Lené Westerman Receives 2015 Offeramus Medal

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

ATCHISON, KAN. – Nearly 500 alumni of Benedictine College and its founding institutions, Mount St. Scholastica College and St. Benedict’s College, returned to Atchison for the annual Alumni Reunion June 12 – 14. The weekend featured the presentation of the Benet Awards, which date back to the founding institutions and honor prominent female and male alumni. This year, LenéWesterman of Plano, Texas, received the 2015 Offeramus Medal and Byron Thompson of Kansas City, Mo., received the 2015 Kansas Monk Award.
 

“I would not be the person I am today without Benedictine College,” Westerman said in an emotional acceptance speech during the ceremony. “The friendships that are so deeply established and the faith that I share with each and every one of you in this room tonight are very important to me. I am eternally grateful to those who steered me here to Atchison.”
 

Westerman spent her school years in Catholic education, from St. Paul the Apostle Grade School in Richardson, Texas, and Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas, she ventured to Atchison, Kan., where she attended Benedictine College, graduating in 1985. Today, she serves on Benedictine’s Board of Directors, where she is chairman of the Advancement Committee. She has also served for the past four years as co-chair of the annual Benedictine College Scholarship Ball, the school’s major fundraising event. She has followed in the footsteps of her late parents, Laura Jane and Howard G. Westerman Sr., who had graduated from the college in 1950, as a firm believer of giving time, talent and treasure to her alma mater and community.
 

Lené has also served in leadership roles in many Dallas institutions. She held a position on a business advisory board for St. Augustine Catholic School in Dallas where she was instrumental in implementing business procedures and fund raising for the school. She is a leader in the Bishop of Dallas’ initiative to assist Dallas area urban Catholic schools. She has served on the Bishop Kevin Farrell golf tournament committee and has served on the Dallas Jesuit Diversity parent advisory board as well as serving on many committees for the school’s annual “Celebration Auction.” She has held various leadership programs at Prince of Peace Christian School where she and her mother, Jane, initiated the Student Success Center. She has served on the Westerman Foundation as vice president since its founding in 2000.
 

Lené is a member of the Philanthropy Round Table, the Council of Southwest Foundations and the Association for Small Foundations. She has been very involved as a community philanthropist and has completed Young Men’s Service League with her sons, Andre and Evan. She and her daughter, Sophia Jane, have been involved in National Charity League (NCL), where mothers and daughters give back to the community by completing service hours together. Through NCL, Westerman was awarded the Presidents Voluntary Service Award in 2012. Her pastimes include traveling, running, reading, musicals and enjoying her lifetime friends.
 

Mount St. Scholastica College, which joined with St. Benedict’s College in 1971 to form Benedictine College, established the Offeramus Medal in 1957 for alumnae who had distinguished themselves in their profession, showed a prominence of service to the civic community, demonstrated outstanding loyalty to the alma mater, and reflected honor on the college through family and social life. In 1960, St. Benedict’s established the corresponding Kansas Monk Award for its graduates.
 

Founded in 1858, Benedictine College is a Catholic, Benedictine, residential, liberal arts college located on thebluffs above the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas. The school is proud to have been consistently named one of America’s Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report. It has also been named a Leader in Educational Excellence by Colleges of Distinction as well as one of the top Catholic colleges in the nation by The Newman Guide and First Things magazine. Benedictine prides itself on outstanding academics, extraordinary faith life, strong athletic programs, and an exceptional sense of community and belonging.  It has a mission to educate men and women within a community of faith and scholarship.

Location