Name: Keil Eggers
Year: Freshman
Hometown: Lawrence, Kansas
Major: Currently government and international politics; he is considering adding a major in conflict analysis and resolution and a minor in Arabic.
[1]Keil Eggers
Why He Chose Mason: Becoming a University Scholar was the deciding factor. “I had some full tuition offers from other colleges, but none of them offered the mentoring and support supplied by Mason,” he notes,
What Sets Him Apart: While still in high school, Eggers founded the Kansas Consortium for Youth Voice, a nonprofit that empowers young people to get involved in social issues through activism and volunteerism. Eggers worked on two expansion grants that netted $100,000 from the Kansas Volunteer Commission.
Service learning is a big component of the group, with members leading and participating in workshops to better understand how to express their views and influence decision making through political channels. Eggers says the group is expanding its efforts, taking part in national conferences and working with the International Visitors Council to offer workshops to youth from Central Europe, Iraq, and Yemen.
“The one thing I’ve learned is that if you give people the opportunity to participate in something they care about, they will do it,” he says.
What Surprised Him about Mason: The community’s friendly nature. “You typically think that you would have some negative experiences with somebody on campus, but that has never happened to me,” he says.
What He Would Tell Prospective Students: “The Mason community provides you with all the support you need to succeed. Come here!”
Plans: Eggers is interested in the Foreign Service or working for nonprofits. “It basically all boils down to what kind of internship opportunities I can take advantage of,” he says. “I’m interested in a lot of things, and it’s very hard to dial it down.”