CSU Honors 21 Students For Work In Community Service Learning

California State University has honored 21 students throughout the state with the STARS (Students That Are Recognized for Service) award to acknowledge their outstanding efforts in their service learning projects and their ongoing commitment to serve the community.

Students from 20 different campuses were selected for their innovative efforts that improved the lives of individuals, or the community at large in at least one of the following areas: social justice, social, economic, health, public safety, or environmental issues during the last year. The CSU Office of the Chancellor and the systemwide Office of Service Learning created the STARS award last year.

"The STARS award recipients are student leaders at the California State University and exemplify our students' dedication to community service," said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. "They have raised awareness on issues facing the elderly and disabled, promoted sustainable agriculture, tutored children, and provided over 10,000 hours of community service within the past year."

More than 135,000 CSU students systemwide perform a total of 33.6 million hours of community service annually. That would be a minimum wage value of approximately $193.2 million.

Community service-learning promotes student learning through active participation in community service experiences that are directly related to course content. In September 1997, the CSU developed a Community Service-Learning Strategic Plan. Now, all 23 campuses facilitate service learning, and the CSU systemwide service-learning department, which was created three years ago, supports their programs.

The strategic plan provides direction for each campus to maximize the potential of service learning. The two key objectives of the five-year plan (1997-2002) are to engage students at each CSU campus in at least one service-learning experience prior to graduation, and to offer an ongoing variety of service-learning experiences so that all students will have those opportunities. All CSU campuses now have identified a service-learning coordinator; two-thirds have established a service-learning office and most campuses have built service learning implicitly into their mission statements.

Last year, Governor Gray Davis included $2.2 million in the CSU 2000/01 budget to support the expansion of service learning at CSU campuses.

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CSU Bakersfield
Flor Esthela Rodriguez
Rodriguez was recognized for her efforts to collaborate with the CSU Bakersfield Community Service Office and the Child Development Department of Kern County to create service-learning projects in the community. In addition, she tutors elementary school students and volunteers with a family literacy center that supports literacy activities for children and their families.

CSU Chico
Talia Scherquist
Scherquist volunteers with CAVE (Community Action Volunteers in Education) and is the current student director for 10 youth programs. Her responsibilities include managing more than 650 student volunteers, coordinating training workshops, recruiting new volunteers, and supervising 32 staff members who run ten separate programs for children. In addition, she serves on CAVE's Steering Committee and volunteers at the Sonoma Developmental Center to help developmentally disabled residents.

CSU Dominguez Hills
Lidia Mongerie Brown
Brown is a tutor and mentor for children and adults who are struggling with their education by assisting them to learn how to speak and write English. She was also selected by a local high school to work with parents of newly immigrated families to improve their educational skills.

CSU Fresno
David Aston
Aston has served as an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow for the past year. He has served the community by leading workshops on developing leadership skills for both mentors and youth, creating a tool to track and evaluate the health of youth in the community, and facilitating a faith-based collaborative that works with at-risk youth.

CSU Fullerton
Angeline Santiago
Santiago is the director of the College Headed And Mighty Proud (CHAMP) program, which motivates fourth grade students to seek a college education. She is responsible for developing, coordinating, and training 25 volunteers that motivate and mentor over 100 fourth grade students in the surrounding Fullerton community.

Humboldt State University
Mimi Black
Black is a volunteer at local elementary schools, where she provides hands-on training to young scientists. She has coordinated a series of workshops that encourage junior high schools girls to generate and sustain their interest in the sciences and engineering. Black was one of last year's Hearst/CSU Trustee award winners, which provides scholarships to CSU students who demonstrate financial need and show superior academic performance, community service, and personal accomplishments.

CSU Long Beach
Wayne Joshua Stickney-Smith
Stickney-Smith has extensive experience as a leader with campus organizations, serving as president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, Presidential Aide for Associated Students Inc., and as a director on the ASI Board. He was honored for his funding efforts for CSULB's partially funded athletic teams, intramurals, and the Greek system.

CSU Los Angeles
Jesus Perez
Perez first began his involvement with the Braille Institute as a client learning Braille in English while speaking Spanish and now uses his bilingual skills as a tutor. Perez also helps teach new Braille students how to read and write in Braille and facilitates an independent living skills class.

CSU Maritime
Gladys Diva Brown
Brown has been deeply involved in mentoring youth in a variety of ways. She has tutored students in math and science, assisted high school students with college applications, and refereed basketball games. She is also involved with the police and fire departments as a trauma interventionist.

CSU Monterey Bay
Cristy Cassel and Wendy Henninger
Cassel and Henninger collaborated on their major's (earth systems science and policy) capstone project, which focused on promoting sustainable agriculture. They worked with sixth grade students to form healthy soil, and sowed cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, chard, and celery. They believe that by exposing children to sustainable farming alternatives through hands-on activities they may develop an awareness to reinforce environmental issues.

CSU Northridge
Kathy Goodson
Goodson was honored for her service-learning project with a nonprofit organization that focuses on environmental education and advocacy. One of her contributions was assisting with the distribution of meals at a local food kitchen. She is now supervising a similar service-learning project at Grant High School.

Cal Poly Pomona
Stefanie Hedlund
Hedlund serves as president of the Bronco Athletic Association, an organization that promotes community service at Cal Poly Pomona. She has developed programs that teach sports and health nutrition and elementary school reading, and coordinated a food drive. She has also chaired the "National Women Sports and Recognition Day" to encourage girls to participate in sports.

CSU Sacramento
Theresa McPeek
Through a service-learning project, McPeek used her background as an R.N. to create a series of legislative presentations focused on elder care, community resources, and the need to advocate for elder caregivers. Her efforts have help broaden the collaborative opportunities between CSU Sacramento and the legislative community.

San Diego State University
Laurie Garza
As a leader in the campus Community Advocacy Program, Garza facilitates community service projects for the Freshman Success Program. She organized student volunteers at Mama's Kitchen, a non-profit agency and homeless shelter that serves meals to people infected by HIV and AIDS. Garza is the Chair of the Student Advisory Board for the Center for Community-Based Service Learning, through which she makes recommendations for policies, programs, and procedures.

San Francisco State University
Linda Madison
Madison is a campus leader on disability issues, addressing SFSU governance meetings to make recommendations to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance rules. She established the Disability, Education, Action, and Representation (DEAR) Program, to provide services for disabled students and to educate others on the issues facing the disabled population. Madison envisions this program will expand to high schools throughout San Francisco.

San Jose State University
Corina Herrera
Herrera is actively involved in the International and National Volunteer Service Training program, a model social change leadership curriculum that includes extensive service learning. Through this program, she has worked with the Navajo Nation, spent a week at the Emergency Housing Consortium homeless shelter, and serves at Community Homeless Alliance Ministry (CHAM). She also leads workshops for pre-adolescent students on issues such as gang awareness, health issues, self-esteem, and goal setting.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Amy Vickerman
Vickerman is the special events director of Student Community Services, a student-run organization that provides volunteer opportunities for students to be involved in social change. She coordinated a program called "Into the Streets," a one-day service project involving approximately 245 volunteers and 14 nonprofit agencies. Vickerman also volunteers with organizations that serve the homeless, disabled individuals and senior citizens.

CSU San Marcos
Leslie Katelynn Miller
Miller coordinates a program with the Family Literacy Program that trains high school students to become tutors for preschool children. She is also working with Hospice to create its first bereavement program for children.

Sonoma State University
Carrie Sorensen
Sorensen has been recognized for her work with Project SCHOLARS, an intensive AmeriCorps reading tutoring program as a VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) volunteer. Carrie has developed innovative activities that engage families and community members in literacy and service-learning activities and worked closely with a team of 17 AmeriCorps members.

CSU Stanislaus
Sandell Davidson
Davidson has been instrumental in promoting community awareness of sustainable agriculture in the face of urban growth by working with the CSU Stanislaus' BioAg Center and the Bio Farm Project in Ethiopia. She helped develop the BioAg site, which is an outdoor laboratory for experimentation of land and water use strategies. She also assisted with an upcoming conference in Ethiopia on poverty education and restorative development.