October/November 2019
THIS ISSUE
Homecoming Weekend
Professor Profiles
AU: Got Service? Will DeMarco Contributing Writer Alvernia University’s Digital Photography class is serving the community over the course of the fall semester by partnering with United Way. The students will visit at least three local United Way programs and photograph community service in action. The photos are uploaded to Instagram and are also made available to United Way to use on their social media platforms in order to support, promote, and encourage service in the community. Jessica Umbenhauer of the Holleran Center said that the Holleran Center started working closely with the United Way’s Ready.Set.READ! Program in 2013. She said
that the program is held all over Berks County with the goal of helping students read at grade level before they reach the third grade. Fifteen Alvernia students tutor children at Tyson-Schoener and Millmont Elementary Schools in the Reading School District once per week during the academic year. Alvernia’s digital photography students will take photographs at Literary Council, an adult literacy and English as a second language education program, Olivet Boys & Girls Club, an after school youth development program, and New Journey Community Outreach, the largest soup kitchen in Reading. They will also be going to Emerging Leaders United, a group that focuses
on volunteerism, Easter Seals Eastern Pennsylvania, offering therapy programs for special needs children, Opportunity House, an early childhood education center,
and Ready.Set.READ!, where tutors work with elementary school students to improve their reading skills. United Way of Berks County is partnered with
several other organizations in the area, including the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, the Hawk Mountain Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Berks County Intermediate Unit Child Care, and the Salvation Army. United Way’s work is positioned around the gathering and allocation of funds to support an important network of
health and human services while also confronting key issues in the community. Per their mission statement, United Way of Berks County improves lives by inspiring collaboration, volunteerism and financial support to build a stronger community. Digital Photography students visited a United Way program recently to photograph the children at the Oakbrook Olivet Boys
and Girls Club. The students found it to be an entertaining and interesting experience. The kids were enjoying themselves and some even came up and asked directly if they could have their picture taken. The students and program participants were engaged in many different activities. Some played games in the computer lab, some played sports in the gym, some colored pictures and
traded cards, and others practiced playing on the bongo drums. If not for an afterschool program like this, most of these kids would be going home to an empty house. Community service is a cornerstone of the Alvernia community. Following in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi, Alvernia’s core values include service, humility, peacemaking, contemplation, and collegiality. Students are required to participate in at least 40 hours of community service over the course of their education. Heidi Reuter teaches digital photography at Alvernia. Reuter said this is the fourth year the photography students had partnered with United Way. “Service learning is at the heart of Alvernia’s core values,” Reuter said. “Students get an opportunity to interact with people in the community and build on their communication skills while volunteering their time to help others,” Community service helps them to build connections with their community and. Seeing the way that people benefit from student community service is one of the most rewarding experiences a student can have at Alvernia.
A volunteer plays a fun game of basketball with a child at Oakbrook Olivet Boys and Girls Club.
Photo Courtesy of Will DeMarco
Fall Has Arrived!
Coffee Talk
Children at the Boys and Girls Club have a great time getting in touch with their musical side.
Photo Courtesy of Will DeMarco
what’s in
Volume 58 Issue 5