Archives & Special Collections

Elon Scholar: Breanna Carrie Detwiler

Rachel Stas – Archives Intern
March 30, 2012

Breanna Carrie Detwiler (native of Warrenton, Virginia) graduated from Elon University in 2009 with a degree in Environmental Studies. As a student, she was an honors fellow and a member of the National Honor Society, Phi Kappa Phi. Moreover, she managed the Elon Community Garden, was a member of Whole Earth and College Democrats. She also worked on the Student Environmental Sustainability Council and was the student coordinator for the Elon Academy. Additionally, she was selected to present at the 23^rd National Conference on Undergraduate Research, presenting on, “Examining the Contributions of Community Gardens to Social Capital.”She was the first student from Elon University to receive the Truman Scholarship and the Udall Award, both in 2008. The Truman Scholarship provided her with $30,000 for graduate study, federal internship opportunities, training in leadership, as well as priority admission to graduate school. The national Udall Award granted her $5000 for collegiate study as an undergraduate for one year. She also received the 2009 Phillips-Perry Black Excellence Award for having the highest GPA of any senior female African-American student at Elon. Also in 2009 she received the Golden Oak Award—a Student Excellence Award—from the Elon College of Arts and Sciences. In 2010, she was the first Elon student to be named a George H. Mitchell Scholar, named after the U.S. Senator who aided in a peace accord in Northern Ireland. The award funded one year of postgraduate study at Ireland’s University College Cork.