STUDENTS AROUND THE WORLD: Community Service In New Haven
In keeping with the University's tradition of public service, this summer 30 Yale students are devoting their energies to a variety of community projects in the city as President's Public Service Fellows.
The 18 undergraduates and 12 graduate students are working for nonprofit organizations or municipal agencies in New Haven. Yale College participants are assigned to particular agencies, while the graduate students may submit their own proposals for public service projects. The students also gather regularly for meetings with civic and neighborhood leaders to discuss community issues and concerns. Under the fellowship program, which was established in 1994 by President Richard C. Levin, the students receive stipends for their eight weeks of community service.
"As in the past, we were impressed by the outstanding commitment to the New Haven community exhibited by this year's applicants," says Nina Glickson, assistant to the president. "We continue to have many more talented students than we can place."
The following is a list of this year's Presidential Public Service Fellows and the projects they will pursue:
Undergraduate fellows: Justin T. Berger '99, working on neighborhood revitalization efforts with the Newhallville Restoration Corporation; Beatrice Chen '98, working with the International Festival of Arts and Ideas; Julie Curran '98, working in the Footebridge program, a literacy project located at the Foote School for students of Timothy Dwight Elementary School; Julio Gonzalez '99, working in the intergenerational program at Casa Otonal in the Hill neighborhood; Hrishikesh Hirway '00, working with the Art on the Edge Festival through the Arts Council of Greater New Haven; Elisabeth Jacobs '98, working on planning efforts with the Greater Dwight Development Corporation; Kimberly Ann Jones '00, working in the youth programs of the New Haven Department of Police Service; Shaheen Karim '00, working on special projects with the New Haven Free Public Library; Rachel Kleinfeld '98, working with New Haven's City Plan Department; Zuhairah M. LaMont '99, teaching in the Ulysses S. Grant program for gifted middle and high school students; Betty Lim '98, working at the Hill Health Center; Mehul Patel '98, working with the School Construction Program of the New Haven Public Schools; Tsali W.B. Ricketson '98, working in the National Youth Sports Program sponsored by the Department of Athletics for New Haven youngsters; Eryn Simmers '99, working in the Chief Administrator's Office for the City of New Haven; Peter Stein '99, working with the Varick Development Corporation in the Dixwell Neighborhood; Jennifer Turner '99, working with the City of New Haven's Youth Service Bureau; Cori A. Van Noy '98, working in the New Haven City Plan Department; Monique Vulin '99, working with the Summerbridge program for New Haven youth at the Hopkins School.
Graduate fellows: LaLisa A. Anderson, School of Medicine, working at the Hill Health Center; Donald Braman, anthropology, working with Yale and the City of New Haven to increase public access to information technology resources; Timothy W. Clew, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Management, working with the Whalley Avenue Special Services District to develop a micro-enterprise program with the New York-based financing group Trickle Up; Rebecca Gratz, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (F&ES), working in environmental education for city youths at the West Rock Nature Center as part of the New Haven Ecology Project; Jay R. Horton, epidemiology and public health, working at the Hill Health Center; Michelle Lee and Kyle Rivers, School of Drama, teaching African-American culture and history at the New Haven Free Public Library, using a puppet theater they have designed; Gregory Smith, F&ES, working with the Urban Resources Initiative on neighborhood revitalization efforts; Claire Theobald, School of Art, working with the City of New Haven to design graphic materials to promote the city; Sara Van Dyke, Law School, working with the Greater Dwight Development Corporation; Heather Andrea Williams, American studies, teaching quilting to adults and children at six New Haven sites; Eric L. Woodahl, Divinity School, working at Christian Community Action in the Hill neighborhood.
In the U.S. and Hong Kong
Yale students will be working in community service projects across the country and in Hong Kong under the sponsorship of the University's alumni clubs and associations.
Sponsored by the Association of Yale Alumni, the Community Service Summer Fellowship program supports undergraduate and graduate students for eight weeks as they volunteer with community-based organizations. Alumni clubs provide the funds for each fellow's stipend, arrange housing - since students are rarely placed in their own hometown - and serve as local contacts during the summer.
This year, alumni groups are sponsoring 32 student volunteers. The clubs, the students they are sponsoring and the community projects where they will work follow:
Yale Club of Boston - Dalia Hochman '00, City Year; Anne Langford '99, Rosie's Place; Justin Milner '99, The Horizons Initiative; and Andrea Wong, Divinity School, Arts in Progress; Yale Club of Chicago - Kyrle Turton '00, Cathedral Shelter; and Julianna Schantz- Dunn '00, Hephzibah Children's Association; Yale Club of Cleveland - Marc Sharifi, School of Architecture, New West Development Corp; Colorado Yale Association - Jill Kelly '99, Women's Bean Project in Denver; Yale Club of Dallas - Reena Barnett '98 , Equest; Yale Club of Georgia - Edward Williams '98, FCS Urban Ministries - Atlanta Youth Project; Yale Alumni Association of Greenwich - Nora Flynn '99, Arredondo Foundation; Yale Club of Hawaii - Bobby Windisch '99, Waikiki Health Center; Yale Club of Hong Kong - Yee-Bun Benjamin Lui, department of epidemiology and public health, St. Barnabas Society and Home.
Yale Alumni Association of Montclair, New Jersey - Zaneta Chung '98, West Essex Community Health Service; Yale Club of New Canaan- Wilton, Connecticut - Neeta Bhavalkar '98, Horizons Student Enrichment Program; Yale Club of New Haven - Trisha Anderson '98, Anti-Defamation League; Yale Alumni Association of Metropolitan New York --Katherine Spector '99, the Maurer Foundation of Cold Spring Harbor; Yale Club of Northeastern New York - Jeremy Marwell '99, Albany Service Corps; Yale Alumni Association of the Northwest - Erika Fricke '98, Centro Legal in St. Paul, Minnesota; and Nadine Block, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy in St. Paul, Minnesota; Yale Club of Omaha - Robert Luckett '99, Camp Kitaki in Lincoln, Nebraska; Yale Alumni Association of Central Pennsylvania --Alison Hardy, Divinity School, Bell Family Shelter in York; and Ryan Giblin, School of Architecture, Design Corps of Gettysburg; Yale Club of Philadelphia - Lori Kochanski, Divinity School, Salvation Army Red Shield Family Residence
Yale Club of Pittsburgh - Yun Kim '99, Legal Aid for Children; Yale Club of San Diego - Robert Hoo '98, Accion San Diego; Yale Club of San Francisco - Susanna Tenny '98, Heads Up Summer Enrichment Program at the Head Royce School; Yale Club of Southern California - Shelley Clifford '99, Las Familias del Pueblo in Los Angeles; Yale Club of Tampa Bay - Tanya Loh '00, the Salvation Army's Sallie House in St. Petersburg, Florida; Yale Club of Washington, D.C. - Blake Thorkelson '99, Emmaus Services for the Aging; Shannon Scott '99, Community Family Life Services; and Erica Krablin '98, Northwest Settlement House.