Kathryn Cunningham Hall - Class of 2004

While at Archmere, Kathryn (Cunningham) Hall ‘04 served on student government as class president for three years and was a member of the National Honor Society. She participated in the Kairos retreat, which she identified as a rewarding experience that opened her eyes and made her realize that service to others would be an important part of her life going forward. At graduation, she was presented with the school’s highest honor, the Archmere Medal.

She then went on to receive her undergraduate degree in Biology, with minors in nutrition and chemistry, graduating Magna Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008.

After her sophomore year of college, she spent a summer in Gambia, volunteering at Sulayman Junkung General Hospital. There, Kathryn discovered the devastating effects of power shortages on the hospital's ability to deliver adequate health care. The hospital's CEO, Kebba Badgie, asked her to help raise $300,000 for solar panels to solve the hospital's energy needs.

Shaken but inspired by what she had witnessed, and invigorated by Badgie’s challenge, Kathryn returned home and founded “Power Up Gambia,” a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing reliable electricity and water to healthcare facilities in Gambia through solar energy. Since its inception, “Power Up Gambia” has been featured in a number of notable publications such as the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Penn Medicine Magazine.

Since her initial visit, Kathryn has returned to Gambia on three other occasions to complete the solar project at the General Hospital where she first volunteered, as well as to pursue additional projects.

For establishing “Power Up Gambia” and for all of her efforts to provide international assistance and relief, our alumna has been recognized with a number of awards. These awards include the 2008 Youth Philanthropy Award presented by the Association of Professional Fundraisers, the 2009 People to People International Community Award, and the 2010 Best of Philadelphia – Philadelphia Do Gooder Award. She was also recognized as one of the “Ten Outstanding Young Americans” by United States Jaycees in 2009.

In the summer of 2008, after graduating college and before beginning medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, she married her high school sweetheart, Michael Hall, a fellow Archmere graduate from the class of 2004. The two were married by Father McLaughlin. Kathryn and her husband are currently both third year medical students applying for residency in the Fall, and have just recently welcomed their first child, Logan Joseph, on May 25, 2011.

At commencement this year, the honor of the first female alumna of the year, and perhaps the youngest person to receive the award was bestowed on Kathryn Cunningham Hall.