2012 Friends of Service-Learning Breakfast

The Friends of Service-Learning & Civic Engagement breakfast is one of my favorite days at Wright State.  Students, staff, faculty and community partners celebrate come together to celebrate service-learning and raise money for our Citizen Scholar certificate program.  There are awards, a silent auction, a celebration of our community partnerships and impact statements from our campus AmeriCORPS VISTA members.  The best part about this morning, for me, was that four friends from Athens County with whom we partnered on the alternative spring break trip made the trek to Dayton to celebrate our partnership and collect their Community Partner Awards.  My two faculty co-instructors and I nominated all of our partners for the award because of their enthusiasm for working with our students and their continuing commitment to doing so.   Lauren Miller (Athens County Public Library), Mike Steinmaus and Nate (Monday Creek Restoration Project), and Kip Rondy (Green Edge Gardens) attended the breakfast.   It was an honor to have them with us this morning. This morning's events were a reminder of our time there.  I hope to go back next spring, but a lot of factors are up in the air right now.  We hope to work all of the details out, though, so we can continue to work with these incredible community leaders in Southeast Ohio. One of my co-instructors of the UH 202-203 course, Hunt Brown, won the Faculty Award for Excellence in Serverice-Learning & Civic Engagement. I hate to toot my own horn, but I suppose I should also mention that I won the Staff Award for Excellence in Service-Learning and Civic Engagement.  The award would not have been possible without the encouragement and support of so many of my WSU friends and colleagues. Never before have I felt that my work has had such an impact on those around me - students and community members.  Librarianship is a rewarding career to begin with; but service-learning has provided even more rewarding experiences through solving community problems and even more meaningful partnerships and relationships. I'll close with the quote that was printed on the program at this morning's breakfast - it describes exactly how I feel today: I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy.  I woke and I saw that life is all service.  I served and I saw that service is joy. ~ Mother Teresa