“While there are many organizations on campus that teach leadership theory, there are not as many that put it into practice through hands-on experiential learning and community mentorship,” said Tyler Myers, a senior at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. As a member of the 2025 Leadership Knoxville Scholars (LKS) cohort, Meyers and his peers participate in an innovative experience that enhances leadership development and service learning through immersive educational opportunities.
The cohorts participate in two academic courses through the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS): the first teaches and analyzes servant leadership in coordination with social change, and the second concentrates on navigating civic engagement beyond graduation as students implement their community action projects while collaborating with Knoxville organizations.
Students engage with local leaders through personalized mentorship in partnership with Leadership Knoxville, forging lasting relationships to advance personal and professional growth. Community excursions to surrounding organizations and activities invite the cohorts to holistically understand Knoxville from a cultural and historical perspective. In their final year, they implement a Community Action Project alongside a Knoxville non-profit organization. For Tyler Myers, his enduring passion for developing resources to access nutrition has inspired several projects, most recently leading to his aspirations for his community action project.
A Partnership with United Way of Greater Knoxville
Myers exemplifies significant dedication to community engagement through his involvement with LKS as he partners with United Way of Greater Knoxville (UWGK) to combat the prevalence of food insecurity in Tennessee. Serving Knox County and neighboring communities, the organization combats poverty by meeting people’s basic needs and providing early care and education, access to healthy food, support for local schools, and resources for financial independence.
“UWGK has a mission to unite people and resources to strengthen communities and solve systemic issues,” said Kimberly Pettigrew, the director of food systems and supervisor of Myer’s project. The collaboration between UWGK and Myers has produced a virtual database that allows schools to observe and access surrounding nonprofits and calculates distances to walk, bike, and bus to critical organizations that provide vital resources. While UWGK has long developed geographic mapping to understand the systemic foundations of food insecurity, the project provides a tangible resource to assist in combating the issue in East Tennessee.
Myers works with school coordinators to ensure program understanding, enable partners to input their data and collect feedback to gain insight into potential opportunities. The database offers valuable pathways for communication and education to provide nutrition that supports children’s development, advances success in education, and improves livelihoods.
“You can go to maps within our databases and see where food is and isn’t and really understand the links between [food insecurity] and other demographics of Knoxville’s population,” said Myers, “It’s a lot of systemic issues that are sometimes very overwhelming, but in another sense, I also learned there’s a lot of really amazing people in the Knoxville community that are working to change those precedents that have been established for decades. I’m really excited to see what these amazing people are able to accomplish over the next couple of years.”
As Myers applies to medical school, he discussed how his interest in researching the intrinsic links between overall health and nutrition has informed his career goals as a future physician. He intends to prioritize access to quality food to advocate for patients’ rights.
Pettigrew said, “Tyler has a passion for people that I don’t often see in those who have careers in more analytical fields…his values, compassion, and generosity are equal to his intellect, making him well-suited to a field that looks to take populations and large datasets and use those to improve precision treatments for patients. I can confidently say that we need more Tylers if we hope to have a future where resiliency, equity, and sustainability thrive.”
Enduring Engagement of Leadership Knoxville Scholars
“Whether scholars are finding third places through excursions or connecting to new professional networks through their mentors, LKS is challenging students to step outside of their experiences at the University of Tennessee and explore what it means to be a community member and take an active part in creating communities they are proud of,” said Natalie Frankel, the assistant director in the Jones Center overseeing the program.
The program invests in students to cultivate community engagement and further develop active citizens in a global society. The unique experience enables students to explore social issues they are passionate about, regardless of their connection to professional goals. Student interests shape their mentorship matches and guide their community action projects to ultimately cultivate civic engagement in Knoxville while developing leadership competencies.
Cohort applications open annually in the spring semester. The Jones Center for Leadership & Service encourages sophomores to apply to invest in their leadership development and active citizenship while building lasting relationships with peers and community leaders alike.