Clarendon City Scholars
From the city, to the city.
The Clarendon City Scholars program is an urban leadership development and honors program that prepares students to pursue careers as leaders in cities and urban areas around the country.
Over the course of your four years at Gordon, you will attend the Clarendon retreat and four "Foundations" workshops, participate in a paid summer internship, complete a capstone senior thesis project, and engage in additional Gordon Honors and Scholars programming.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
"What brought me to Gordon was The Kinesiology major and Clarendon program. I have always been interested in the human body and its functionality and mechanism of movement. I knew I wanted to pursue this passion in a godly environment, and I felt the Lord calling me to Gordon. In my involvement as a Clarendon, Mío intern, and involvement in administration, my purpose developed into helping others and pursuing a nursing career. Clarendon provided me with incredible mentors who encouraged and nurtured my passion to follow God’s path. These mentors were the most prominent influence in my time at Gordon, and, without their guidance, I would not have been able to achieve the best, God-following version of myself. Not only that, but Clarendon provided a strong community of believers that played a large part in my college experience as well as helping me grow closer to God and His plan for my life. I look forward to moving into the nursing world, knowing that the Clarendon program has equipped me to accomplish this path where God has placed me."
— Emanuela Silva Kinesiology (pre-nursing concentration)
Program Details
Your Four-Year Experience
Over the course of your four years at Gordon, you will attend the Clarendon retreat and four "Foundations" workshops, participate in a paid summer internship, complete a capstone senior thesis project and engage in additional Global Honors Institute programming.
| Academic Year | Program Details |
|---|---|
Year 1 | Examine the five pillars of the Clarendon program |
Year 2 | Discover career and calling |
Year 3 | Explore leadership and community engagement |
Year 4 | Complete a senior thesis project |
Highlights
- $3,000 annual scholarship
- Tight-knit cohort community
- Cultural fluency
- Mentoring
- Paid summer internship
- Multi-city road trip senior year
Qualifications
- Be a U.S. high school senior
- Possess a minimum 3.0 GPA
- Demonstrate a heart for service through leadership in church, community, and/or school
- Demonstrate a desire to serve cities and urban environments through a future career
The Five Pillars
1. Personal Growth
- Academic growth: You are encouraged to excel academically, to reflect the standards of an honors program and to take advantage of any resources or support that is offered to maintain this academic standard.
- Spiritual growth: You are encouraged to demonstrate your commitment to grow in your relationship with Christ and his body by practicing spiritual disciples, attending Chapel, participating in discipleship opportunities and being active in a local church community.
- Social growth: You are encouraged to have relationships marked by integrity, humility, mutual respect and love.
2. Reconciliation and Cultural Fluency
"Reconciliation is an ongoing spiritual process involving forgiveness, repentance and justice that restores broken relationships and systems to reflect God's original intention for all creation to flourish." —Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil
Cultural competence is the ability to understand, communicate with and effectively interact with people across cultures. Through this honors cohort experience, you will gain a healthy understanding of your own cultural identity and intersectionality between race, culture and privilege while being an agent of reconciliation and healing on campus.
3. Community Engagement
You will have the opportunity to be actively involved in your communities—including your cohort community, the Clarendon community, the larger Gordon community and your home community. You will be encouraged to find places where you can use your unique gifts and skills to work on projects and initiatives that benefit particular communities. You will be encouraged to study abroad and engage with visiting scholars from different backgrounds.
4. Urban Leadership
As a Clarendon Scholar, your ultimate goal is to return to the urban context to serve in a leadership role. Toward that end, you’ll spend time discovering what you bring to the city and sharpening the unique skills needed to lead there. In preparation to return to the city, you’ll deepen your understanding of community—one of the biggest assets in an urban context—and the importance of engagement as you build with those around you.
5. Professional and Career Development
Throughout your four years, you will be given the tools to connect your calling and vocation to the needs and opportunities that exist in urban settings—whether business, education, the arts, community organizations, health care, politics, ministry or any other field. By the end of your sophomore year, you will be paired with a mentor who is a working professional in your declared major.
- Year 1: Introduction to the concepts of professional and career development
- Year 2: Career and Calling Conferences through CCI and paid internship
- Year 3: Paid internship
- Year 4: Apply for full-time career opportunities
Guiding Principles
UBUNTU
A Zulu phrase meaning “I am because you are.”
Clarendon Scholars succeed together, investing in one another and building connectedness. When one succeeds, we all succeed.
SANKOFA
SAN—return / KO—engage / FA—bring it here
A Ghanaian philosophy meaning “Go back and get it.”
Clarendon Scholars recognize the valuable skills gained through personal experiences and upbringings in the city. We reflect on where we come from to propel us forward to a better future.
Events
Annual Retreat
Each fall all four cohorts gather for the annual retreat. During the retreat, you will focus on one of the five pillars of the program. You will receive a deep understanding of the values and guiding principles through workshops and team building. All the while you create a closer bond with your cohort and build relationships with other members of the program. Don't forget to bring your dancing shoes and creativity for our annual cohort dance and talent competition: Cheesecake Cup.
Foundations workshops
Foundation workshops focus on providing practical tools to work and lead in the urban community. Each workshop will focus on one of the five pillars of the program to further develop your understanding of your calling back into the city. Each workshop is taught but one of our alumni who has been leading and growing in these areas.
Topics include:
- Asset Mapping
- Bridge-building within communities
- The role of the church in community development and equity
- When helping hurts
Senior Retreat
During your senior year spring break, you will join your cohort on a multi-city road trip around the northeast. You will meet Clarendon Scholars alumni and hear about the impact they are having in their communities. Each alumnus provides a unique story of the calling on their lives and how they have used their Gordon education to enrich and empower the areas they have been called to serve