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Princeton Seminary’s 2nd Annual Golf Challenge began with an elegant event that brought prominent guests, distinguished alumni, and leaders of Princeton Theological Seminary to the home of Seminary President Jonathan Lee Walton. But the accomplished attendees weren’t the focus of the festivities.
The stars of Sunday evening’s welcome reception for the Seminary’s 2025 Golf Challenge were a particular group of students. They welcomed guests at the door, engaged them in conversation, and displayed a warmth and attentiveness throughout the evening that made everyone feel at home.Those students are serving in the Presidential Leadership Fellows Program, an initiative started last year by President Walton to provide leadership training, professional development, hospitality experience, and networking opportunities to a select group of master’s level seminarians. Sunday’s reception and silent auction, followed by Monday’s golf outing at Springdale Golf Club, were a celebration and show of support for the Fellows Program.
This program was born of my belief that hospitality is the heart of ministry. I’m talking about the kind of radical hospitality and openness to others that blurs the lines between guests and hosts.
Cecily Cline Walton echoed this theme of hospitality in her welcoming remarks, adding “This annual fundraising dinner and golf challenge was born out of the same spirit that gave rise to the President’s Fellows Leadership Program. Both were conceived as ways to shine a light on the Seminary’s new initiatives and to share our mission with larger audiences.” She encouraged guests to embrace the spirit of hospitality, inviting them to connect with the current cohort of Presidential Leadership Fellows or share a moment and conversation with someone they met that evening.
“I came up from Nashville because Jonathan asked me to,” quipped Todd B. Jones MDiv ’79. “I love the game, but mostly I love the Seminary.” Jones, who is retired after 40 years of pastoring, including leading the historic First Presbyterian Church of Nashville, said the Fellows Program will help a new generation of seminarians make their mark in the world. “It’s all about nurturing leaders,” Jones said.
Ruth Santana Grace MDiv ‘94, who is now Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, agreed. She noted that one of the fellows, Adriana Soto Acevedo, served last year as an intern at the presbytery and attended the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women as a delegate. The fellows, Santana Grace said, are already showing their mettle. “What you see here tonight is an affirmation of present and future leaders,” Santana Grace said.
Another guest, Winnifred Brown-Glaude, a professor of African American studies and sociology at The College of New Jersey, said the Fellows Program is a much-needed investment in the greater good of the nation. “It’s important not only for the students as individuals, but for the long-term effect on our nation,” said Brown-Glaude, “If you really love the nation, then you have to invest, whether it’s time, mentoring, or financial. We don’t have the privilege to opt out. We have to make a deposit for the future. And I am here tonight to make that deposit.”
Monday’s Golf Challenge offered guests multiple ways to join in the spirit of support. Some teed off at Springdale Golf Club, while others opted for the alternative program, “Beyond the Fairway: A Princeton Art Tour for Non-Golfers,” which included stops at the Arts Council of Princeton and Art@Bainbridge. A raffle and silent auction added another layer of excitement, with spirited bidding on courtside Knicks tickets, golf gear, handcrafted earrings from Hamilton Jewelers, and Makoto Fujimura’s art book The Four Holy Gospels, created in commemoration of the King James Bible’s 400th anniversary. The day ended with an awards ceremony and lunch, providing another opportunity to reconnect, champion the Seminary’s mission, and strengthen the Presidential Leadership Fellows Program.
For their part, the 2025–2026 Presidential Leadership Fellows can already feel the ways in which the program is shaping them for their callings. The students say the program has helped them develop poise, professionalism, empathy, and compassion as they engage with the wider world.
This program is asking me to be out in the open, to be an ambassador for the seminary, and to engage deeply with other people. It develops you as a person and as a professional.
Adriana Soto Acevedo, MDiv, MACEF ’26, is now an inquirer in the Presbyterian Church (USA), a first step toward ordination. She’s exploring the possibility of starting a ministry to provide pastoral care to pastors in Puerto Rico. “I am interested in giving care to the pastors themselves, especially in Puerto Rico where we undergo so many crises,” Soto Acevedo said. “Part of our training as fellows is to be very attentive and caring to people, and that translates very well into providing pastoral care.”
Isabella Shutt, MDiv ’27, is pursuing a calling in social justice, combining the public policy skills she honed as an undergraduate with the theological foundation she gained at the Seminary. She said the fellows program offers exceptional access to likeminded people in and out of the Seminary. “Being a President’s Fellow immediately plugs you into this network of people who are all working toward the kingdom of God,” Shutt said. “We’re in a tiny town on this tiny campus, but there is this wider vision of what God is doing in the world that is accessible via what the presidential fellowship offers.”
Priscilla Youn, a first-year MDiv student who has only been on campus for a few weeks, said she is already learning a lot from her colleagues in the Fellows Program. “So much of who God is, is being revealed in this program,” said Youn, who wants to serve as a youth pastor to Korean American communities. “This program is filled with so many different people from so many different backgrounds, and to me, that just shows me more of what heaven looks like.”
Jamie Neal, meanwhile, plans on becoming a chaplain with the U.S. Navy and is already training for the role. A self-described introvert, Neal said the fellows program pushed her to engage with the wider world. “Being a fellow helps me get out of my comfort zone, to engage with people, and to listen more carefully, more actively, and more deeply,” Neal said. “And for me that is just the essence of being a chaplain.”
From first drives to final putts, the 2025 Golf Challenge was one for the books. See the moments that made it special:
View photos from Sunday’s Dinner
View photos from Monday’s Events
