A Pirate’s Guide to Service Page 2
Volunteer Recognition Banquet
Volunteer Recognition
Since the second to last week in April is National Volunteer Appreciation Week, the VSLC held the annual Volunteer Recognition Banquet on April 21st. Students were invited from all fields of volunteer work, blood drives, sorority and fraternity philanthropies, service-learning courses, ECU-READS, PEN-FRIENDS, and other VSLC programs.
East Carolina University
Heather King, WITN’s news reporter, opened the ceremony by introducing each of the nominees for the Individual Excellence in Service Award. Ashley Hunter was recognized for her work with Victory Junction, Anna M. Taylor for volunteering with TOP Soccer, Beth Anne Koury for assisting Special Olympics, Amy E. Coffin for contributing time to AseraCare Hospice, and Margot Cozy in serving with the LCPS Migrant Education Program. Next, Heather introduced the nominees for the Group Excellence in Service Award. Lindsey Bradsher’s Communication 4080 students were recognized for their work with the Ronald McDonald House, the Student Pirate Club for their contribution in blood drives with American Red Cross Blood Services, and the PTC Tutor Crew for their volunteer work with the Pirate Tutoring Center. The Awards were presented to Ashley Hunter, Anna M. Taylor, and the Student Pirate Club.
Following the Excellence in Service Awards, the VSLC AmeriCorps*Vista, Jeni Bergman, presented her North Carolina Campus Compact capstone, which highlighted fond memories of the Center’s past year in a creative, poetic form. Then, the VSLC staff presented individual awards to students who participated in semester or year-long programs involving continued commitment to volunteer work and the Center. These were students who participated in T.R.I.P.S., Pirate Playtime, F.O.C.U.S. and the Student Service Council. Service-learning associates, peer counselors and work study students were also recognized. One of the freshman F.O.C.U.S. members, Katy Ross, was recognized for completing the most volunteer work during the year, and was awarded a mini-iPod from Campus Living. Finally, Judy Baker, the Center’s founder, presented Judy B. Baker Service Scholars Tiffany Mills, Melanie Ross, and Alexandria Kessler with certificates and tassels for their completion of 300 volunteer hours over the course of their undergraduate careers.
Literacy Day ECU-READS is a campus-based literacy program that runs out of the VSLC. At-risk learners at local elementary schools are identified by school administrators to participate in the ECU program. Through tutoring and mentoring, young students receive both academic and social support by developing individual reading and English language skills. This year, the program was supervised by Allison Stephens, a recent graduate of East Carolina University and AmeriCorps N.C. Literacy Corps S.C.A.L.E. member. Throughout two semesters, Allison recruited, trained and supervised 80 ECU students who served as mentors to elementary school children attending Wahl-Coates School in Greenville. Also, Allison developed PEN-FRIENDS, a pen-pal system for elementary students. ECU students were paired with It’s easy to make a the students for one semester and exchanged weekly letters that focused on English writing techniques. buck, it’s a lot tougher to make a difference. One of the responsibilities Allison inherited this year was organizing and implementing Literacy Day. On Literacy Day, the entire kindergarten class at Wahl-Coates was invited to ECU’s campus for a day Tom Brokaw of interaction and literacy related activities. On April 8th, if one wandered up to the second floor of Mendenhall, they might have found a policeman, firefighter, dentist, nurse, school teacher, army soldier or veterinarian explaining their job to a group of interested, young children. Besides coming in uniform, representatives read a passage from popular children’s books that described their job duties. Then, the students participated in short arts and crafts activities to reinforce what they had learned before moving on to the next table. At the end of the day, students were sporting homemade nurse hats and police badges while carrying around their favorite animal masks. Altogether, about 60 Wahl-Coates students attended Literacy Day.