Champlain Students and Faculty Member Honored by Vermont Campus Compact

Vermont Campus Compact (VCC), a statewide consortium of colleges and universities advancing the public good of higher education, recently recognized three Champlainers for their contributions to campus service, service-learning, and civic engagement.

Student Joshua Warren received the Vermont Campus Compact/TD Banknorth Commitment to Service and Engagement Award for Champlain College. The award, given to one student per VCC member campus, recognizes the breadth and depth of her/his community involvement. Warren earned accolades for being a founding member of Champlain’s DREAM mentoring program and for participating in the GET REAL community service club. He was also active in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Student Erin Caswell was named a finalist for the prestigious Madeleine M. Kunin Award, which recognizes one VCC member student for outstanding public service and a deep sense of civic responsibility and leadership -- evidenced by initiative, innovative approaches to community issues, and effective community building. Caswell drew notice for, among other activities, her twoyear membership in GET REAL, for running the student United Way campaign, and for organizing the campus tent city in fall 2005 to raise awareness about hunger and homelessness.

Professor Elaine Young also earned finalist honors -- for the VCC Excellence in Teaching Award. The award recognizes innovative teaching methods through the use of service-learning or community action research, a commitment to student voice and development, and inclusion of community voice and partnership. Young’s most noteworthy recent accomplishment in this vein was transforming her fall 2005 Exploring Marketing class into student-driven semester-long Hurricane Katrina relief fund-raising campaigns.

“The growth since Nancy Cathcart arrived has been tremendous both because of her energy and because of the current leadership supporting community service. The number of faculty and students at Champlain College who are doing service-learning is growing exponentially.”
  -- Amy Gibans McGlashan,
     Vermont Campus Compact executive director, praising Nancy Cathcart,
     Champlain College coordinator of the Center for Service and Civic Engagement