire current 2009 Leadership Institute participants.
The Duke TIP Leadership Institute is held annually on the Duke campus, and encourages students to deepen their commitments to service, philanthropy, and civic engagement, no matter where their academic or career paths may lead. The Institute utilizes the latest methodologies in leadership education to offer students an understanding of leadership through accelerated classroom instruction and service experiences in the community.
The Bruce J. Heim Foundation’s generous support of Duke TIP dates back to 1992 thanks to the outstanding volunteer leadership efforts led by Executive Director Ms. Barbara H. Pailet. The Heim Foundation was established in 1986 to provide financial assistance to causes that help people, especially young individuals or small groups, who have demonstrated potential for excellence in an area of interest. The Foundation hopes that such assistance will allow the recipients to improve, develop, and concentrate on their talents, thus providing additional impetus for future success. It also hopes to nurture a spirit of gratitude and reciprocity in the recipients that will stimulate them to support, and become involved in, similar philanthropic causes.
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About Duke TIP: The Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) is a non-profit educational organization that is recognized as a leader in identifying and serving the educational needs of academically gifted youth. Through identification, recognition, challenging educational programs, information, advocacy and research, Duke TIP provides resources to gifted students, their parents, educators, and schools for the development of the students’ optimal educational potential.
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