Six emerging leaders in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) have been named as the seventh class of HELM Leadership Fellows.

HELM Leadership Fellows are selected based on their leadership potential, church participation, and academic promise. The six new Leadership Fellows, who will all be incoming freshmen during the 2007-2008 academic year, are:

CHEON FAENZA HAMILTON

Sarah Cheon, a member of Sallims Christian Church from Claremont, Calif., plans to major in history at the University of California at Berkeley. Jenny Faenza of Central Christian Church in Springfield, Tenn., will major in political science and economics at Georgetown University. Caroline Hamilton of First Christian Church in Lewisville, Texas, plans to attend Texas Christian University and major in rehabilitation of the deaf. Jesse Stephenson, a member of Central Christian Church in Columbus, Ga., is exploring all the educational opportunities Transylvania University offers before he picks his major. Courtney Waters of New Direction Christian Church in Memphis, Tenn., will attend Rhodes College and major in international communications. Alexis Westerhausen, a member of First Christian Church of Virden, Ill., will attend Culver-Stockton College and major in biology.

STEPHENSON WATERS WESTERHAUSEN

“As always, we had an extremely difficult time selecting this year’s class, and there were literally dozens of other students who would have been in the program if we only had the funds. We are continuing to seek partners and identify strategies that will help us offer more opportunities to emerging leaders.”

Forty-one students from 15 regions applied for the Leadership Fellows Program. A selection committee comprised of HELM staff and individual Disciples from across the church reviewed the applications.

The new Fellows will join a diverse class of 13 returning Leadership Fellows. For information on all Fellows or for eligibility requirements for 2008-2009, click here. Together, the fellows are a diverse group. They come from congregations and towns of all sizes and reflect a variety of academic interests and intended professional vocations. Several attend Disciples colleges and universities, but public institutions and private institutions affiliated with other denominations are represented as well. The ethnic diversity of Disciples is reflected as well; more than 25 percent of the program’s participants are non-Anglo. All this diversity gives Fellows a new way to look at the church they have grown up in, the church they will serve.