2010-2011 Community Scholars Profiles
ANNE BROOKER '13
Major(s): Psychology and
Hispanic Studies
concentration
Service Site(s): Greenvale Elementary
What are you most looking forward to about being a Community Scholar?
I am excited about the opportunity to discuss my service work, hear about work in other areas of the community and find connections between service, my classes and my life. Most of all though, I enjoy working with the children and having the opportunity to be involved in their learning and development.
Why are you passionate about service?
I love working with kids and am excited to see their progress throughout the year. I think education is such an important investment in the future of individual children and the community as a whole and I am excited to be a part of that development.
What impact has Community Scholars had on you?
Community Scholars allowed me to engage in meaningful discussions with my peers, something that often gets put off in our busy lives. I learned from the diverse opinions and experiences of my peers to question my established beliefs. Additionally, through my service I worked with more diverse populations than I have in the past and learned a great deal from them. Through my service site, I re-affirmed my love of working with children, while also realizing that I don’t want to be a teacher. As for my goals, although I don’t have concrete ones at the moment, I better understand the value of placing myself in new or different situations, reflecting, and then moving forward with a clearer picture in mind.
ALLIE BUSCHING ’12
Major(s): Social Work
Service Site(s): Community Action Center
What are you most looking forward to about being a Community Scholar?
I'm looking forward to becoming more engaged with the Northfield community and learning from students with different passions and perspectives on serving the community.
Why are you passionate about service?
Service is an important step to use individual privilege to promote greater social equality and create a more supportive community.
What impact has Community Scholars had on you?
Community Scholars redefined the way I view service and my role as a member of the community. It has given me strategies on how to incorporate service into my career and personal life based on personal choices, attitudes, and action based in reflection.
KELLY DAVIS '13
Major(s): Psychology and Studio Art
Service Site(s): Millstream Commons and Community Action Center
What are you most looking forward to about being a Community Scholar?
I love being able to discuss the inevitable successes and failures within each of our service sites. I think that reflection and self-awareness can only lead to better and more meaningful experiences.
Why are you passionate about service?
I have volunteered at many different facilities throughout my life, and the experiences I gained from those sites were always very important to me. After volunteering at a school for the mentally disabled for three years, I realized that service and helping others was a necessary part of my future. I hope to become an Art Therapist in order to keep helping others.
What impact has Community Scholars had on you?
I absolutely loved this program. I had so much fun, and I gained so much from the experience. I learned a lot about myself and my opinions. I learned that something I already find fun and uplifting (service) can mean so much more, and have a huge impact on the ways in which I lead my life.
NATALIE DAVIS '12
Major(s): Chemistry
Service Site(s): Awesome Club and increasing awareness of Autism through the media, school systems, civic organizations, and community events across Minnesota
What are you most looking forward to about being a Community Scholar?
I am looking forward to taking advantage of another opportunity to tell my brother’s story and increase awareness of Autism. I am also excited to hear about others’ passions and experiences with their service work, and I hope to learn from them so that I can further enhance mine.
Why are you passionate about service?
My dedication for service—particularly in the Autism community—has developed largely from my personal experience of having a brother with Asperger’s Syndrome, which is a high functioning form of Autism. It is easy for the sibling of someone with a disability to take on the “victim” role, or to become the shadow child and resent his or her sibling for taking up too much attention. I am so blessed that this was not the case for me. I don’t resent my brother Trevor. In fact, he is my best friend and I am so proud of all the hurdles he has leaped in spite of his disability. I have channeled my personal experience into valuable service work that has impacted hundreds of individuals across Minnesota.
What impact has Community Scholars had on you?
Community Scholars was a great opportunity to build new friendships and to hold worthwhile discussions during dinner time. Dinner has a tendency to get boring, often resulting in the typical “How was your day?” conversations. I really enjoyed the depth of conversation facilitated by the CS program. I learned a lot about where other people come from and gained some new insight about the varying perspectives of my peers regarding service and other political/social topics.
LEE CHANG '13
Major(s): Nursing and English
Service Site(s): Head Start and Northfield Hospital
What are you most looking forward to about being a Community Scholar?
I look forward to being able to experience more of Northfield and getting to know the area better along with the people and community. I also look forward to forging a better connection between St. Olaf College and the community.
Why are you passionate about service?
I am passionate about service because I feel that if I don't spread the knowledge and love that I have received in all my years of education, then others will not be able to see it as well as experience it with me. Service is something that I have enjoyed getting involved in at a young age because I get to experience the world around me.
What impact has Community Scholars had on you?
I have gained more knowledge about the community around St. Olaf and I have come to learn many great things from children and elders. I have learned to grow within the group and become more insightful about my surroundings and people that have had major impacts on my life and the future. Community Scholars made me understand the measures that need to be taken to fulfill a goal and the determination to make a change.
TRAVIS CHURCHWARD ’12
Major(s): Physics and Education
Service Site(s): Learning Works
What are you most looking forward to about being a Community Scholar?
I am interested in learning about the deeper impacts of service and becoming involved in a community that values the impact they have on others.
Why are you passionate about service?
I am fascinated by urban communities and I view service as one way to help foster an intentional community. I strive to live somewhere with strong roots and community action helps develop such roots.
What impact has Community Scholars had on you?
I have further developed ideas of my own vocation. As I wrestle with defining a meaningful and worthy life, I look to the knowledge I gained at CS to help guide me. I specifically think about devoting your whole self to a service project. We will see where I go from here.
GEOFF DELPERDANG
Major(s): Physics and Mathematics
Service Site(s): Transition Northfield
What are you most looking forward to about being a Community Scholar? Meeting with other people in service, reflecting, and improving through reflection and shared experiences.
Why are you passionate about service?:
As a species we for communities; we are not individualistic by nature. And with that comes a responsibility to care for the community. We thrive as a species and as a people by working together and taking care of each other. Therefore by the simple fact that I am human, it is in my nature to serve my community. Also, more simply, I care about people and the Earth that I live on and so I take pleasure in serving both.
What impact has Community Scholars had on you?
Community Scholars has been such an incredible experience. Being pushed to precisely define my beliefs, ideals, and desires with respect to service, my interactions and relationships, and goals in life, through reflection and discussion has really strengthened my person. As the popular Broadway show Wicked says: “I have been changed for good.” I learned the power of reflection in a group of caring people to change and grow that group.
AMBER HESSE '12
Major(s): Biology
Service Site(s): HealthFinders and Northfield Public Schools
What are you most looking forward to about being a Community Scholar?
As someone who is interested in a lifelong commitment to service, the chance to explore more precisely the definition of service as it relates to myself, other students, the St. Olaf community, and beyond is very unique. Given the sincere motivation for service that lies within many, many St. Olaf students, I see so much potential for meaningful seminars and reflective conversations that can draw on diverse experiences and perspectives from different areas of service.
Why are you passionate about service?
I am passionate about service because it is a wonderful opportunity to forge meaningful relationships with other members of the community. Service provides a venue for not only self-reflection and personal growth, but also serves as a learning opportunity to become a more informed citizen. I enjoy the chance to learn from others while engaging in meaningful work throughout the community.
What impact has Community Scholars had on you?
Community Scholars has provided valuable opportunities to engage in reflection on the meaning of service as a St. Olaf student and in the world. It has also provided a chance to see the connections between different areas of service; there are definitely common themes that arise with regard to motivation, value of differing levels of involvement, etc. The program has reshaped my view of service and cemented my desire to include volunteer work throughout my life as I continue down my life’s path.
CHUE VUE '12
Major(s): Psychology and Family Studies Concentration
Service Site(s): Early Childhood and Family Education
What are you most looking forward to about being a Community Scholar? I am most looking forward to, as a Community Scholar, the enrichment of understanding more fully what service entails and how I can bring these experiences as a Community Scholar to empower others to participate. I also look forward to broadening my perspective of service and learning about other individual’s experiences with their service work.
Why are you passionate about service?: My passion for service is fueled by my desire to learn and connect with the community and the people I interact with. I find service to not just be the act of giving and receiving for a cause but also an experience in which I can establish relationships and learn from these interactions. Along with the opportunity to learn, I also see service as a bridge that connects the things I am passionate about and the skills I have into my service experiences.
What impact has Community Scholars had on you?
I learned about the importance of reflection and why it’s such an essential component of service. Community Scholars has really fostered a space in which I can think more critically about my service, my intentions, and expected outcomes. Before, I really took the service/ volunteer experience for granted but now I feel more satisfied about my role and I am sure it will continue to be that way in future experiences. I definitely want to get involved more as a result of this community exchange and it has really shown me what it means to provide service and to do service for the things I enjoy and am passionate about.
ALEX WENDLING '12
Major(s): Chemistry
Service Site(s): Northfield Reads and Counts
What are you most looking forward to about being a Community Scholar?
I am looking forward to having discussions about optimizing service and also hearing about how other students became involved in service work.
Why are you passionate about service?
I think it's important to use the skills we are given to make a positive impact on others.
What impact has Community Scholars had on you?
I thought it was a good opportunity to put into words how I felt about service. I also liked that we had the opportunity to defend/challenge the viewpoints of others. It confirmed the notion I had about people having different views on service than I did.
KABAO XIONG '12
Major(s): Psychology and Management Studies Concentration
Service Site(s): Three Links
What are you most looking forward to about being a Community Scholar?
The reflection discussions with the other Community Scholars because it means that I am bringing what I do on-site back to St. Olaf.
Why are you passionate about service?
I feel like the elderly is a population that is very much invisible to college students. I think sometimes we forget that these are the citizens that created the world we live in today and we should give back to them.
What impact has Community Scholars had on you?
Community Scholars Program gave me the opportunity to reflect on my volunteering experiences but most importantly, it challenged me to understand why I volunteer. It has also expanded my ideas about civic engagement. I find it really interesting that donating money or blood can be considered service. Civic engagement encompasses so many aspects of daily social life that I don’t really think about. What I usually imagine about civic engagement is direct service (volunteer) but it’s so much more than that too. I realized that I can be doing so much more in terms of “civic engagement”.