Senior Excels in Hutchison Leadership Program

Girls like Porter Johnson excel through our Hutchison Leads program. Read about how Porter started her own year-long independent study project on development in Memphis after a well-established background in volunteering throughout the community as a Rogers Scholar.
Porter Johnson worked with Hutchison Leads Director Kathryn Jasper to create Advanced Honors Public Policy, a unique year-long independent study. Jasper noticed Porter’s passion for and commitment to serving the community since her freshman year and was eager to help her create an opportunity to cultivate it through the Rogers Scholars Program.

Prior to the study, Porter had developed a strong passion and knowledge of the Memphis community through her extensive work with several midsouth organizations including Bridges and Streets Ministries. She explored her passion for literacy further through her experience tutoring with Memphis Teacher Residency Reads program and at Sherwood Elementary. Porter also co-wrote an article featured in 4Memphis Magazine about her work with the Family Safety Center, where she donated her Rogers Scholars Award grant.

During her class experience, she collected data and history of the city to identify the issues she wanted to research throughout the year. Next, diving into public policy, Porter analyzed areas of the community based on sustainability, education, Public Health, Economy, Population, and Revitalization. In her final portion of the course, she focused largely on Revitalization, which involved more research on funding structure and neighborhood, interviews, and a culminating project of creating her own Neighborhood Revitalization Approach.

A standout in serving her community, Porter was also awarded the Rogers Scholar Award for Service and the Laura Hampton Rogers Community Commitment Award. Porter will study Political Science with an emphasis on Public Policy on a pre-law path at Clemson University in the fall of 2017.
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