Featured Fellow: Tatum Elliott

Tatum grew up in the rural county of Amelia, Virginia. She loved that her extended family lived close by and that her town’s setting allowed her to be creative with childhood fun, such as spending lots of time playing outside in the woods. She also enjoyed playing sports—especially volleyball. After completing high school in Amelia, Tatum migrated about 2 hours northeast to attend James Madison University where she graduated with a degree in International Affairs in May 2020.

When Tatum was younger, one of her favorite television shows was the police procedural drama Bones. At that time she thought she might perhaps enjoy heading in to the same field of the show’s main characters: forensic anthropology. While Tatum still includes this field on her list of casual interests, she chose to begin studying Social Work and Health Sciences when she started college at JMU. After going on several mission trips to Haiti, however, she switched her track of study to International Affairs with a concentration in global human development. She describes this as being a bit out of her comfort zone initially as it involved lots of poli-sci and higher level Spanish classes, but she really enjoyed the different experiences which it afforded her, such as 2 months of studying abroad in Argentina!

During her last year at JMU, Tatum was considering what career path she might take after graduating with her International Affairs degree. Her initial plans were to apply for work with the Peace Corps. However, when she was telling her boss at JMU about this idea, he described the experience which he had post-college in a Fellows program. “I fell in love instantly with this idea and knew it was for me.” Tatum then applied and was accepted to the Greensboro Fellows program for the 2020-2021 year.

As a part of the program, Tatum works for the Budd Group at their Winston-Salem office in the procurement department. Although she was employed during her college years, she’s enjoyed learning new things about herself as a worker while she now navigates the adult workforce. One of her favorite things about working at the Budd Group since September is that she has become friends with a fellow employee who gives her informal Spanish lessons on their lunch breaks. Since college Tatum has hoped that she’d be able to learn more Spanish, so this experience at the Budd Group has been an unexpected blessing to her.

“But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

-2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Throughout the 5 months of the Fellows program so far, Tatum has enjoyed being part of such a loving Christian community. “This type of atmosphere is really new to me, but I love it so much. I have grown so, so much in my thinking and awareness of God’s strength and love for me.” She has recently grown to love passages of Scripture such as 2 Corinthians 12:8-10. “I’ve always hated my flaws and weaknesses, but this passage has taught me that weaknesses can be so good because this is where I can truly see God working and witness His power.” As she’s lived as a part of the Fellows community, studying different books (such as The Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith) and personality tools (MCORE and the Enneagram) with them, she has learned more about how God cherishes her not for what she does, but for who she is and how He’s made her to be.

While Tatum’s not working at the Budd Group or attending Fellows’ classes and events, she enjoys running, playing volleyball, dancing (“poorly,” she jokes), and spending time with friends. She is still considering what her next steps after the Fellows Program will be, but she is adventurous and hopes some of her future activities will include things like running triathlons and floating down a river in Thailand on a bamboo raft. Tatum’s gentle kindness and humor have blessed each of the Fellows this year, and we are so thankful to have her as part of the program!