Junior Natalie Weinhold, recently received the NorthWestern Mutual-Chicago Leadership Award.
This award was created by Concordia’s own duo Joshua Nash (Junior), and Brian Arnold (Junior). They have worked closely with the members of NorthWestern Mutual, in order to create this award.
The NorthWestern Mutual-Chicago Leadership Award is supposed to be given to a student of Concordia who encompasses these four areas: community service, academics, athletics, and leadership.
Weinhold is a member of the women’s soccer team at Concordia and has been for all three years that she has attended. For the past two years, she has been one of the captains for the team. She mentioned that it is a big time consumer with all of the practices, games, workouts, all while trying to balance her school work. In the community, she recently became a VIP in the Buddy Program that she is involved in. The Buddy Program takes place in Oak Park. She spends her Sunday’s at the program teaching children with special needs how to play soccer. At home in St. Louis, she has volunteered as a Sunday school teacher. For the past two years, Natalie her teammates have participated in a Power Soccer tournament where they volunteer with any needs that the organization may have.
Natalie states,
“Power Soccer is also known as wheelchair soccer and it’s an awesome event to experience.”
There were a total of six nominees from Concordia and Weinhold mentioned that her soccer coach, Chris Brown, had told her she had been nominated for this award.
The nominees all had to submit their resume and fill out a questionnaire. The questionnaire asked the nominees to describe how they have demonstrated leadership in each of the four areas listed above.
As the recipient of this award, Weinhold got to choose a charity where she would like to donate some money to. She decided to donate the money to a charity called Diana’s Grove, which is an animal rescue. When asked why she decided on that organization she stated,
“I chose this charity because it is very special to our family. My little sister adopted a dog from this rescue and he [the dog] has changed our lives and my sister. My sister has anxiety and gets really bad anxiety attacks but Sammy [the dog], calms her down and is actually considered a service animal for her at her school.”
Weinhold also mentioned that her sister’s birthday was coming up and she wanted her birthday present to be a donation to the charity that helped change her life. The money being donated is going to be used for resources and to house animals that are in need. Natalie hopes another family will be able to be blessed with an animal that is just as special as their Sammy.
Natalie wanted to make sure that the people who have helped her become the leader that she is today were fully recognized.
In order to do that, she said,
“I just want to say that I would not be the leader that I am today without my family, friends, coaches, teammates, and most of all, God. I am so blessed to have family and friends that are an amazing support system and especially my mom who has instilled in me the values and beliefs that i have which help me to be the best person that I can be. Without my coaches over the years, I would not have learned how to be a leader and what to do in times of crisis. My teammates push me day in and day out to be the best role model and leader for them. They have high expectations for me and I know that in order for them to respect me, then I need to live up to those standards and expectations. Finally, God is my refuge and strength. During times of trial, when I have no idea what to do, I can always turn to Him and He answers my prayers. He has given me the talents and abilities to achieve so many things and to be a leader.”
