Alumna awarded grant from Arnn’s former honorary – Hillsdale Collegian
The Phi Kappa Phi National Honorary awarded Hillsdale College alumna Vivian Turnbull ’25 an $8,500 scholarship for graduate studies.
Turnbull was one of 48 Phi Kappa Phi members nationally awarded the scholarship this summer. The national honorary offers scholarships to assist students with graduate school. Turnbull will put her scholarship toward her degree at the University of Notre Dame Law School.
“I was very honored to be selected for the school. I was hopeful that maybe it would come through on the national level, but I certainly wasn’t holding my breath or expecting it,” Turnbull said. “Winning was a very pleasant surprise to have over the summer.”
Phi Kappa Phi is recognized nationally as an exclusive academic honorary. Every year, the Hillsdale chapter invites the top 10% of the senior class and the top 7.5% of the junior class to join. Turnbull joined the honorary as a junior, according to Don Westblade, assistant professor of religion and president of Hillsdale’s Phi Kappa Phi honorary.
“Phi Kappa Phi is the one that Dr. Arnn was in when he was an undergraduate, and the one that he preferred that Hillsdale had,” Westblade said. “Being a member is just a way of saying ‘I’m one of the better people in this college as a part of a national honorary society.’”
Hillsdale College’s Phi Kappa Phi chapter selected Turnbull’s application to nominate nationally, according to Westblade.
“We had three or four applicants, and the college is allowed to nominate one of those applicants to the national competition,” Westblade said. “She was the one that the local chapter nominated and, thankfully, she received one of those scholarships.”
Turnbull’s rule is to apply for everything. The chances of winning are zero if you don’t apply, she said. The application included a writing sample, personal statement, and letters of recommendation, among other things.
“My personal statement was similar to the personal statement that I used for law school, and that talked about growing up a military kid and seeing a lot of veteran homelessness and being really interested in possible legal solutions to that,” Turnbull said.
Joseph Postell, associate professor of politics, said he wrote Turnbull’s letter of recommendation.
“I think the world of Vivian, so I obviously wrote her a very strong letter of recommendation,” Postell said. “But I played a minor role. She obviously got it on her own merit.”
Postell said he was not surprised by Turnbull winning this scholarship award.
“She’s just extraordinarily intelligent. In 15 years I can say I’ve never had a better student — a brighter student — than Vivian, just really remarkable and extraordinary. But that’s not it. She’s just an incredibly kind and thoughtful person who I think cares more about people and her relationships with other people than advancing or changing the world,” Postell said. “She always stayed grounded. She wants to help veterans, she wants to work in a less notorious, less prolific environment, but she wants to actually help people.”
Turnbull said her time at Hillsdale, including her time in Phi Kappa Phi, and her professors, especially Westblade, Postell, and Professor of Politics Mickey Craig shaped her into the person she is today.
“I’m so grateful for this opportunity. I really appreciate the Hillsdale chapter nominating me and Professor Westblade was so instrumental in this, and he was just such an encouragement and such a help in the application process,” Turnbull said. “Also Dr. Postell and Dr. Craig, my academic advisor, for all of his advice and support over the years, he’s been wonderful as well.”
