Summer Hagelin
As one of 10 college graduates nationwide to receive a social development fellowship in the New York-based All Stars Project, Summer Hagelin is an all-star in her own right.
Hagelin, a political science major who served as the 2018 Towson University commencement speaker, was accepted to the master’s program at the University of Maryland School of Social Work.
She deferred her acceptance to pursue a fellowship with the All Stars Project, a national nonprofit that uses a performance-based approach to help inner city youth and their families transform their lives. “I am getting a crash course in how a nonprofit is run,” says Hagelin.
Professor Cynthia Cates in the Department of Political Science inspired Hagelin with her own stories of working while she completed master’s and doctoral programs. “This department feels like a family, and that is what makes it different,” explains Hagelin. “Professor Cates was a true mentor for me. She helped me complete the fellowship application process, develop references, and prep for the interview.”
“ [A service-learning class at Paul’s Place] confirmed for me that I want to make my life’s journey about helping others. ”
Hagelin initially started working at TU as a student employee in the Honors College then served as the student chair of the College of Liberal Arts Dean’s Advisory Group. She also was a project intern at the Hopeworks of Howard County Youth Leadership and attended the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Political Science Student Research Conference to present her research.
“There is plenty of encouragement and opportunity at Towson,” says Hagelin, who also presented her paper on political theory and the current political climate in the U.S. at the TU Honors College Celebration of Scholarship and Learning in 2018.
One of her most meaningful experiences at TU: an internship through a service-learning class at Paul’s Place, a social services organization in Baltimore City that offers programs and services to low-income individuals and their families in Southwest Baltimore. “The environment confirmed for me that I want to make my life’s journey about helping others,” she notes.