When majoring in Education and Psych/Soc. didn’t satisfy her, Cora Philpot decided to make her own major.
The Jackson County native felt that the education department was too strict and she wanted to teach college-age people. During the January Term, she took the Inner-city Missions class. This class is a service learning class where students interact and live as a homeless person would to understand their life.
After taking this class, Philpot realized that she wanted to learn more about social justice issues which made her change her major to Psych/Soc. While she was in these classes she knew that she wanted more than what those majors had to offer. She wanted to train future leaders, like herself so she chose to create a major in leadership.
While Franklin College offers a Leadership Minor, it doesn’t offer a major she has managed to create her own according to her interests, one advantage of a Liberal Arts college.
“They call me Little Bonnie, after Bonita Pribrush,” she says. Bonita is the head of the Leadership Department at Franklin. “She lets me co-teach the class, grade papers, write midterms, and I have office hours so other students can meet with me.” She said that this whole experience has opened her eyes.
She is a member of Student Congress, which she jokingly says she does “just for fun” because she does not hold a position.
Philpot is also the President of the Franklin Habitat for Humanity. Two weeks ago she was in Monroe County helping to rebuild houses, and soon she will be going to Lexington, Ky. for four to five days rebuilding houses destroyed by previous storms.
Another group that Philpot is a member of is the Lead Academy. It was offered this past fall to all students that show leadership qualities. They had to fill out an application to be accepted, and they have many speakers that give different perspectives of what a leader is and how a leader should be.
Philpot has been a New Student Mentor for three years and this past summer was the mentor for the Franklin Advantage. This is an opportunity for new students to take a class during the summer to meet new students before the coming semester and get the feel of a college class. She plans to be the mentor again this summer for the Franklin Advantage.