ENGAGED Office of Civic Engagement | Allegheny Gateway Volume 6, Issue 1 • Spring 2018
THE AMERICORPS VISTA
IMPACT See story, page 14
Table of Contents
Editor’s Note This issue of Engaged is focused on highlighting
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Service by the Numbers — Fall 2017
the impact of the programs and initiatives associated with the Civic
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Fahrner and Faculty: A Great Combination
Engagement office in the Allegheny Gateway. Please read on to learn about the significant
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Engaged Signature Work and the Civic-Minded Graduate
work that Allegheny students, staff, and faculty, as well as Meadville-area residents, are performing in their communities.
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Allegheny Community Unites to Support Hurricane Relief Efforts
To join the high-impact civic engagement movement, please stop by our office in the Pelletier Burgundy Node or call (814) 332-5318.
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The Global Citizen Scholars — While They Were Away
—Mariana Silva, AmeriCorps VISTA Project Director
12 The Impact of MLK Mentoring Program 14 The VISTA Impact 18 Cooking Up Relationships: An Interview with Benjamin Resek
ENGAGED magazine is a publication of Civic Engagement of the Allegheny Gateway in collaboration with College Relations. Editorial support: Jennifer Kessner Layout design: Sarah M. Bennett Cover: VISTA member Stephanie Ciner working in the BELONG gardens initiative in Erie.
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Service by the Numbers FALL 2017
102
8,718
Service
Pounds of food boxed during the
leaders
Second Harvest Food Drive
$1,000 Donated for
hurricane relief
882
137
Volunteers for
One-time service
major service events
projects completed
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Fahrner and Faculty: A Great Combination By David Roncolato ’79, Director of Civic Engagement The Gail H. Fahrner Endowment Fund, set up in 2007, honors the late Gail Howe Fahrner ’56. Partnered with the growing commitment of Allegheny faculty, this fund has helped move the College from community engagement to community impact — a perfect combination. Among other pieces, the Fahrner funds support faculty engagement course development grants and the Network for Local Knowledge and Research summer community-based projects. Over the past four years, 12 faculty course development grants have been awarded. There have been 16 Network for Local Knowledge summer teams of community partner, student, and faculty members. What has been the impact of all of this work? It is worth sharing a few examples of how Fahrner has helped launch sustainable, impactful projects.
Lisa Whitenack Lisa Whitenack, associate professor of biology, received funding in the summer of 2014 to develop STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) partnerships between Allegheny faculty and Crawford Central School District teachers. This project focuses on the public school science curriculum. The work, the good will, and the con-
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nections from this project led to deep partnerships between the school district and the College. One of the fruits is the “Fourth Graders as Scientists” program that now happens annually. Each spring every fourth grader in the school district is invited to campus for a day of handson learning in the sciences with workshops and lessons delivered by Allegheny students, faculty, and community partners from Erie and Crawford County agencies, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Audubon PA, and state parks.
an installation (“Tool City Voices”) telling the story of the tool and die industry’s role in Meadville culture from a number of perspectives. The installation and documentaries have been donated to a group of people working to develop an industrial heritage museum. They have been used a number of times by the tool and die community for celebrations and gatherings. Another project that came out of this class was a pamphlet about Meadville’s early history that the Crawford County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau has expressed interest in distributing.
Julie Wilson
Yochim has engaged in a number of other Fahrner-supported projects. The class she taught with Amara Geffen, Eila V. Bush Professor of Art, “Exploring Self & Place,” used oral history methods to develop a community-informed sculpture in Conneaut Lake. The students from the first-year seminar taught with Geffen produced community events that gathered research for the wooly mammoth sculpture titled “Ganesh.” It was partially funded by a National Endowment for the Arts Our Town grant. In the spring of 2016, Yochim taught COMRT 376, “Meadville Media.” Yochim received Fahrner funding, and this resulted in www.meadiaville.com. Four students from that class continued the work as summer researchers, funded by the Mellon Grant for Collaborative Undergraduate Research
In 2015–2016, Fahrner funds supported the Year of Meadville, a year of connecting and celebrating the community. This effort was championed by Julie Wilson, associate professor of communication arts. Her continued commitment to the wider community supports great efforts like Common Roots, My Meadville, the Neighborhood Center, and the Northwest Pennsylvania Investment Cooperative.
Emily Yochim In 2013, Emily Yochim, associate professor of communication arts, taught a course with her colleague River Branch, associate professor of communication arts, titled “Narrating Tool City.” This course resulted in a series of documentaries and
Students do great work in the community, and it is the ongoing faculty commitment that leads to lasting impact. Dave Roncolato, Allegheny College Director of Civic Engagement
in the Humanities. Yochim is teaching the course again in the spring of 2018. She acknowledges there is a “steep learning curve for this kind of pedagogy, and the Fahrner fund’s sustained support has been absolutely invaluable in providing summer time for me to work on developing it and making the appropriate connections through the community.” These are just a few examples of faculty who see community engagement imbedded in their ongoing teaching pedagogy and research interests. With little effort, I can name at least 12 other Allegheny faculty members who engage their students in the community beyond the campus semester after semester, year after year. That number continues to grow. Summer projects are necessary, but insufficient, for creating significant impact. A semester of engagement is rarely adequate to accomplish a project. Students do great work in the community, and it is the ongoing faculty commitment that leads to lasting impact. I celebrate the growing number of Allegheny faculty engaging in the community beyond campus as an integral part of their professional work. In partnership with others in the community, and with dedicated students, significant positive impact is possible because of our committed faculty.
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Engaged Signature Work and the Civic-Minded Graduate By Ellen Bach, Bonner Program Coordinator
Students involved in service programs or who frequent our events in Civic Engagement may be used to hearing the following terms quite often: capstone projects, capacity building, high impact, or communitybased research. These terms are often related to the very complex, changing, and evolving experiences of students involved in service and community work that have informed or influenced their perception of an issue or area of study that matters to them. 6 ENGAGED | Spring 2018
The Bonner Foundation, in partnership with the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), along with various colleges in the Bonner network, have been working to help define and formalize this student experience — one that involves strong, well-executed, and impactful civic engagement work, coupled with curricular and cocurricular learning that can lead to “Engaged Signature Projects.” The term “engaged” is used because of the learning and/or experience that has led a student to become passionate or care deeply about a particular issue, population, or topic. It’s also titled “signature” due to the idea that the piece (paper, project, event) produced is something they feel proud to sign with their signature. These “Engaged Signature Projects”
could be an Allegheny student’s Senior Comprehensive Project, an impactful project that directly serves the need of a nonprofit at which the student serves, or research and data found that could help the community solve challenges or create new opportunities. In November 2017, Allegheny’s Bonner Program administrators visited the Bonner Foundation’s National Coordinators and Directors Conference and facilitated a workshop focused on creating more pathways for students to become civic-minded and opportunities for signature work that could create lasting impact in local communities. In preparing for our workshop, we asked a few junior and senior Bonners to tell us if their years of
IUPUI Civic-Minded Model · Identity: Self-understanding, self-awareness, self-concept. This attribute can include Western orientations to self-concept (viewing oneself as an individual) and communal orientations (viewing oneself as part of a collective identity).
Civic-Minded Graduate
Identity
Educational Learning Experiences
· Educational Learning Experiences: Postsecondary educational experiences include curricular as well as cocurricular experiences, career preparation, and preprofessional activities that are associated with being a student, including the academic knowledge and technical skills gained through formal and informal education.
Civic Experiences
Cultural and Social Context
work and training through the Bonner program have influenced their academic focus and their Senior Project topics. All six saw connections between their Bonner work and their career aspirations. Of the six students, half reported connections between their Bonner work and their academic studies. Two students reported direct connections between their Bonner experience and their Senior Project. The sample was small. Yet clearly, the students made the connections even without structures in place to connect their academic work with their Bonner work. As the Allegheny Gateway expands its commitment to community-based learning, these Bonner testimonies are encouraging. Students are connecting their own identity, educational and learning experiences, and civic experiences,
· Civic Experiences: All ways in which someone can be actively involved in communities, such as community service, political involvement, social advocacy, and volunteering, and which form the basis for civic attitudes, beliefs, values, and dispositions result from active participation in the community.
which leads to engaged signature work that blends all three. This is supported by the research from the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Center for Service and Learning’s Civic-Minded Graduate Model, shown above.
Students are connecting their own identity, educational and learning experiences, and civic experiences, which leads to engaged signature work that blends all three. We left the conversation with our Bonner partners with a charge to find new and creative ways for student participation in signature work. We also left with a reminder of the importance of partnership and finding signature work oppor-
tunities while continuing to make sure we are first asking what the community needs while working with community members to assist with meeting those needs. The Civic Engagement office wants to continue to talk to students interested in providing opportunities for signature work, about skills, interests, topics, and experiences in the community that they are passionate about. The goal is to help inform and guide students in finding opportunities to connect curricular and co-curricular experiences and to build structures that assist with this connection. Civic Engagement in the Allegheny Gateway is committed to fostering campuswide engaged signature work opportunities.
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By Corey Razevich ’16, AmeriCorps VISTA Member
Allegheny Community Unites to Support Hurricane Relief Efforts
The 2017 hurricane season caused devastating damage from June through November, leaving many students, families, friends, and the College at a loss for words. In times of hardship, people come together, and the same goes for those at Allegheny. When hardships happen to members of our beloved community, Allegheny asks an immediate question:
The drive was held October 3 and 4 across the campus to ensure that anyone who wanted to donate could. Over the two days, we had 60 volunteers give their time to help raise our goal of $1,000 from generous contributors! Without the volunteers and staff who offered their time and energy, there would not have been as great of an impact.
How can we help those affected? The Civic Engagement office created a team that organized a cash donation drive toward Habitat for Humanity International and Operation USA. The organizing group, Charmaine Wilson, Bethany Cocchi, Jennifer Kessner, Ellen Bach, and Corey Razevich, chose those organizations because they help with home repair/building and medical supply needs. Operation USA allocated 100 percent of all funds raised to go directly to hurricane relief efforts this season because of the vast devastation. Habitat for Humanity International used 80 percent of donations for immediate relief efforts and 20 percent for long-term efforts to help rebuild.
Ellen Bach and Julia Robinson outside of Brooks Dining Hall gathering donations
The extensive loss of power and intense flooding throughout the afflicted areas left many people without access to medical care, prescription drugs, places to sleep, and their belongings. To have the most effect and the best distribution of resources, the Civic Engagement office sent a cash donation rather than goods. Di’Avian Scruggs and Matthew Wild volunteering their time outside of the Henderson Campus Center
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Global Citizen Scholars: While They Were Away Last Semester Barry Tevrow Spain Barry received an award for obeying the “Spanish Only Policy” in his program. In addition, the film he produced as his final project won best picture as voted by the students and staff at his school in Seville.
Barry Tevrow
Daniel Larson Argentina In the final week of his study abroad program last fall in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Daniel received recognition from the program as one of two students, among 51 total, who went above and beyond the normal standard of community engagement expected from international students. The directors chose him because he was involved in two different service programs, which gave him the opportunity to volunteer and connect with local students. He worked alongside an English teacher as a “native English assistant” and as an English tutor in an after-school program. The opportunities to continue “Bonner work” while abroad made his study abroad experience more meaningful and personal. In Daniel’s words, “I can’t imagine my study abroad experience without it!”
Daniel Larson
Cristin Archer Australia With the encouragement of a friend, Cristin tried out and made the soccer team for her rather large dormitory. Her team won the finals and overall won the Fischer Shield for the year. Cristin made the blue and white merit squad, which includes the top seven players selected by the league’s organizers, referees, and record keepers.
Cristin Archer
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BELONG Garden Initiative, Erie, PA VISTA member Stephanie Ciner working in the BELONG garden initiative in Erie.
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The Impact of MLK Mentoring Program By Dr. Armendia P. Dixon, Director, Martin Luther King, Jr. Mentoring Program The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mentoring Program started in 2010 at the Meadville Area Middle School (MAMS). It was founded by Dr. Armendia P. Dixon in cooperation with Dr. Dave Roncolato, Jamie Williams, and Erin O’Day-Frye at Allegheny College, and Dr. Courtenay Dodge and Joseph Galbo III from the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Board. The program was reviewed and approved by Scott Lynch, principal of the Meadville Area Middle School, and the Crawford Central School Board. Operating each year since 2010, the program is held after school Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Through an interactive application process between students and their parents, 15 seventh graders and 15 eighth graders are accepted as mentees in the program. The mission is to assist in the retention of students by providing a holistic approach for empowering students to be successful and to teach the principles of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with the focus on respect for all peoples and scholarship. The goals are to assist mentees in mastering their coursework; to help mentees increase their level of selfconfidence and independence; to sharpen mentees’ skills in such a way as to ensure their academic success; to provide character and community-building activities; to provide incentives for mentees to reach their 12 ENGAGED | Spring 2018
goal; and to maintain connectivity with teachers and parents, keeping them informed about the progress of mentees.
skills, communication skills, and school involvement? The theme is developed through art infusion.
In addition to one-on-one tutoring, mentees are taught learning strategies, communication skills, and coping skills. They are taught economics for success, employability skills, and giving back to the community through volunteer service. They also learn about their community through field trips and listening to celebrity speakers from the community. The curriculum comes together through art infusion — the meaning-making mentees give to their experience in the program.
In addition to academic skills such as the SQ3R Method for Reading and Understanding, mentees are taught several learning strategies they employ daily as they focus on their classwork. They also are taught team-building skills, coping skills, conflict resolution skills, listening skills, employability skills, and the like. They learn the importance of giving back to the community through their volunteer service. Mentees are taught Economics for Success, a Junior Achievement unit under the direction of Dale Shatto. Rachel Willey, director of the MAMS/MASH Credit Union, complements the economic unit by teaching mentees financial management skills and how to be responsible members of the credit union.
The program staff delivering the service includes 10 well-trained mentors and five student leaders from Allegheny College. They are outstanding students with mentoring experience. They are highly recommended and committed to the mission of the program. In addition, there are two art infusion teachers and a coordinator. The measured results of the program are academic achievement, school attendance, and social competence.
INFUSION This year, the theme in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mentoring Program is Meadville, The Beloved Community. And how is this theme developed as mentees focus on their homework, academic skills, character building, community engagement, employability
Mentees also take field trips to learn more about the community. This includes visits to Acutec Precision Aerospace, Inc., Allegheny College, and community cultural events. Many collaborators help to enhance the curriculum. A newsletter is published each semester; the editor is Katie DavisBonilla, a Meadville Area Senior High School (MASH) student supervised by Lee Scandinaro, who was once an MLK mentor. Three other special events are planned for the year. Mentees and their parents attended the Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration, where five mentees read essays they had
Dr. Armendia Dixon
MLK mentors hard at work at Make a Difference Day 2017.
MLK mentors hard at work at Make a Difference Day 2017.
MLK mentors in action
written about Meadville, The Beloved Community. The second special event took place February 21, where Meadville, The Beloved Community was created in Meadville Area Middle School’s gymnasium. The passport showcased agencies, government agencies, the school district, the medical system, and organizations that impact the daily lives of the school’s 450 students and their parents. The third special event is the Year-end Celebration, where parents, partners, mentees, and MLK staff will come together on April 19 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for dinner, awards, and highlights from the school year. MAMS teachers John Hyatt and Evan Andrae, the art infusion experts, help to bring all this together. They lead mentees through a series of activities whereby they give meaning to all they are learning. This meaning-making requires invention and self-organization on the part of the mentees; they are encouraged to raise questions, generate hypotheses and models, and test possibilities. Mentees are given time to reflect on their learning through multi-symbolic forms like song, dance, reciting, acting, and writing by applying the theme, Meadville, The Beloved Community. Putting all this together, mentees are actually learning the higher-level thinking skills: creating, evaluating, analyzing, applying, understanding, and remembering. This is evident when the mentees improve their grades, make the honor roll, join school clubs, and become involved in community projects.
Make a Difference Day is Real for MLK Mentors and Leadership Team On October 14, 2017, while the mentees participated as part of the Meadville Area Middle School Make A Difference Day teams, the mentors and leadership team from the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mentoring Program also participated as a team in the annual Make A Difference Day community service event in Crawford County. The mentors and leadership team had the opportunity to work on two separate projects throughout the course of the day. The first group worked to clear leaves for an elderly member of the Crawford County community, while the second group had the opportunity to work side-byside with a member of the community, clearing debris that had fallen into his yard from storms. The team also worked to restore a patio that had fallen into disarray. During the day, the first team called for help from the second team that finished early, and to the rescue they came! Due to the complexity of the second project, the mentors had to leave the project incomplete; however, the team talked about the issues involved and made referrals to the Make A Difference Day Committee sponsored by United Way Of Western Crawford County. This opportunity allowed mentors to get to know those in the Meadville community on a deeper level — and take time to give back to a community that has given so much to them.
MLK mentors in action
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The AmeriCorps VISTA Impact By Gabrielle Bradshaw, Lake Effect Leaders Project Coordinator AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) was created by President John F. Kennedy as a domestic counterpart to the Peace Corps in 1965. It is a national service program designed specifically to fight poverty. Every year, more than 8,000 VISTA members make a yearlong, full-time commitment to serve on a specific project. One million AmeriCorps members have served to date. Coordinated out of the Allegheny Gateway, the mission of Lake Effect Leaders (LEL), as a regional partnership between Mercyhurst University, Gannon University, and Allegheny, is to build the capacity of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and schools to collaboratively address issues related to poverty. Every year, the LEL AmeriCorps VISTA project places 20-plus service members regionally to build capacity in areas of economic development, education, healthy futures, and veterans and military families. VISTAs serve with marginalized populations. This includes disenfranchised youth, homeless individuals, veterans and military families, resettling refugees, women and children affected by domestic violence, individuals affected by the opioid crisis, and individuals with disabilities. Currently, 26 VISTA members are serving in Erie and Crawford counties. Since July 2017, current VISTA members have recruited 1,349 volunteers and managed an additional 400. They have leveraged over $55,000 in cash resources for their organizations, and have aided 4,134 children and youth living in poverty. But to truly understand the real impact AmeriCorps VISTA members have on their communities, one needs to look past the statistics and dive into the anecdotes behind the assignments.
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Will Taylor ’17 Will Taylor, a 2017 Allegheny College alumnus (community justice studies major and political science minor) and former Bonner Leader, currently serves as the Food Security Liaison VISTA member at Penn State Behrend. He discusses what he believes is the public value of AmeriCorps VISTA and food security within the Erie community: “I believe that the public value of VISTA can best be demonstrated by the collaborative work myself and others in my VISTA cohort have put into the Erie Garden Coalition this past quarter. When we first met with the coalition, there was an obvious sense of frustration with the group’s stagnating progress among the members. Having been initially organized several years prior, those who were still dedicated to the established mission had expressed their concerns with the lack of
progress that had been made since then. Together, myself and four other current VISTA members listened carefully to these concerns and began to meet regularly to discuss what we could do in our capacities as VISTAs to restore the coalition’s potential as a community organization committed to fighting food insecurity and eliminating food deserts in the area. Over the course of several months, we worked together to develop a list of the definite services that the coalition is presently capable of providing to the community, developed a protocol for working with community members who request assistance, and relaunched the coalition’s website with a focus on user-friendly navigation and search engine optimization so that it may be accessible to all who are interested. I believe that the collective effort of multiple VISTAs from different sites and project objectives has been integral to the reinvigoration of this organization and will ultimately lead to its sustainability and increased capability to address the food security needs that continue to affect the Erie community.”
plants survive and can be brought back to the people and places who most value them.
Stephanie Ciner Stephanie Ciner, a second-year VISTA member serving as the BELONG VISTA Coordinator for Erie City School District, shares this story about her project and the impact it has had on disenfranchised youth: “In October, BELONG coordinated a trip for nearly 100 third graders to visit the urban farming projects of one of our community partners, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Northwestern Pennsylvania. The students responded with much excitement as they tasted freshly picked vegetables and herbs and learned about Nepali cuisine from a new American gardener in the neighborhood. I also used an heirloom pepper from Syria to give a mini-lesson about how plants experience the effects of war and displacement the way that people do, so by planting and saving plant species in school gardens, the students can make sure that the
BELONG is educating thousands of students who would otherwise not have access to these experiences, as well as assisting teachers who are newly discovering how to incorporate environmental sustainability and outdoor education into their classrooms. When I presented this work at CRANE’s summit (a local conference showcasing citizen efforts to address climate change), the work of BELONG was very well received and appreciated. Several community members (professors, environmentalists, teachers, etc.) offered support, and BELONG’s work was featured in the Erie TimesNews as well as CRANE’s publications. Several Erie School District students also attended and were excited to see their schools and friends represented at an official event. During our new program, middle school Nature Immersion, students tried a variety of local food snacks and participated in hiking, compass reading, nature drawing, yoga, bridge engineering, culinary arts, and plant identification. As the program went on, students who at first were nervous about going into the woods begged to lead the group. On our final hike, two of the youngest students came up to me and said, “This is our very favorite place to be.” Story continued on page 17
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ď„?
I believe that the collective effort of multiple VISTAs from different sites and project objectives has been integral to the reinvigoration of this organization and will ultimately lead to its sustainability and increased capability to address the food security needs that continue to affect the Erie community. Will Taylor on the Erie Garden Coalition, page 14
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ď„Ž
Story continued from page 15
and Venango counties, with most resources located in Erie County. I collaborated with PA 2-1-1 Northwest’s database coordinator to have these resources entered into their 2-1-1 database to ensure a fair representation of veteran services in their system. The site also promotes veteran-related events, making them more easily found online.”
Kelly Runninger Kelly Runninger, a second-year VISTA member serving at the Pennsylvania Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, states why her role as Veterans Specialist is integral to supporting and improving the quality and scope of services offered to veterans living in Northwestern Pennsylvania: “As an AmeriCorps VISTA serving with Pennsylvania Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Home and with Embracing Our Veterans, I am working to improve communication and collaboration amongst veteran-supporting agencies in Erie County. I am also an administrator for the Veterans Portal of Northwestern PA. When I took over responsibility for updating the website’s content in August 2016, the site was about two years old with an average monthly unique visitor count of about 500. Since then, the website has reached a new high of 4,669 unique visitors for the month of September 2017. The site currently has resource information for 86 programs/agencies within Crawford, Erie, Warren,
Paul Cancilla ’16 Paul Cancilla, a 2016 Allegheny graduate (international studies/ Spanish double major) and current second-year VISTA at Catholic Charities Counseling and Adoption Services, talks about how his VISTA project is helping make the Erie community a more welcoming environment for refugees: “The work that I have done includes work to promote outreach and cultural awareness of the refugee community in the area. For Gannon’s GIVE Day, we were able to have 15 volunteers, which included 13 students and two faculty members, come to interact and play games
with refugees who had recently been resettled by our organization. This provided benefits on both sides. The refugees were able to practice their English and get to know members of the receiving community, and the Gannon volunteers had the opportunity to learn from the refugees about their experiences and got to see them as people rather than statistics or news headlines. The same can be said for the experience of the seven Allegheny College students and two faculty members who came to interview and interact with the refugees. These two events were the beginning steps toward the larger community outreach goal of creating a more welcoming community for refugees to be in.” While the VISTA experience is only a one-year commitment, some individuals turn that experience into a career. There are currently numerous former Lake Effect Leaders living and working in Erie and Crawford counties, having found their niche in nonprofit work, sustainability, and capacity-building services. And whether VISTAs are exploring a gap year or bringing their passions and talents to a local organization, there is one thing that is certain: AmeriCorps VISTA serves as a catalyst for social change and challenges its members to take on some of the nation’s most pressing issues. If you or someone you know is interested in serving a year with the Lake Effect Leaders, please contact Gabby Bradshaw at gbradshaw@allegheny.edu.
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Cooking Up Relationships: An Interview with Benjamin Resek By Bethany Cocchi ’13, Davies Program Coordinator Benjamin Resek is a first-year Davies Community Service Leader working at Wesbury Retirement Community. His project includes creating a mentoring program between senior citizens and juveniles on probation. The program, called “Meal Time with Mentors,” has been approved by Wesbury and the Crawford County Juvenile Probation Department. In fall 2017, Ben worked on researching, writing, and presenting the program to both the director of Wesbury and the Juvenile Probation Department. He is currently recruiting and screening mentors.
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Before his work at Wesbury, Ben took a gap year to be part of City Year, working at an elementary school in Manchester, New Hampshire. There, he mentored kids on their social and academic health, integrated himself into the city, and assisted with several community events. Coming to Allegheny, Ben knew he wanted to continue his work of community engagement and became a Davies Leader. Ben was interviewed recently about his experiences this semester and how he got to where he is today.
1
Why did you get involved with the Civic Engagement Office?
City Year was very rewarding. It was nice to do something that mattered. Even though it was exhausting, it was great. I liked the feeling of doing something for someone besides myself, and I wanted to try and keep doing that. I feel like I am becoming a better person because of it.
2
Tell us about your experience as a Davies Community Service Leader at Wesbury.
It has been really cool! I am working on developing a mentoring program between senior citizens and youth on probation with my supervisor, Greg Brink (Wesbury Thoburn Village life enrichment director). The idea stems from his experience with his foster child, who he had volunteer at Wesbury over the summer. The child had this awesome transformation and really devel-
oped. Greg wanted to take that experience and replicate it. So, it has been a lot of planning and meeting with really interesting people I never thought I would be working with while in college, such as juvenile probation officers, people that work at the court office, and the staff at Wesbury. We also presented to the juvenile probation judge. I think the head of the Juvenile Probation Office even gave me a tie to wear to the meeting with the judge. That was cool because I didn’t have a tie, and I never talked to anyone in that kind of role. It has been interesting developing something new.
3
What has been your biggest success this year?
It is tough. We haven’t seen any results yet, but doing all this work and bringing it to the judge was rewarding. Greg and I worked closely with seven people, and they all advocated for it with me. Getting the approval from the judge to go ahead was definitely the biggest moment so far.
4
What are the goals of the program?
My goal is to have four senior citizens and four youth on probation attend the program. Right now, we are in the stage of recruiting and are screening mentors and youth on probation. The mentors will be chosen based on the mentee’s needs. It is going to be cool seeing the implementation of all my work. In the program, the mentee/mentor pairing will cook a meal together and eat it in a nice space in the clubhouse at Wesbury. This is where we hope the juveniles will feel comfortable speaking with an adult and have someone to listen to their stories.
5
Is the start of the program what you are most excited about?
Yes, because right now I have been reading research papers about mentoring but have not yet met any mentors and mentees that will be in the program. I think that will be pretty surreal. The goal is to have the first meeting at the beginning of March. It will be crazy to have this abstract idea become reality.
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Civic Engagement Staff
Director of Civic Engagement
AmeriCorps VISTA Project Coordinator
DAVE RONCOL ATO ‘79
G ABBY BR ADSHAW
Davies Program Coordinator
Gateway Office Manager
AmeriCorps VISTA, 2017–18
BETHANY COCCHI ‘13
JENNIFER KESSNER
CORE Y R A ZE VICH ’16
AmeriCorps VISTA Project Director
MARIANA SILVA
Assistant Director of Civic Engagement and Bonner Program Director
CHARMAINE WIL SON
ENGAGED Magazine Office of Civic Engagement 520 N. Main Street Meadville, PA 16335 (814) 332-5318