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WHITE
RECEIVES FIRST LADY'S AWARD
Omaha, Neb., April 14, 2008: Pinewood Elementary School
and Clarkson College were recognized March 31 with a First Lady's Outstanding
Community Service Award in the Outstanding Community Partnership in Education
category at the 2008 First Lady's Award Dinner.
The
awards ceremony was held in conjunction with the 2008 Governor's Conference
on Community Service. Monica White, an instructor at Clarkson College who
partners with Pinewood Elementary for service-learning opportunities,
accepted the award.
"I
feel very humbled and grateful to receive this honor from the Nebraska
Volunteer Service Commission," White said. "My students really are the ones
who have earned this over the years. I may have done the coordination,
but they are the ones that took their very limited free time and went above
and beyond my requests and gave of their time and energy - greatly connecting
with the youth at Pinewood Elementary. Not only did they give to the
students, but they were also open to receiving the many lessons these youth
could also teach them."
White
explains the Pinewood partnership has been in place for a long time and her
students are not the only group at Clarkson College to have worked with
Pinewood.
"I began partnering with Pinewood in my
Health Care Communications class in spring 2005, after meeting with Principal
Pam Johnson and Ms. Betsy Barbary, gifted facilitator," White added. "We have
placed Clarkson College students in areas of community service in the classroom
and with special events. We have matched Clarkson College students with
Pinewood students in tutoring/mentoring roles, and we have co-led an
after-school club called 'Healthy Bodies/Bright Minds' that focuses on
overall health and wellness with the students."
White
explains the partnership is successfully due to both sides seeing the
benefit.
"I
believe our partnership with Pinewood is truly unique. The success is built
on the two wonderful educators of Ms. Johnson and Ms. Barbary who see the
mutual benefit to both their students and those at Clarkson College through
ongoing partnerships," White said. "They pass this enthusiasm on to
their faculty and staff, who willingly open their classrooms and invite Clarkson
College students in to interact with their
-more-
students. They too recognize
the mutual benefit for both sets of students. Together I believe we understand
the abstract ideas of partnering and how exciting that is, but also realize
without the practical foundation it doesn't successfully occur."
Former
Clarkson College Volunteer in Service to America, Joleen Zabawa, was also honored
with an award in the Outstanding Service-Learning Adult Leader category.
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