May 27, 2025
Thursday evening provided an opportunity for reflection as Rachel Chen, Kate Hodgin, Madelon Jensen, Alawi Masud, Sierra Sabec, Carter Stacy, Brad Williams and Chae Yu celebrated the completion of the Coro Fellows Program. Joined by family, friends and other supporters for a graduation event in the community room at UMSL at Grand Center, the latest class of St. Louis Coro Fellows took turns recalling impactful experiences they had embedded with community organizations throughout the region, insights they gained from interviewing civic leaders and lessons they will take with them as they move into the next stages of their lives and careers. “The fellows in their program have had incredible experiences to see leadership in action across St. Louis and an opportunity to determine how they will choose to lead,” Coro Fellows Program Director Leah Moser said during welcoming remarks. Moser described the Coro approach to leadership as inward, outward and forward. “Fellows learn to lead by reflecting inward to cultivate self-awareness, build adaptive resilience and critical-thinking skills,” Moser said. “The fellows develop leadership to engage outward in cultivation of skills of communication, inclusion and the ability to collaborate effectively across differences. And the fellows are prepared to lead forward by using influence, impact and engagement to move toward a greater vision.”
Chen, Hodgin, Jensen, Masud, Sabec, Stacy, Williams and Yu all came to St. Louis in August from far-flung parts of the United States and, in Yu’s case, South Korea. Each fellow spent time placed in local nonprofit, government and business organizations, took part in Focus Weeks, conducted informational interviews with over 200 civic leaders, and met weekly at Delmar DivINe for seminars with trainer Jessica Wernli. Their graduation was relocated due to a tornado, and they penned a heartfelt letter to Delmar Boulevard, read by Stacy. It concluded: “It is especially bittersweet to end our time in the fellowship now, for when we stepped outside after the skies grew clear, we saw you in pain... Just one community, hurt but not broken, a tapestry of different lives and different stories coming together and already starting to rebuild.”
