College honors service-learning students/community partners
06/14/2011
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Outstanding Service-Learning Student of the Year, Janet Pananganan, left, with Amy
Johnson, Program Coordinator, Edmonds College’s Center for Service-Learning. Photo:
Trevor Anderson
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Edmonds College’s Center for Service-Learning recognized outstanding community partners, faculty, and students at a celebration last week at the college. Last year, 525 service-learning students provided nearly 30,000 hours of service to 57 campus and community partners.
The college has a nationally recognized service-learning program, which combines meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience and strengthen communities.
Service-learning programs at the college include AmeriCorps Students in Service, the Learn and Serve Environmental Anthropology Field (LEAF) School, the Veterans Conservation Corps, and AmeriCorps Retention Project working with the college’s LEAF School and TRiO Student Support Services and Adult Basic Education/ESL programs.
At the celebration, student Janet Pananganan, 40, of Lynnwood was honored as the Outstanding Service-Learning Student of the Year for her work raising funds and awareness for orphanages in Vietnam.
Working with her Business Management 100, Human Relations class she helped raise funds to provide food, education, and medical care for the Vinh Son Orphanage in the central highland of Vietnam, where there are six orphanages serving more than 700 orphans without government aid.
Pananganan is earning her two-year Business Management degree at the college and came to the college through the Worker Retraining program to gain in-demand job skills.
“Janet has outstanding leadership skills and has made selfless contributions and efforts to improve the lives of the children in one of the poorest areas of Vietnam. As a leader, Janet is able to motivate, inspire, and influence her team to excel,” said Business Management instructor Marie Tran.
Accounting instructor Amy Shigley was honored as the Outstanding Service-Learning Faculty Member of the Year. For the past five years, she has coordinated the college’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, fin which accounting students help the community file tax returns. This year, the VITA program provided free tax prep to 417 people and e-filed 322 tax returns.
Caffe Ladro was named the Outstanding Business Partner of the Year for providing donations at numerous events focused on sustainability at the college and at the LEAF School’s Gold Park work parties.
Washington Trails Association, which led a two-day work party at Deception Pass State Park for the college’s Alternative Spring Break, received the Outstanding Non-Profit Organization of the Year Award.
The Snohomish Tribe of Indians has partnered with the college for two years at various service-learning events on and off campus and was named the Outstanding Government Partner of the Year. The tribe helped the LEAF School create the Ethnobotanical Garden, called “Stloja Ali,” or “Place of Medicine,” at Gold Park in Lynnwood.
Support for service-learning programs at the college comes from Washington Campus Compact, the American Association of Community Colleges, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Edmonds College Foundation.
Service-Learning Celebration Awards went to:
- Outstanding Business Partner of the Year, Caffe Ladro
- Outstanding Non-Profit Organization of the Year, Washington Trails Association
- Outstanding Government Partner of the Year, The Snohomish Tribe of Indians
- New Service-Learning Faculty Member of the Year, Engineering instructor Patrick Burnett, for incorporating service-learning into his classes.
- Outstanding Service-Learning Faculty Member of the Year, Amy Shigley
- Outstanding Service-Learning Student of the Year, Janet Pananganan
- Honorable Mention, Service Learning Student of the Year, Jordan Boswell, for his work as a project manager in the Peer-to-Peer Used Books Exchange.
- Honorable Mention, Service Learning Student of the Year, Kristine Deleon, a Resident Assistant, at the college for raising awareness of service-learning and participating and organizing events.
- Honorable Mention, Service Learning Student of the Year, Ean Olsen, the student Executive Officer for Administrative Liaison, for participation in service-learning activities and his leadership in developing a new student-funded Sustainability and Service-Learning Initiative.
- Honorable Mention, Service Learning Student of the Year, Thao Vo, a tutor in the TRIO-Student Support Services program, for participation in service-learning events.