CardinalCorps Leaders share a night together at the campus center with their service tools-of-the-trade. Back Row: Brooke Warner ’13, Lauren Zachrich ’12, Maggie Zych ’15, Lyndsey DeRoads ’15, Theresa Hubbell ’13, Dana McDermott ’12 (p resident), Leah Winner ’12, Lauren Shanks ’14, Brooke Weisenburger ’14. Second Row: Audra Kohler ’14, Kendra Schwarz ’14, Hillary Rowland ’14. Floor: Brianne Buletko ’14, Matt Taylor ’13, Hannah Bisig ’15. knowledge in the nonprofit arena and taught me how to be an effective leader. I enjoy challenging myself to become a better person and to better the people and organizations around me,” she said. Otterbein student volunteers also work with high school students. Established in 2006, Otterbein’s Ubuntu Mentoring and Leadership program, based on an African concept of community, challenges students to form a community and set out on a path to college. Including this year’s class, more than 200 Otterbein students have mentored more than 600 high school students in the program. Each week, high school juniors and seniors from LindenMcKinley High School’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program, Mifflin High School and the Academic Acceleration Academy (AAA) attend mentoring sessions led by Otterbein student volunteers and students enrolled in COMM 1900 — Mentoring: Theory and Practice, a service-learning course. In these sessions, the participants learn about character building, college access, campus opportunities, and the ins and outs of financial aid. The program culminates with the creation of the Ubuntu Diary, which includes entries from students and volunteers and is given to each participant. It serves as a means for high school and college students to reflect on their values, personal assets, self-esteem, dreams and changes in their lives from obstacles they have faced. The Ubuntu Diary is shared with students outside the
Ubuntu community, drawing more students into our community and enlarging it. According to John Kengla, Otterbein senior instructor of communication and founder of the Ubuntu program, an impressive 80 percent of the urban students in the program have entered college. Kengla said the Otterbein student mentors are not only preparing high school students for college, but are also preparing for their own futures. “Many of these students have grown up in similar urban neighborhoods, and as they participate in the Ubuntu program as undergraduate students, they will also begin a legacy of service to be transferred to the communities in which they will live in the future.” Otterbein students also enjoy serving another community — the animal rescue community. Some people consider their pets to be friends, and others consider them to be family. Either way, the Otterbein Animal Coalition considers them to be worthy of a helping hand. The Otterbein Animal Coalition partners with local humane shelters, including Citizens for Humane Action in Westerville and the Franklin County Dog Shelter in Columbus, to visit, socialize and care for pets without parents. From giving baths to throwing balls, these activities help the animals become more confident and adoptable so that someday, they can have families to call their own. • Katy Blubaugh ’12 hugs a friend through the Otterbein Animal Coalition. O tte r b e in To w e r s | Fa ll 2 0 11 |
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