The University of Notre Dame’s Division of Student Affairs recently awarded scholarships for the 2023-24 academic year to five junior undergraduate students in recognition of their demonstrated leadership on campus and beyond.

After reviewing nominations from across campus, a selection committee composed of representatives from Student Affairs and the academy awarded Lou Holtz Leadership Scholarships to Kylie Boyer, Luzolo Matundu, Olivia Hsin and Grace Wetli and the Hipp-Beeler Scholarship to Santiago Rodriguez. 

Each scholarship is designed to recognize and provide additional resources to students who display exemplary leadership qualities and a commitment to the holistic education of the mind and heart. The criteria include demonstrated leadership in residence hall programs, spiritual activities, community service, student government, student activities, entrepreneurial projects, interhall sports or any combination of these or other activities in the area of student life. 

Established by Mike Harper in 1995, the Lou Holtz Leadership Scholarship encourages recipients to develop leadership qualities similar to those of Lou Holtz, former head coach for Notre Dame football.

A junior double majoring in pre-professional studies and applied and computational mathematics and statistics and minoring in compassionate care in medicine, Boyer earned a Lou Holtz Leadership Scholarship as the result of her mentorship and service both on and off campus. A Downers Grove, Illinois, native and McGlinn Hall resident, Boyer is active in both the Notre Dame and South Bend communities. On campus, Boyer works as a mathematics tutor in individual and small-group settings and has served as a leader in her residence hall as a hall commissioner and vice president. She is also the treasurer for Notre Dame women’s club volleyball. Off campus, Boyer works as a tutor for the Robinson Community Learning Center, and she has served on behalf of the Michigan WISEWOMAN Program at Catherine’s Health Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Additionally, in 2021, she interned with International Medical Aid in Mombasa, Kenya, where she worked alongside health care providers at an orphanage and in clinics to provide care to members of the community.

Matundu, a junior majoring in political science, applied and computational mathematics and statistics and Africana studies from Chicago, also received a Lou Holtz Leadership Scholarship for her on-campus stewardship and her commitment to issues of social justice at Notre Dame. A QuestBridge and Fighting Irish Scholar, Matundu serves as the director of the diversity and inclusion and the race and ethnicity departments within Student Government and as vice president for Shades of Ebony, a student club dedicated to creating a space for Black women on campus through camaraderie and service. Additionally, she is actively involved in the Building Bridges Mentoring Program and the Voices of Faith Gospel Choir, and she co-hosts the Black@ND podcast. In her time at Notre Dame, she has also served as co-chair for academic outreach for Diversity Council, director for the Plunge Retreat for First Year Black Students, a member of the St. André Committee, and a diversity, equity and inclusion commissioner on behalf of Farley Hall. 

A junior from Los Angeles who grew up in Taipei, Taiwan, Hsin, majoring in film, television and theater and pre-health studies and minoring in compassionate care in medicine, received a third Lou Holtz Leadership Scholarship. A Pasquerilla West Hall resident and member of the Advisory Committee for Student Climate Related to Race and Ethnicity, Hsin served first as secretary and now as president of Diversity Council, where she plays an active role in its academic life, residential life and campus life committees. Additionally, she regularly integrates her passion for health care and storytelling in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre, where she works as a director and production assistant to lead teams of students to write and direct short films.

The fourth Lou Holtz Leadership Scholarship was awarded to Grace Wetli, a junior from West Lafayette, Indiana. A chemical engineering major and member of the Engineering Leadership Council, Wetli has held internships at Roche Diagnostics and the Notre Dame Center for Civic Innovation, and regularly mentors first-year students as an undergraduate teaching assistant in the College of Engineering. Also an active member of Flaherty Hall, Wetli serves as the hall president, a liturgical commissioner and a member of the hall flag football team. 

Established in 1992 by Student Government, the Hipp-Beeler Scholarship is designed to honor student-athletes Colleen Hipp and Meghan Beeler, who died in a bus accident.

Santiago Rodriguez from Bronx, New York, was awarded the Hipp-Beeler Scholarship for his commitment to community-building at Notre Dame.A computer science major, Rodriguez has helped to create and implement various academic projects at Notre Dame, including Introspect, a platform that connects students to appropriate advisers. Rodriguez also serves as vice president of Wabruda, a student group focused on the intellectual, social and spiritual connections among men of color at Notre Dame, and is an active member of Dunne Hall, where he worked to reintroduce food sales following the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, Rodriguez is a member of ColorStack, a community of more than 1,500 Black and Latino computer science students from over 500 schools throughout the United States, and is active in The Country Market, which allows for community-owned grocery shopping in urban and rural areas.