Elle is from Rockford, Illinois and originally aspired to be a ballerina. A torn meniscus disk dashed those dreams and focused her on academics with sites on college in California. Elle was finalist in Miss Illinois Teen USA, and in the top 15 for the National American Miss Teen Illinois State Competition. She came to Whittier College on the John Greenleaf Whittier Scholarship and while here, she explored Religious Studies, Philosophy, and Gender and Women’s Studies, but fell in love with Neuroscience. She hopes to attend medical school and continue this love. Elle will graduate in May with a major in Psychology and minors in Religious Studies and Gender & Women’s Studies. At WC, Elle has also been in Cheerleading Club, Brain Awareness Week Planning Committee, Students for Community Medicine, as well as a member of the Psi Chi-Psychology Honor Society, and the Senior Class Gift Committee. Elspeth pursued an ambitious neuroscience research program and has presented posters and papers at various conferences in Southern California. Elspeth’s senior thesis paper was nominated for the Psi Chi Annual Review publication. Elle was recently honored by the Psychology Department as Outstanding Student in Academics at the Whittier College Spring 2011 Honors Convocation.

Gaby was born in Arequipa, Peru where she lived for 12 years before coming to California with her family. Having lived in a Spanish speaking country, Gaby characterizes her transition to a new school as very difficult, especially because of the language barrier. She feels that the support that she received from her parents helped her succeed in middle school and high school. In high school, Gaby finally felt proficient in English and she was able to take the challenging AP classes, which helped prepare her for Whittier College. As a freshman, Gaby utilized the liberal education classes to discover what interested her the most. She found her passion in Cellular and Molecular Biology class and this prompted a switch from a major in Business to one in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Gabriela Gutierrez is now a third year student at Whittier College who will be graduating in 2012. Progressing through her studies and volunteering in a hospital helped Gaby realize that she wanted to pursue an education in the medical field. Her current internship has provided her with hands-on experience with patients, and has strengthen Gaby’s resolve to pursue a pre-med curriculum with the goal of attending medical school.

It means so much to be to be one of the first recipients of the Palmer Alumnae Scholarship. Not only does it help my family with some of the tuition costs, but it also means that I represent Palmers to the best of my ability. After pledging Palmers I knew that I would become a leader in the group. As pledge captain, I help my pledge sisters stick together during pledging and take in all the Palmer traditions being taught. As an active, I strived to maintain the high ideals of Palmers, service to sisterhood and scholarship being my main endeavors. As Pledge Mistress this year, my goal was to bring in a wonderful group of young women to enhance the Palmers and to capitalize on our Palmer values. I’m so please to represent the one of the first Palmer Actives to receive this honor, and I want to thank all of the alumnae for all of their support throughout my active Palmer years and especially throughout pledging this year.

Being one of the recipients of the first Palmer Scholarship was truly an honor for me. I have been a Palmer for over a year now, and I think it was one of the best decisions I have made. I received everything I was promised and more: amazing sisters, life-long friendships, the opportunity to help others through community service, and important values such as sisterhood and loyalty. Now apart from everything we receive for becoming Palmers, we also have the opportunity to be recognized and awarded a scholarship for representing what our Society stands for. This recognition can only help and motivate Palmers to keep doing a great job of modeling the values of our society. I am very grateful to the Palmer Society Alumnae for this scholarship and for the future opportunities that my sisters will have to be rewarded for their outstanding commitment and for representing the values of our Society.