Augustana Senior, a New Lincoln Academy of Illinois Laureate, Loves Art and Leadership
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Laura Keenan has a keen eye for creating both beautiful artwork and transforming work into something approaching art.
The busy, staggeringly talented Augustana College senior from Elmhurst, Ill., was recently honored as Augustana’s student laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Each fall, a senior from each of the state’s four-year colleges and universities and one student from the community colleges in Illinois is awarded the Abraham Lincoln Civic Engagement Award, becoming student laureates.
A former art education major, Keenan changed her focus in her junior year to major in communication studies and graphic design. She is the president of the Augustana Art Collective, project manager for the Web Guild, has served with the Student Government Association, and is active with Advertising Developers (ADs). She was the winner of the Tredway Library Prize for First-Year Research.
Laura Keenan, wearing her Lincoln medallion, with Augustana president Steve Bahls and her Lincoln Academy certificate.
She was nominated for the Lincoln Academy honor by both Dr. Wendy Hilton-Morrow, provost, and Dr. Wes Brooks, dean of students. Each student was presented with a certificate of merit signed by the governor, a Lincoln medallion, and a $1,000 check.
“Laura is a leader in the Augustana EDGE Center. She has the personal drive and the ability to make things happen.,”
Doug Tschopp, director of the Rock Island school’s Entrepreneurial (EDGE) Center and a public relations instructor, said recently. Keenan is the lead project manager in EDGE, and the president of Augie’s national advertising competition group.
“Laura is a great student, a strong leader, hard-working, and passionate about using her skills to help society,” Tschopp said. “She is a difference maker now and I am sure she will be forever.”
The EDGE Center opened in 2010 as an expansion of the Augustana Web Guild model, originally founded in 1997. The Web Guild is a self-funding student organization that provides website development services for small businesses and nonprofit organizations.
Today, the EDGE Center now offers an array of creative services, including web design, logo and print design, event planning, social media marketing, and video editing services.
Laura Keenan is an Augustana senior, from Elmhurst, Ill. (a western suburb of Chicago).
This is the 47th year The Lincoln Academy has celebrated students’ excellence in Illinois. The ceremony is usually held in the Old State Capitol in Springfield, and is followed by a luncheon with the Governor and the Governor’s spouse at the Executive Mansion, but this year was held again virtually due to Covid. The graduating seniors are chosen for showing “exceptional attributes in leadership with a desire to make a difference in the world through civic engagement.”
Around the same time, Gov. JB Pritzker announced the 2021 recipients of the Order of Lincoln, the state’s highest honor for professional achievement and public service. Established in 1964, the Order of Lincoln honors Illinois residents whose work uplifts every community in the state.
For the Nov. 10 Lincoln Academy student ceremony, each senior laureate wrote a personal statement on leadership for the program. This was Keenan’s:
“We often view great leaders as elite people who were born with special gifts and abilities that ordinary people like ourselves cannot attain. Or, we think they were really lucky in life and a great opportunity fell into their lap. Abraham Lincoln, however, reminds us that great leaders are simply ordinary people who wake up every day and choose to contribute to the greater good. They choose this, not for outside obligations, but because they desire within their hearts to do it.
“When we encounter a difficult situation, our decision-making should be guided by our inner desire to be compassionate, to consider everyone’s perspective, to stand up for what is right, and to share the truth, especially when it is difficult. It takes a great deal of courage to choose these principles. It is a daily, lifelong commitment. But, Lincoln’s Leadership Legacy reminds us that leading from the heart—with courage, integrity, honesty, and empathy—is always possible, no matter the circumstances.”
Keenan said recently she was surprised that she was nominated for and won the Lincoln Academy award.
An example of a new website Keenan worked on.
“I really had no idea what it was; it wasn’t something I applied for,” she said. As a junior, she had applied for Augustana’s Dahl Leadership Scholarship, and submitted an essay about leadership. That award is based on academic achievement and demonstrated leadership in co- and extra-curricular activities.
The summer before sophomore year, she had worked at a donut shop in the Chicago suburb of Niles, hired before they opened. The person who was supposed to be assistant manager fell through, and Keenan won the job as a new employee.
“I was 19, I had worked in the restaurant industry before, showed up on time, and had a pretty good head on my shoulders,” she recalled, noting she ended up training employees and opened the new shop, working 4:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. most days.
“I was an education major, and told them, ‘I can tell you need help training these employees; I’m comfortable doing that,” Keenan said.
When Augie President Steve Bahls told her in October she was going to be recognized for The Lincoln Academy, he had seen that Dahl leadership statement, which was on his desk. Keenan ended up getting an honorable mention for that scholarship, a $3,500 award.
Passion for art since high school
Keenan’s art specialty is clay, since taking a class sophomore year in high school. She won a best-in-show at a high school competition for ceramics.
Keenan’s binoculars-themed sculpture.
“If money didn’t exist, if I didn’t need to have a stable job, I would be a ceramicist,” she said. “I love it. I can spend eight hours in a pottery studio. I’ve done wheel throwing; that’s a fun skill to master. One of the coolest things about art for me, it’s been a good way to succeed. I take my academics very seriously, I like to succeed, but I’ve always found I am more successful when I have an art class on my schedule. I’m on an art scholarship, and I always believed in working that part of the brain.
“It helps with problem-solving, creativity,” Keenan said. “Something I realized early on, it’s important for me to have art classes, having a studio after graduation. One semester when I wasn’t taking art class, I really had a difficult time. I always found it to be important. It’s also helped with graphic design.
“A lot of people good at graphic design are good artists – it’s understanding color theory, it’s thinking outside the box.”
Her grandmother is an oil painter and Keenan has done drawing and painting, but it’s not the same satisfaction she gets as from handling clay.
“A canvas is two-dimensional; I like working with my hands,” she said.
In January 2020, she was just learning graphic design and Tschopp encouraged her to work at the EDGE Center and the Augustana Web Guild. It was then, Keenan changed her plans of becoming a K-12 art teacher, and thought about communications and graphic design as a major.
An example of Keenan’s pottery.
“We had different clients through the Web Guild, then the pandemic hit and everybody was freaking out,” she said. “Doug called me, asking what my summer plans were, and he said because of the pandemic, I am opening up the EDGE internship, accommodating interns from around the country.”
Normally, Augie would have 10 in-person interns, and that summer, EDGE worked with around 50, Keenan said, noting she managed them all, working with five leaders of each group of 10 students.
“What I knew from teaching, what I learned from the donut shop, we kind of rolled with it,” she said.
The students design and develop websites for a wide variety of clients in the Quad-Cities, and Keenan is their main point of contact and meets with the clients, meeting their needs and project timetables.
“I’ve done both — working with interns, virtual and in person, and with clients, in person and virtual. It’s been pretty crazy,” she said.
“When Covid hit, we had to reinvent how things work for summer internships,” Tschopp said. “That summer, we had record applications for internships in EDGE. Laura took charge and developed a system and resources so that our six interns on campus could manage 50 interns working remotely. A model we used again in 2021.
“The interns were scattered around the U.S. and a few international. Most were learning PhotoShop and other Adobe software,” he said. “They also had guest speakers (EDGE alumni) and access to learning materials for marketing and public relations.”
Competing against schools nationwide
The Advertising Developers (ADs) is a group that competes with about 150 colleges and universities in the NSAC (National Student Advertising Competition) each year, through the American Advertising Federation. The group develops a complete strategic communication plan for a real client (Augie has produced plans for companies like Pizza Hut, Snapple and Adobe). This includes all the research, strategy, and design that makes a plan stand out, Tschopp said.
A bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), the 16th U.S president, in Davenport’s Bechtel Park, on East 2nd Street next to the Government Bridge.
The written proposal is submitted and scored and then, they go to a regional competition to present their plan to the client. At Augustana, this is open to students from any major and they can do it every year.
The EDGE Center and Web Guild is like a small creative advertising agency, with over 230 clients, representing nonprofits and small businesses throughout western Illinois and eastern Iowa, Keenan said. For NSAC, a corporate sponsor each year gives all the participating schools a real case stud y to work on, spending eight months to put together a full strategic marketing plan, to solve their problem, and pitch it to the client at the competition, including a 20-page marketing plan.
Last year, the client was Tinder (the dating app), and about 150 schools compete. This year, the client is the virtual reality headset Oculus, owned by Facebook.
“I find it really impactful to see other schools, see the ideas they came up with,” Keenan said. “At Augustana, we run as a student group, that any major can join. At larger schools, it’s a lot more competitive, and top advertising majors join. I’ve been able to learn about the world of advertising and marketing.”
The home page for The Lincoln Academy of Illinois website.
She is leading the AD group this year, after she’s the only remaining student on campus in the club who had taken part last year. It’s comprised of about 30 students total and they meet twice a week.
Though Keenan couldn’t say much about the Tinder assignment, it was a branding exercise that focused on Generation Z, including students her age. “We learned about generational research, characteristics that shape a generation, kind of how consumer behavior can change. I became like a certified Generation Z expert, understanding what they want from brands, what brands have been really successful. It was interesting — sometimes you’re selling a product, and this focused more on brand reputation. I learned a ton through that.”
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Change in major, not approach
Though Keenan changed her major in her junior year, she said she continues to use teaching skills.
“For me, the best leaders and bosses I’ve had have been really good teachers,” she said. “You want to be a good mentor, less telling people the answers, but how do we approach this as a team, work together as a team, make sure everyone is included. I’ve found it to be really helpful I have that educational background.”
Samples of Lincoln Academy medallions given to Illinois student laureates.
“It just opened my eyes, the skills I had in education and leadership could be applied beyond being in a classroom,” Keenan said, “I’m not sure I see myself as a middle school art teacher, but more in like a leadership role for some organization, I wanted to take more of the entrepreneurial classes, but I couldn’t because I was an education major, and didn’t have the flexibility. So I dropped this major and picked up communications and graphic design instead. It’s been really fun.”
Keenan said her life completely changed the moment she walked into the EDGE Center.
“Doug, the way his management style is, he really lets students run things I didn’t realize I could do, until he said, you’re doing it,” she said. “There is room to make mistakes and learn from them. I’ve made mistakes, but I definitely learn. I’ve missed deadlines, it’s not easy, but Doug is always there to talk to.”
“What separates a good leader to me is authenticity – what I call living in truth, being honest, owning your mistakes, not blaming people,” Keenan said. “You’re taking responsibility. I think when in you’re in a position of leadership, you sometimes feel the need to have it all together, that everyone’s looking to you.”
The home page for Keenan’s new website for Revitalize and Develop East Moline (REDEEM).
One of the most meaningful websites she’s working on now is for the “A Book My Me” series, and related projects, founded by Deb Bowen of Aledo.
“They’re books by kids for kids, really important stories from World War II, the Holocaust, human rights stories — sometimes difficult topics to be taught in school,” Keenan said. “They’re sensitive topics, but they’re so important. The mission there is, share those stories that make sense to kids. That’s been really fun.”
The biggest thing she’s proud of was developing the virtual summer EDGE program, that ran successfully for two years.
“For me, that was something that really made a difference in EDGE — not something that was there before,” Keenan said. “My program development might be a career path to pursue. Teaching can happen outside the classroom. You don’t have to be a teacher to be an educator. I’ve been able to find my calling.”
She loved taking a J-term class last January, on “the art of fundraising,” from President Bahls, who has served on many boards of Q-C nonprofits.
Doug Tschopp, director of Augustana’s Entrepreneurial (EDGE) Center.
“It was one of those life-changing experiences, I felt so excited about class every day,” Keenan said. “It’s really cool to be able to again apply that to real life. We have clients that are nonprofits. I’ll be in meetings and executive directors talk about their organization. A website helps communicate with donors. I take what I learned in President Bahls’ class, see it play out in the EDGE Center.”
In that class, they worked with five local nonprofits and learned about the grant-writing process.
Another client she’s working on a web redesign is Cool Quad Cities – a group of Augie photographers, videographers, journalists and designers – which aligns with the Q2030 strategic plan, to create a “cool, creative, connected” region that encourages young people to stay in the region after college to live and work.
“There’s a lot of young, talented, smart people in the Quad-Cities and they often leave,” Keenan said. “If they would stay, that would help the overall economy…That’s been cool; I work with those students and trained a few of them on graphic design and marketing,”
Among other websites she’s worked on are for the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Society, Revitalize and Develop East Moline (REDEEM), the Moline Public Schools Foundation, LULAC and a lot of libraries and churches.
The fees clients pay to the Augie Web Guild mainly go back into technology, equipment, and licenses, Keenan said.
“The costs are pretty low; they haven’t increased prices in 20 years,” she said. “We’re really not trying to make profits. As a student worker, I probably do 20 to 25 hours a week, but usually clock in for 8 hours. In a job through career services, you can’t work more than 10 hours a week. I’m not really doing it for the money; I’m doing it for the experience.”
This year, Keenan is earning four course credits for her EDGE and web work. Her art classes also paid off in graphic design, since you need an artistic eye for design, she said.
Continuing to pursue art
She started the Augustana Art Collective her sophomore year because she’s very passionate about art, and there was no art club at the time.
Laura Keenan is a communication studies and graphic design major at Augustana.
“I won best in show in my high school art club,” Keenan said. “I was also the only art education major in my grade.”
She wanted to start a club that art students were interested in, as a community for fellow art students to connect with other students. They meet once a week and have a small budget for art supplies. They meet to share their works and critique each other’s pieces, asking for tips and feedback. They’re planning an outing to the Figge Art Museum in Davenport.
“We started in the pandemic, which was really difficult,” Keenan said. “We were focused on sharing art supplies, but some students weren’t comfortable with that. We had a traveling sketchbook, where there was a sketchbook and we’d be continuing to add to them.
They’re back meeting in person this school year, since there’s a low rate of Covid transmission from surfaces, and they do a lot of hand washing and disinfecting, with the group averaging 10 students at most.
The Art Collective also would like to do a pop-up art show of student works, Keenan said.
“One of the things I learned in EDGE is creating opportunities for other leaders to step up, find what club members are interested in, and empower them to take the lead on that,” she said. “I can only take on so many roles, so I’m focusing on training, empowering younger students to take over leadership roles I’ve been in. It goes back to mentoring, teaching other students how project management works, so that everything continues.”
As far as post-graduation next spring, Keenan is keeping her options open, whether to stay in the Q-C or not. She can see herself working for an arts-related nonprofit, or an organization that focuses on kids, like the Boys & Girls Club.
Her communications major is separate from Augie’s mass communications and multimedia major. Keenan’s major relates more to public speaking and becoming an effective leader.
“I think I had a lot of hands-on leadership,” she said. “It’s helpful to know communication theory in a managerial position. The way you communicate with people affects a lot.”
Earning the Lincoln Academy helped Keenan reaffirm her positive leadership skills.
“I really do believe in the principles of the academy — integrity, courage, empathy and honesty,” she said. “It’s really easy to lose sight of those in the corporate world. It’s helped me realize my personal conviction matters. That will be helpful from that standpoint and speaking about that my style as a leader, what is important to me.”
Public speaking obviously is vital in making presentations, working with clients, and training staff, Keenan said.
While the NSAC conference was virtual this past spring, in April 2022, it will be back in person, in South Bend, Ind.
She has used an Oculus, and recognizes the power of virtual reality platforms.
“I think this new lifestyle is not going away; we’re in this virtual renaissance,” Keenan said. “It’s really cool, we do a ton of research on virtual reality, consumer perceptions of VR. It’s interesting to learn about the projected market of VR. I’ve been doing a lot of discovery about the metaverse, which is this hot topic. If I go to a company, I’ve had this abundance of knowledge about virtual reality and a lot of companies are getting into that, seeing how they can apply it to the workplace.”
To see Keenan’s work portfolio, click HERE. For more information on the Lincoln Academy, visit https://thelincolnacademyofillinois.org/.
