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Student volunteers honored during Timberwolves game

By Trent Chaffee '09
January 29, 2007

Study Buddies, a program of the St. Olaf Volunteer Network, has been selected as a winner of the 2006 Angel of Mentoring Award, presented by the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota. The St. Olaf volunteers were recognized during the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball game against the Detroit Pistons at the Target Center in Minneapolis Jan. 19.

StudyBuddies07
During a recent Timberwolves game NBA legend Bill Russell (center) presented an Angel of Mentoring award to Elisabeth Vickers (holding award, at left) and classmate Christopher Beal (in blue, behind Vickers. Photo by David Sherman.
Christopher Beal '09 and Elisabeth Vickers '09, co-coordinators of Study Buddies, accepted the award. The two were honored at a special reception in the Club Cambria lounge, followed by a presentation with NBA legend Bill Russell, an outspoken advocate for mentoring. "He gave a great talk," says Vickers, a sociology/ anthropology and psychology double major with a women's studies concentration. "I especially enjoyed hearing him say -- while discussing differences between men and women -- that to be a true man you must express kindness, and that that's what mentoring is all about."

The two Oles also had their picture taken with Russell and the other Angel of Mentoring Award winners at center court in front of a sellout crowd during a televised segment in the second quarter. "It felt surreal," says Beal, a biology and Norwegian double major who is concentrating in biomedical studies.

"It was amazing to be in front of a full house and be recognized for volunteering," adds Vickers. "I think that mentoring goes unrecognized too often."

NATIONAL MENTORING MONTH
The Timberwolves game kicked off National Mentoring Month in Minnesota. The Study Buddies program assists at Greenvale Place, a CommonBond Community in Northfield. St. Olaf Students work with school children by teaching various skills, playing games with them and helping with homework. The program (one of more than two-dozen volunteer groups organized by St. Olaf students to benefit area children, the elderly, individuals with special needs and more) was nominated for the award by Krista Ahlman, service coordinator at Greenvale Place.

Beal and Vickers currently are in their second year of mentoring in the program, and their first year as co-coordinators. Study Buddies mentors regularly volunteer one and half hours a week, and four to five hours a week for special events.

Beal says that the hours spent volunteering have been well worth his time. "Knowing that I have made a difference in the children's lives by being a positive role model, tutoring them on their homework and just hanging out with them means a lot. I always feel that I get as much out of it as the children do."

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.