BLF Celebrates 5 Years

The Buckeye Leadership Fellows Program is celebrating five years as the premier leadership immersion program offered by the Ohio State University Office of Student Life. Over the last five years, the program’s graduates have included fifty-five students now working in Fortune 500 companies, pursuing advanced degrees, starting businesses and receiving Fulbright Scholarships.

The Buckeye Leadership Fellows Program (BLF) began and remains as a donor-supported program, with a variety of Ohio State alumni, business and community leaders contributing to program initiatives. The program has over 350 supporters that provide coaching, mentoring and programmatic financial support to students through a variety of experiences.  Students who are selected for the program have unique access to explore internship and job opportunities through community engagement activities and by participating in consultative projects with businesses and non-profits in Central Ohio and beyond.  Being selected into the program is a high honor.  Only 20 students are selected annually through an intensive selections process.

Students in the program engage in philanthropy and understand the importance of donor support. BLF exceeded a monumental fundraising goal in 2014 with the support of a private donor to engage in a match campaign, with a pledge to match every dollar raised up to $250,000. The program exceeded its goal, raising $331,953 and bringing a total of $581,931 to ensure the program’s operation for the coming years.

Established in 2010 as the Office of Student Life’s signature leadership development experience, the Buckeye Leadership Fellows Program provides transformative experiences which empower undergraduate students to challenge themselves to continuously improve, to identify their place within the world and to mindfully engage in their post-graduate pursuits. The experiential program exposes students to a range of public and private industries and encourages them to think differently about how to apply their skills in a practical way.

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the program, BLF will host a networking reception at the Ohio State University Airport Hangar on Friday, September 11.  The event will be supported by Wheels Up, First Financial Bank, PNC Bank, Cameron Mitchell Catering, The Columbus Partnership, Bartha and Roberts and Rogers.  Buckeye Leadership Fellows in the program will network with BLF Advisory Board members, program supporters, Ohio State alumni, university leadership, and business and community leaders.

Also in September, the program will host its second annual Leadership Challenge Month. The BLF Leadership Challenge Month engages Ohio State students to participate in internship-like experiences, specifically solving real problems facing Central Ohio businesses and non-profits. Assisted by STEAM Factory faculty members and current Buckeye Leadership Fellows, students work in teams to understand the problem, create recommendations and present their solutions and implementation strategies at the conclusion of this seven week immersion program.

In October, BLF will open its applications to the Ohio State student population for its 2016-2018 cohort and add its sixth class of students to the program.

For more information regarding the Buckeye Leadership Fellows Program, please contact:

Eddie Pauline

Director, Buckeye Leadership Fellows Program

Pauline.2@osu.edu

614-247-6620