Palmer Award Recipients!

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
—Harriet Tubman (1820-1913); American escaped slave, abolitionist, humanitarian


This year's Palmer Award recipients have been selected and notified...and they certainly are impressive! It's difficult to truly capture all of the passion they have and all of the accomplishments they have made here, but please read on to learn a little bit about each recipient.

Alexis Dennis (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
Alexis's experience with the Sunflower County Freedom Project, a nonprofit organization that offers students intense academic enrichment and leadership development opportunities, inspired the vision she created at the LeaderShape Institute in 2008. Her vision is for the women and girls in the Mississippi Delta to have the skills, knowledge, and confidence to become successful and take risks in order to pursue their passions and dreams. One of Alexis's steps towards this vision was the creation and execution of the "Health and Self" camp, a six day after-school program that led young people through a series of modules covering topics such as goal setting, values identification, healthy relationships, media stereotypes,and health related topics.

Kathryn Rice (Alma College)
While at LeaderShape, the vision that Kathryn began was to establish health clinics in developing countries that would provide free basic care and children's books to patients, making an impact on both healthcare and illiteracy. Since attending LeaderShape in 2008, one of the steps that Kathryn has taken was to spend a month in Ghana looking after newborns in the Osu Children's House orphanage. While there she came across the World Light of Ministry and began teaching at the school each day before she went to the orphanage.

Congratulations to Alexis and Kathryn!

We also want to take a moment to thank all of the LeaderShape graduates who shared their stories with us through this process. It is wonderful to learn about the impact you are making on the world. Thank you...and don't stop!


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The Palmer Award is given out each year to two LeaderShape graduates who have participated in a national or campus-based session during the previous year.  The award is given to recognize the achievements of those individuals who have demonstrated their commitment to bringing their vision to reality after attending a session of The LeaderShape Institute.  The recipients of these awards receive $1000 in honor of their achievements.

The Palmer Awards are provided from an endowment gift donated to the Alpha Tau Omega Foundation by Dr. Edmund T. Palmer, Jr.  Alpha Tau Omega created the concept of The LeaderShape Institute in 1986 and the Alpha Tau Omega Foundation funded the creation of the initial curriculum design for The LeaderShape Institute. 

Kristen H.