2010-2011 Ping Award Winners

Over the past year, I have coached in an amazing program that targets at-risk and disadvantaged girls in grades three through eight called Girls on the Run (GOTR). GOTR operates in numerous cities across the U.S. and has over sixty locations in Cincinnati alone. The 12 week program runs in the Fall and the Spring and follows a curriculum of lessons addressing topics such as healthy body image, eating and physical activity tips, study tips, dealing with bullies, etc. There is a running component of each lesson as well, which prepares the girls for the 5k race they participate in at the end of the season. The girls are presented with the challenge of preparing to run this great distance and they take steps every practice to work towards achieving that goal. Then, at the end of the 12 weeks, they join GOTR girls all over the city and achieve their goal. This program is a life-changing and marvelous opportunity to be a part of and to behold. Girls who come from families of low socio-economic status would likely never have this sort of opportunity, but because of the scholarship program based off of the parents’ income offered to the girls, anyone can reap the benefits of the program! Each participant even gets a free pair of fitted New Balance running shoes.   As a Community Engaged Service Fellow at Xavier University, I dedicate multiple hours weekly to this program. Coaching a Girls on the Run program has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have been blessed enough to have had. I have felt a sense of accomplishment that I have made and continue to make a difference in the lives of the girls. I also have a great deal of fun with my team of coaches and incredible, talented, motivated, caring, intelligent girls! This past Fall, I got the whole Xavier Cross-Country and Track team, about fifty five college athletes, to come out to the GOTR 5k race to support and cheer on all the girls. They all enjoyed the experience, and the girls really thought it was so cool.   I am currently working to form a community partnership between a local school, the Academy of World Languages, and Xavier University to get more Xavier students involved in serving the community in this capacity. Coaches such as myself serve as an excellent role-model for these girls. As a member of the Cross-Country and Track team at Xavier and a 4.0 college student, I show them every day that I show up to their practice that, not only do I care about their health and well-being, but I am “walking-the walk,” or running the run, so to speak. I am living out the lessons and values I am teaching them. I had a dream to run Division I and I am doing it! I am also sharing my passion for empowering girls and women, living a happy, active lifestyle, and striving towards ensuring everyone has equal opportunities to pursue their own dreams, no matter their background or economic status.

Working with my community has been an ongoing passion of mine for nearly twenty years. In some manner or another I believe every one should give something of themselves to their fellow man. I am a firm believer that every deed you do will come back to you in some form or another. In 2009-2010, I was the treasurer of Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, Alpha Mu Delta Chapter which is located at Hocking College, in Nelsonville Ohio. Phi Theta Kappa is the honor society for two year Institutions. Last spring, I was instrumental in the implementation of our chapter’s new membership recruitment program.  We introduced our membership initiative at “Discover Hocking” which is a five day open house event, geared towards acclimating new students transitioning from high school to college. The theme of our presentation was entitled “Getting Your Ducks in a Row for College”. This entailed a brief presentation using a project board and handouts that I created, showing the four areas promoted by Phi Theta Kappans, which are membership, leadership, scholarship, and service. Hockings diverse programming background gave me the idea of rubber ducks I found who were wearing uniforms according to different job descriptions. Ducks were dressed in nursing uniforms, doctors, as construction workers, firefighters, and policemen. There were also friendship bracelets to promote team building, pencils with catchy phrases like “you can achieve your goals”. All of the “freebies” went over well with the crowd and helped draw them in to hear what Phi Theta Kappa can do for their future goals and aspirations. I am also involved with student government on campus. As a member of the Student Advocacy Association, I am working towards increasing student involvement with the board of trustees who govern Hocking College. As a student Liaison, an individual would be able to present student concerns and questions to the board, and the board in turn would provide the feed back needed to lessen the gap between students and administration. Last fall, with the support of PTK, we presented our proposal to the board and voiced our enthusiasm to the new link we could form. Dr. Ron Erickson, President of Hocking College, has been helping promote the idea and, if the board continues to be receptive in our talks, we hope to come to some sort of planning agreement in the near future. I am currently treasurer of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, Aerie 2168, women’s auxiliary, District auxiliary treasurer, and Director of Entertainment for Logan. These are all voluntary positions. Part of my duties for entertainment is planning, funding, decorating, and hosting the Eagle’s children’s Halloween and Christmas parties.  Members and their families may have a need and the goal is to fill that need and bring a smile to a child’s face. I raise funds through various raffles and drawings. Usually it takes all year to raise enough money to serve the needs of these families. This past Christmas I purchased and wrapped presents, with the assistance of  my fellow auxiliary members, for sixty-five children, ages ranging 6 months to twelve years old. We also made up individual bags of candy for each child. Santa gave them each their present calling them up to sit on his lap. We had a potluck, and I furnished chicken from KFC. With the funds you can provide, I plan to continue these programs in 2011, and fulfill the needs of the children. I also plan to encourage more family involvement by creating activities at the Logan Eagles. I encourage you to consider helping me in my efforts to work with those in need.

One of the things that I am most passionate about is clearly the American Cancer Society.  I have been deeply involved in the organization’s signature fundraiser, Relay For Life, which is a year-long fundraising movement that all leads up to an 18-hour overnight celebration for the cause.  For the past two years, I have served as the Event Chair in charge of planning the entire event; and this year, I currently serve as the President of the Colleges Against Cancer student organization at the University of Cincinnati that puts on the Relay For Life event each year.  Through my leadership, I have helped take UC’s Relay For Life event to great heights including raising over a quarter of a million dollars for the American Cancer Society, being the largest community service event on campus, being the top collegiate Relay For Life in the state of Ohio, being the number one collegiate online fundraising event in Ohio, and even being one of the top ten collegiate Relay For Life events across the nation!  It has certainly made our University known for having such successful event that brings together over 3,000 students, faculty, and community members to such a great cause.  It is also something that I have become very passionate about and that continues to help me grow as a strong person. Another community service initiative that I have been involved in during the past year is being appointed as Director of Community Service on the University of Cincinnati’s Student Government.  I came into the position with great goals including getting more students and faculty involved in service on and off campus, promoting volunteer opportunities in all aspects of campus, and overseeing more community service initiatives.  One of my proudest accomplishments during my first term was creating the Student Leadership Service Council (SLSC).  SLSC is a group of students passionate about volunteerism that come together to be a collective voice about serving the community by discussing ideas, successes, issues, concerns, and improvements regarding community service initiatives on and off campus.  The group also serves as a networking opportunity between other student leaders in service and community partners in need.  Even in its first year, the SLSC has been responsible for making great strides in improving UC’s community service efforts through advocating for an online volunteer tracking system and transportation modes to and from volunteer events.  I continue to dedicate myself day in a day out to my many volunteer efforts that I am passionate about.  I know that I will strive to continue improving the University of Cincinnati’s community service initiatives during my time as an undergraduate student and beyond.  Volunteering for the community is a passion of mine that won’t fade anytime soon.  Thank you for your consideration for this award.

For the past two years I have been volunteering at the Woodward Family Resource Center, an organization sponsored by Action for Children which serves families whose children attend Woodward Elementary School. At the Family Resource Center, I meet a lot of people from the low-income South side neighborhood which is next to the campus. Much of my work is to translate for non-English speaking families. I help them with phone calls and paperwork for the Department of Jobs and Family Services. I also help with applications for the School Aged Child Care Program and Liberty Community Center early childhood education program.  I help with ESOL classes and provide translation for parent teacher conferences.  Most of the teachers at Woodward Elementary require translation when they have conferences with Spanish-speaking parents. I have recruited other Spanish-speaking students from Ohio Wesleyan to help with translating at events such as the annual Holiday Clearing House sponsored by People In Need, the local food pantry.  Recently, I recruited members of several multi-cultural student organizations* to help provide entertainment at a “Family Traditions Celebration” event at Woodward.  And, I have recruit Spanish-speaking students to serve as hosts to help the Hispanic families feel more welcome at the Woodward “Family Fun Nights”. Perhaps one of the most rewarding experiences I have had this year was to help a Hispanic family fill out an application for a Habitat for Humanity house.  I translated the application for them, and I attended their initial meetings at the County Habitat Office, providing translation whenever needed.  In mid-December, I was asked to be the one to call them to let them know that their application had been approved.  They are the first Hispanic family in Delaware to be chosen for a Habitat House, and they are currently working very hard to achieve their volunteer hours by helping to build a house for another family. Hopefully, there will be a ground-breaking for the Olvera’s house sometime this Spring. It has been very meaningful for me to have the opportunity to help people, not necessarily with material things, but with giving them the opportunity to go to the Resource Center and know that there will be someone who is able to help them with their doubts and concerns about living in a foreign country. I enjoy being able to communicate with people in a way that they feel comfortable telling me their problems.  Helping people at the Family Resource Center is one of the things that has made my own experience as an international student at Ohio Wesleyan University more fulfilling.

I am very passionate about Habitat for Humanity and the work they do, and have participated in builds all over the country over the past eight years in South Dakota, Vermont, Louisiana, Atlanta, Mississippi, and Alabama, and truly enjoy the work Habitat does. I am a firm believer that Habitat works not only to build houses for people, but to change lives.  I have seen the impact a Habitat house can have on a family and hope to continue my service to the organization through any means possible.  Throughout my time at Denison, I have been President of our Habitat chapter on campus (past 2 years) and helped to revitalize Denison’s relationship with the local affiliate through the construction of twelve houses in the Licking County area. Moreover, this past year, I planned and led a Global Village trip to El Salvador with nine Denison students and two faculty members to build with Habitat for Humanity over our spring break.  This trip was more than just a week-long service trip; it became a cross-cultural experiential learning opportunity for all involved, since it was coupled with a credit-bearing class that met weekly to learn about the history, politics, environment, and culture of El Salvador.  My experience with the Global Village program really helped to pinpoint my vision for the future, and hone in on my leadership skills. My goal has become working to cut across boundaries and change lives in the process, which I know I did on many levels throughout the course of the planning and implementation of our trip (as well as on my GV trip to Botswana this past summer), and I hope to continue to do on a greater level in the coming years in my new community teaching special euducation students in Colorado upon graduation. Upon our return, I have used my experiences to empower others to live their dreams and make a difference in the lives of others.  Moreover, I am using and will continue to use my Global Village experience to not only educate others about the world around them and the incredible social justice issues people face but to also empower them to go out and advocate for a cause they believe in and to spread their passions around the globe. As I pass the torch on my leadership with Habitat at Denison, I am proud to say that our organization received the President’s Award for the most successful volunteer organization on campus during my presidency.  Moreover, we have grown our volunteer base to over 100 active volunteers and have increased our break trip participation where we build all over the country and world from one winter break trip with 14 students to a 28 student winter break trip and two spring break trips, one national and one national, giving students the opportunity to participate in service-learning and volunteerism on a greater level. My work with Habitat over the years has been increidbly powerful and truly life-changing and recently, in my university studies, I have begun to realize the impacts (both positive and negative) non-governmental organizations can have on the world and the people around it.  Therefore, I want to make my life's work one that is sustaining, but also impactful to others that were not given the same opportunities as me.

My commitment to creating universal access to healthy, environmentally sustainable, economically just and delicious food originated in my discovery of the tremendously positive impact such food has on the people who create and eat it. Increasingly, our society is beginning to understand that while our industrialized food system may allow us not to pay much up front for our lunch each day, it may not be worth the enormous expense that must be paid by our environment, local economies and health. Here in Lorain county, some of the costs can already be counted: for example, the 2009 obesity rate for preschoolers was 12.6%, which will have tragic effects on their health and the quality of their lives. In a county where about half the land is farmland, direct farm to consumer sales per capita were only $6.74 in 2007, while fast food expenditures per capita were $622.31 that same year.^[1] We have a long way to go towards building a food system that connects communities, supports local businesses and families, and is kind to the environment, which only makes it more imperative that we begin to work towards a future of healthier children, land and local economies now. Because we all eat, what we choose to put in our mouths every day makes an enormous impact on the food system as a whole, and I see this choice as an opportunity to create real change. This is one of the reasons why, as a freshman, I was excited to become involved in our campus chapter of Slow Food, an international movement working for universal access to good, clean and fair food. I wanted to help build this movement, but after waiting a year for someone to tell me what to do, I realized that if I wanted change, I would need to take those first steps myself. That led to my leadership in Slow Food Oberlin, to speaking at the U.S. Delegation meeting of the international Terra Madre conference in Italy last October, to co-chairing the steering committee for Oberlin’s first Food Week, and to an internship with the Lorain County Food Policy Coalition for my Winter Term project. Food and the issues surrounding its production, distribution, preparation and consumption are no longer relegated to mealtimes or grocery shopping, but have rather become an important part of my extracurricular and academic experiences here at Oberlin, as well as my career and life goals. Food Week will begin next Monday and continue through six days of panels, film screenings, tastings and workshops, and I am very excited about the opportunities it presents to the Oberlin community. It will be a chance for both our campus and the wider Oberlin community to become more educated about current food issues and about some of the potential solutions. Just as important, it will be a time to build bridges of awareness between the different groups of students and community members who are working on projects related to food access and justice in our immediate community. It is remarkably easy for students at Oberlin to tackle similar or complementary challenges without ever being aware of potential allies on campus or in the community, and so I have thus found that the most exciting part of working with students, organizations and community members to plan Food Week has been helping them to build relationships that will last far beyond next Saturday. Food Week has shown me that building connections is key to progress towards our goals, and I look forward to using these lessons and new allies as I help this community build up a strong and vibrant food movement.

I think my main flaw when I first arrived at college wasn’t my shyness or lack of confidence; it was my naiveté.  I had grown up in a safe suburb continuously sheltered by my loving, somewhat overprotective, parents.  My childhood was a happy one in which I was able to remain blissfully unaware of the horrors in the world.  Through books and television I gradually learned to process such concepts as murder, child abuse, rape, etc., but all of these terms seemed completely disconnected from my own world.  Thus, even a university as small as Wittenberg seemed like a cultural shock to me.  It was as if someone had removed the glass dome sheltering me from reality. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I decided to explore my dome-less environment.  I received an email informing me that the Rocking Horse Center—a community health center that serves underprivileged children in Springfield—was looking for some volunteers to help with the childcare aspect of an ADHD group.  In an uncharacteristically brave move for the sophomore version of myself, I called the number listed on the email.  I didn’t know it then, but that phone call would be one of the most defining moments of my college career. During the course of the last two years, I have gradually gotten more involved with the Rocking Horse Center.  I have helped with groups ranging from basic play therapy to intensive child-adult relationship enhancement, and I have heard countless stories of abandonment and abuse.  Amazingly, these children I worked with still laughed, smiled and joked.  Their resiliency was a constant source of light in a world that seemed to be engulfed by gray clouds, and all I wanted to do was make their world a bit brighter. In each group I worked with, I made it my goal to connect with at least one child.  Being a quiet person has taught me the value of a non-judgmental ear, and many of the children I worked with weren’t used to positive individualized attention.  I listened to each of them patiently and tried to share their joys and encourage them through their trials.  I—the girl everyone had classified as “the quiet one”—had finally started to appreciate the joy of reaching out and connecting with others, and I found it to be quite addicting. Rocking Horse has given me a purpose and a voice.  I feel compelled to speak for this population of neglected and abused children who are often bounced around the foster care system or ignored by society, and Rocking Horse has given me an opportunity to help them on a personal, familial, and institutional level.  Although my impact sometimes seems small or insignificant, every now and then I get a glimpse of how I affect these children’s lives.  Often it’s the little things like receiving a hug or a painting from a shy child that encourages me to keep reaching out to this neglected population of children.