Current Scholars
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Nell Potter
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Nell cannot believe how quickly her first year at Vanderbilt blew by, and everyday is more appreciative of all the opportunities the Ingram Scholarship Program has to offer her. Always interested in education and in improving the achievement gap, Nell was not surprised to find that this passion followed her down south. Nell started off the year volunteering at a number of different organizations, including tutoring math at Maplewood High school, working the food truck with Nashville Mobile Market to alleviate food deserts in Nashville, and a number of school improvement projects at public schools all over the city. After finding her footing, Nell decided to dedicate most of her time to Fannie Battle Day Home for Children and Vanderbilt’s Invisible Children Club. Twice a week Nell drove to East Nashville to tutor and supervise the elementary school students at Fannie Battle. With Invisible Children, Nell helped organize fundraising efforts as well as for a speaker from Uganda to speak at the screening of KONY 2012 on Vanderbilt’s campus. Over the course of her high school career, Nell dedicated herself to the East Harlem School at Exodus house. She created a partnership between her high school and the middle school, was a weekly tutor and mentor, recruited other young volunteers, and spent a summer as a fulltime teacher, teaching two sections of fifth grade humanities, a journalism class and coached the girl’s lacrosse team.
This summer, Nell is thrilled to be back in New York as an intern for a brand new organization called The Future Project. TFP aims to inspire high school students and help them to transform their dreams into realities through a partnership with a passionate young adult. In its first year The Future Project was unbelievably successful, and though it can currently be found in public high schools in New York, New Haven, CT and Washington, D.C., Nell hopes to one day bring it to Nashville!
This year Nell is excited to continue to be involved in The Future Project and Fannie Battle, but is also eager to find how else she can remain an active member of Nashville’s community. Though she always finds herself drawn to education issues, she is enthusiastic to explore and discover new subject areas to volunteer in and learn from.
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