WARREN WILSON COLLEGE

SERVICE 2012

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KELSEY BROWN SENIOR SERVICE AWARD

Presented by Emily Sprouse

As a member of the Service Learning crew for two years, Kelsey went above and beyond all expectations set for the amount of service to be done in four years at Warren Wilson College. Not only did she go above and beyond the numerical amount, she did it with an outgoing personality and determination to see a project through until the end. Kelsey’s compassionate, outgoing personality is noticed by her peers, teachers, supervisors and friends. Smile is written on the inside of her brightly colored shoes and something that is always displayed on her face. !rough service and friendship she is described as dependable, the one who you can rely on for support and a natural born leader. But she is more than that, she truly cares about a student’s fear to go on sca"olding during a break trip, or of her supervisors decision on where to send her child to school.

!e compassion she shows goes farther than that of her peers, it is extended to those she serves. !rough Americorps, service learning, the service advisory committee and the countless trips she has gone on and lead there is no one who has not experienced her kind and joyous spirit. From the youth she worked with at Montford community center, to the people she served reconstructing houses in Alabama, there are countless lives she has touched. On a break trip to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation#in South Dakota, Kathryn Burelson tells a story of how Kelsey watches out for and connects with children. While everyone else was inside talking with the community partner and their family Kelsey went outside to play basketball with their adolescent son Maza, giving him attention while he was being ignored. She cares about community and she cares about her friends.

Kelsey’s love of arts and crafts has led her to spend the past two years working on the $ber arts crew. Using her experience from service learning, she took the initiative to provide service opportunities for her current coworkers such as the Future Visions program at the YWCA, weaving bookmarks and making tie dye with the youth there. Kelsey has travelled to India for study abroad and led break trips to South Dakota and Alabama. With a speci$cally designed major she built herself around the impact service has on a student’s life kindergarten through twelfth grade she goes farther to help people. !rough classes she has picked herself and with the help of her advisor, she uses every available aspect of learning at Warren Wilson to gain knowledge in order to help the greater community. Focusing on classes in departments such as: outdoor leadership, psychology, social work her focus has been on how to engage students in learning through service with the belief that service enhances education.

Many at Warren Wilson consider Kelsey their best friend. !e children she works with have the natural tendency to gravitate towards her. Her professor Marty O’Keefe describes her as a student who “chooses challenges to take her abilities to the next level and beyond.” With an open-minded view of the world, there has never been a goal set too high, a mountain she cannot climb or an obstacle she cannot overcome.

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SOFIA CANDEL SENIOR SERVICE AWARD

Presented by Meron Amare

!e Triad, when applied well, extends our thinking. It shows us dimensions of the world we’d not have otherwise experienced. Students who see this strong opportunity of the triad early on bene$t the most. !ey push their limits in all areas of academics, work and service and construct their values from a $rst person perspective. Similar to all undertakings in life, both the process of doing something and the $nish come with their own rami$cation. !is tribute is to award So$a Candel for her accomplishment of a beautiful journey.

Will I achieve the purpose of this tribute to honor the accomplishments of an extraordinary individual? Will I be able to illustrate the strength, compassion, willingness and persistence of a beautiful lady? Will I say even the minimum of what makes her special to me, but even more so, to be awarded at this very day? I don’t know. But as So$a Candel would probably say, the attempt by itself goes a long way.

Once a student exceeds double, or in So$a’s case, triple the service requirement, you know to look for the deeper reasons and ask, “Why?” But $rst, “Doing what?” So$a has been strongly involved in the areas of youth and education, race and immigration and environment. But for her, the most signi$cant service experience was with the Pine Ridge Community. !ere, So$ explains, she was able to challenge herself in understanding the di"erent cultures and social systems in-place for the Native Americans at the reservation.

As a part of her cultural psychology class and later on her independent research, she was also able to note some of the socioeconomic, political and health-related challenges in the community. On her service re%ection paper, she talks about the power of education that has helped her to prepare, understand and most importantly rea&rm her belief to use this tool as the $rst step towards a solution to the challenges the community is currently facing.

At her work with the Service Program o&ce, Service Coordinator Karen Kyle acknowledges So$a’s dedication and commitments at her work place. Karen appreciated So$a’s presence at the o&ce and her intellectual wit (of which I am a primary victim).

Recalling the many times So$a has spoken very highly of Dr. Bob Swoap, who is the department chair of Psychology and So$a’s advisor, I asked what he thought made So$ unique. I am only happy to quote his response and expect it brings a smile to her face.

“So$a is a highly motivated, honest, intelligent, caring and competent individual. I repeatedly have seen So$a’s commitment to her studies and her strong interest in psychology’s ethical and e"ective applications in service settings. For example, So$a was a remarkably good counselor for an older resident of a nursing home. !is resident had delusions and depression; So$a o"ered her support and behavioral psychotherapy skills, helping the resident to become less depressed and more independent.” Dr. Swoap remarks on So$a’s mature thinking and her perspective on complex issues: “She is one of those students whom you love to have in class.”

In appreciation of So$: this is the start of a book I could have written, the poem I could have rhymed. Yet, for today’s occasion, it is the short summary—I need to close. I love you So$, and I wish you all the best!

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OWEN GROOMS SENIOR SERVICE AWARD

Presented by Nora White

!e $rst time I ever even heard Owen Grooms’ name it was in relation to service. Our mutual friend and his fellow Service Award recipient, Madeline, was telling me about the fall break trip she was organizing and how someone named Owen was going to be leading it with her. “He was abroad last semester. He’s from Alabama.”

!e story I’ve heard is that both Madeline and Owen were abroad, one in South Africa and one in Brazil, when they heard about the tornados ripping through their Alabama home and started texting each other about how badly they wanted to put together a group from Warren Wilson to go down and do some relief and rebuilding. !is story emulates to me why Owen is so deserving of this award: he was in Brazil, worlds away from both Warren Wilson and Alabama, and yet he was still putting himself into those places and communities, acknowledging that he could be present in all these places he cares for and use them in coordination with each other to make a positive change.

!ese qualities have been visible in his academics as well. His academic advisor, David Abernathy, described Owen this way: “He always sought out ways to engage a broadly de$ned social justice movement with social theory so that he could more deeply understand the motivations, tools and goals of social justice movements.” It’s this kind of whole systems thinking and engagement that has obviously been a part of Owen’s 316.5 service hours, largely contributed to by his engagement in and dedication to big projects such as Alternative Break Trips, both as a participant and student leader, mentoring at Big Brothers Big Sisters and !e Emma Family Resource Center, and working in the Black Mountain Community Garden. !is range of service sites and community partners has shown that Owen has mastered the ability to see how interconnected social movements are and how to balance his interests while still being e"ectively involved. He has exempli$ed compassion, drive, enthusiasm, and integrity through his work in the Asheville/Buncombe community and beyond.

I’ve also had the pleasure of befriending Owen. Over the course of getting to know him, I’ve found an individual who’s always welcoming with a hug, down to play music or make some food and who invites me to way more social gatherings than I am ever able to join him for. In classes we’ve had together he thinks critically and actively, adding depth and perspective to the discussions. And that’s just it—he’s persistent and motivated, he knows what he loves to do and where he wants to place his energy. His undying love for old-time and bluegrass music and his passion for the outdoors are inspiring; it’s that same drive that has led to his extensive community involvement. I know I can speak for the Warren Wilson community when I say that I’m sure Owen will take all that he’s learned at Warren Wilson and use it to great lengths, maybe without even realizing how he’s blending together his skills, which will make it all the more seamless and interesting.

So, cheers and best of luck, my friend. Roll Tide.

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CARLOS LARA SENIOR SERVICE AWARD

Presented by Blanca Perez

When I chose my senior I said, “Oh, I know this person. It will be easy.” Little did I know that this person was really involved in and out of campus.

My mission $rst started by heading over to see Karen Huntley to $gure out more about the crews he worked on. While I was there, she told me that he is a great student who is “always open for ev-erything and jokes around with anyone.” One thing she will not forget is the Spanish word that he taught her to use in bad situations. It starts with an M and ends with an A, but that is something I will let you $gure out.

Even though some of those crew supervisors were not his supervisors, they were able to contribute a few if not many words about him. Christine Swoap said, “Carlos is open to sharing experiences about his life not only for the Spanish department but the WWC community. He doesn’t strike me as someone who gets too ru'ed by life events. He has this professionalism with whatever work he has done on campus.”

Carlos’ academic advisor Ed Raiola said to me, “Carlos is a wild man full of energy and love. He cares about others and puts joy into all that he does. I can see him leading and inspiring his sta" and participants toward amazing personal change.”

I had many choices on which students to talk to on campus, but I decided to talk to the closest people to him like So$a Candel. She said, “Carlos has so many good qualities about him. Carlos is LOUD and when I say that, I mean there is no better person then him to get a crowd going.” In many occasions he got the crowd going around service. While he worked in the service crew he lead issue areas and many trips to di"erent service opportunities.

He worked for more than 400 hours with many community partners such as the Red Cross, Hinds Feet Farm, Black Mountain Home for Children, Black Mountain Center and many others. He also took time to volunteer in his hometown in Kentucky where he worked with the Housing Development Alliance.

As part of an issue workshop Families Without Borders, Carlos co-lead within the Emma Family Resource Center, and worked closely with Norma, the Latino Outreach Coordinator of the center. Norma said “Carlos is a very compassionate man, in the deep and whole sense of the world. !anks to his e"orts and leadership today exists MANOS in Children First/CIS Family Center at Emma, a safe space for youth to dream and work toward the future they want and deserve.”As Norma and others would say, thank you Carlos for all the hugs, the laughs and the amazing service to the community.

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LAURA LOWENSTEIN SENIOR SERVICE AWARD

Presented by Caroline Duble

Laura Lowenstein is by far the most engaged, compassionate, organized person I have ever met. Not only did Laura engage in over 400 hours of community service ranging from leading two alternative break trips to volunteering with EMMA Family Resource Center, but she also worked on the Service Program Crew for $ve semesters and maintained a wonderful service-learning record in her experiences as a social work major. Clearly, she has found a purpose in service at Warren Wilson. I was fortunate enough to work with Laura for three semesters on the Service Crew. During our time as co-workers, Laura inspired me to take an active role in my community. I was consistently touched by her grace, her e"ervescent cheer and extreme organization.

When I spoke to Karen Kyle, Laura’s former Service Crew work supervisor, she said that Laura’s thoroughness consistently blew her away during her time as a crew member, and even before she was a crew member! Karen told me that Laura made her a handmade thank you card after her original interview for the crew position. In my $rst semester at Warren Wilson College, I was paired with Laura to lead a weekly Big Brothers Big Sisters program. When we went to clean out the Kids on Campus closet, she just yanked everything out and went at it! She dived head-on into the messiest closet I have ever seen and turned it into an entirely functional space. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I refer back to this moment and try to remind myself that Laura’s level of organization is actually humanly possible.

In addition to leading service trips like Kids on Campus, Laura also conceived, organized and led two alternative break trips, one of which was to an intentional farming community in rural Georgia, called Koinonia. Laura’s academic advisor, Lucy Lawrence, described Laura’s e"ective leadership during this trip: “!e trip was successful because Laura’s integrity and leadership facilitated genuine relationships and sharing that crossed such barriers of race, class, age and sexual orientation.” !e loving acceptance, patience, and amazing leadership that Lucy describes are clearly what drive her passion to be engaged with her community.

As a social work major, Laura completed her semester-long internship at Children First, where she worked hands on with families and children in a school setting. Her internship supervisor, Lisa Barlow, said “Laura did so much more during her internship with us, but what stands out the most is her passion. Laura has such a strength and ability to bolster the community in her heart. Her integrity matched with her character and made her a joy to be with and learn from.” It is obvious that Laura made a huge di"erence at Children First and will be missed there, as well as at Warren Wilson.

!rough my own experiences working with Laura and through my conversations with people who have been touched and inspired by her compassion, it has be so obvious to me that Laura is genuinely interested in learning more about herself, her community and other people through service, and so I am honored to present you with this Senior Service Award.

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FREESIA MCKEE SENIOR SERVICE AWARD

Presented by Lia Kaz

Hello everyone. My name is Lia Kaz and I have the honor and joy of speaking about Freesia McKee. In service, Freesia’s record is not only outstanding in the number of hours but more importantly in breadth and depth. A large theme among her service accomplishments are in food security; she has worked with community gardens in Detroit, Michigan and Fairview and Black Mountain, North Carolina. She’s attended Food Security Issue Area workshops and served at Pine Ridge Reservation with Conscious Alliance, a grassroots food collection and hunger awareness organization.

To $nd out more, like any researcher of my generation, I Googled “Freesia McKee.” To my surprise, but not shock, I found Freesia’s biography with A Growing Culture, an organization with whom she states she is “most interested in the intersections of food justice and social equality.” With her volunteer editing of their literature, she has managed to, as her supervisor Julie Wilson told me, “bring together her love of writing with her desire for greater equality among people.” When observing records of her many service trips in a wide range of locations, her volunteer work with the Literary Council, a center for increasing comprehensive literacy and English language skills in adults, also stands out as a strength from her creative writing major. I spoke to many people about Freesia, but none saw only one angle of her. With a sincere braiding of the Triad, her academic adviser in her other major of gender and women’s studies, Laura Vance, remarks, “Freesia thinks deeply about the consequences of the way she lives her life, and consequently works in a concerted way to live ethically. Her empathy and analysis inform a vision of social justice that goes well beyond volunteerism; instead, she seeks strategies for long-term change. I $nd her inspiring and am grateful for having had the chance to learn from her.”

Of Freesia, one friend told me that she has given her motivation on her darkest of days, made her a more conscious individual and helped her $nd her voice through writing. Personally, Freesia has been an inspiring resource on campus for me, whether it was eating lunch with her during my $rst few weeks at Wilson or recently working with her to $nd transportation as she helped organize attendance for a Trayvon Martin vigil. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that Freesia, you will be missed. Not surprisingly, the future looks very bright for this powerhouse. She has been accepted to Mills and Sarah Lawrence, and for the upcoming year will be working with the Civic Education Project as a teacher’s assistant in a class of 14-year-olds to, in her words, “$gure out how to consciously engage in their communities.” One of my favorite things about Freesia is her honesty, her realness. For her senior re%ection on her four years of service, Freesia did not write about one service trip, or even one issue area. Instead, she explains, “I remember realizing on many occasions that successful social justice work necessitates an awareness of connectivity and layeredness.”

She leaves behind a legacy of holistic learning, personal accountability, hard work and, as I’ve known her, kindness, fun and openness.

Congratulations, Freesia!

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KATHRYN SABO SENIOR SERVICE AWARD

Presented by Ben Malmborg

I think Kathryn Sabo is an incredible person, and I have never even met her. !rough her dedication to service, work and learning at Warren Wilson Katie has shaped a unique triad experience. Not only has Katie Sabo done an incredible amount of service at over three hundred hours, but she has also used those experiences to grow and learn.

Katie has been involved in a wide breadth of service, working with organizations such as Room At !e Inn, a shelter for homeless women, or the numerous organizations working with youth and education. Katie was also able to connect her service with her faith, and served over a hundred hours in the greater faith community. In the spring 2011, Katie participated in a service trip to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota as part of a cultural psychology course led by professor Katherine Burleson. “One of the great realities of being a college professor is that we sometimes have a front row seat to incredible personal development,” Burleson said. “She stepped out of her comfort zone; no, she leaped out of her comfort zone.”

Service like this takes incredible dedication, a quality that crew boss Pat Tuttle sees every day. “She walks to work, and that’s no easy walk,” Pat said. Pat has seen Kayte’s dedication and passion in her love of children and education in her time at Mountain Area Child and Family Center, exclaiming, “She just has an excitement to learn!”

It takes a remarkable student to not only work to a"ect change in a community, but also to let the community a"ect positive change in her. Katherine Burleson saw this change $rst hand in Pine Ridge.

Do you know how when you get a massage you have to be able to relax your body enough for the healing of touch to work? If you keep your muscles tense, the massage is just going to hurt,” she said. “Katie went on the Pine Ridge trip, as one of the most receptive students.#It was a lot of work for her (for anyone) to go in open-minded and remain that way.#It is easy to be quick to have a solution in your head, or to categorize the population as this or that.#It is scary to let the healing powers of the experience make a di"erence to you.#Katie accomplished this. She stayed open to the experience and learned ‘it’ in a profound way.

!ere is not much higher praise you can get, unless it is Pat Tuttle saying, “She is fun and she makes me laugh!”

Congratulations Katie!

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AUTUMN STINSON SENIOR SERVICE AWARD

Presented by Emma Post

When I spoke with Autumn’s friends and community members, they gave me many di"erent adjectives to describe Autumn: un%appable, badass, genuine, kind, con$dent, sweet. However I think the best and most accurate way of describing Autumn came from her supervisor, Lucy Lawrence, who simply described her as a “mermaid superhero.” !is may seem like an exaggeration, but when hearing everything that Autumn has achieved during her time at Wilson, it wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to assume that she has superhuman powers.

Besides completing over 400 hours of service, Autumn has excelled academically, completing her degree in three years and receiving Academic All-American honors three times. On teaching Autumn, Lawrence says, “Working with Autumn has made me a better teacher. She is always capable, yet still eager to learn more.” Autumn approaches service with that same level of engagement and intentionality that truly leaves an impact on every population she works with. Autumn infamously arrived at Wilson for the $rst time just 48 hours after getting back from a service trip in Kenya. Her interest in service is international, but at the same time she’s able to focus locally. She has worked with many di"erent organizations in our community, including Room at the Inn, Ten !ousand Villages, YWCA and Evergreen Charter School. Looking beyond the incredible number of hours she has spent serving her community, Autumn shows a commitment to understanding and looking deeper into the issues. She has spent over 100 hours working with World Camp for Kids, an organization working to provide sustainable solutions to the complex problems of poverty and HIV in Malawi, Africa and worked with them to create a new curriculum. She also participated in an HIV/AIDS issue workshop here at Wilson.

When working with organizations in the community, Autumn makes herself into a true partner. As part of her internship for the Women’s Wellbeing and Development Foundation, Autumn designed and implemented a community resource center within a local public housing neighborhood. Her supervisor there, Nicole Hinnebaugh, says that Autumn “exudes a natural grace and a gentle caring quality that makes people feel instantly at ease around her. “

Part of what makes Autumn an e"ective and engaged community member is what makes her a great friend and member of the Warren Wilson basketball team. Her friends say she has the ability to constantly put the well-being of others before her own. She is an integral part of a team, using her strong work ethic and unwavering determination to lead others by example.

I haven’t had the pleasure of getting to know Autumn personally, but through learning about her, I have come to the conclusion that she is, in fact, a superhero. She is someone who is dedicated to making our community stronger. Her kindness, compassion and commitment to social justice is what a real superhero should be. As Autumn moves on to what is sure to be a bright career path, armed with her social work degree, she will accomplish many more superhuman feats.

Congratulations, Autumn.

MADELINE WADLEY SENIOR SERVICE AWARD

Presented by Marissa Bramlett

Sometimes, when you meet someone your $rst impression is entirely inaccurate. My $rst impression of Madeline Wadley, however, still holds true. My earliest memory of Maddy was when she facilitated service orientation for this year’s freshman class. I was a bit overwhelmed and quite honestly, I don’t remember much from that orientation- but I do remember Madeline. Needless to say her charm, energy, passion, and curly blonde hair made an impact. From this point on I thought of Maddy as the embodiment of service at Warren Wilson College.

I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Madeline is widely recognized for thoroughly engaging in our community and the triad. Madeline, I don’t think you’re aware of this, but your engagement has earned you a nickname on campus, “Miss Warren Wilson.”

While Madeline is a woman of many talents, including a beautiful singing voice, her commitment to her community is one of her most stunning qualities. To Madeline, the idea of living within a community and not fully participating within it is a foreign concept. Maddy is one who wants to understand the people, the history, and the struggles of wherever she lives.

When choosing to go abroad last spring, Madeline enrolled in a service-learning based program in Cape Town, South Africa, where she did extensive service work with “Dance for All”– A non-pro$t that provides “children in historically disadvantaged communities with the opportunity for enjoyment, empowerment and promotion of self esteem through the medium of dance.” As she entered this unfamiliar community she did not suggest that she had the solutions to all of their problems, instead Madeline o"ered her compassion, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. When Madeline wrote about her experience working with these South African children she proclaimed that “Dance for all is a small touch of hope in their lives, a chance to become truly good at something, and a chance to sit down and talk to someone who may not be able to $x anything but who is completely willing to listen.”

Even though she may be a worldly traveler, Maddy will never forget her roots. !is past fall, just months after Alabama experienced a violent series of tornados, Madeline led a break trip back to her home state. !rough this trip she was able to bridge the gap between her two communities, help educate Wilson students and provide much needed post-tornado relief to her homeland.

My understanding of Madeline’s devotion to community was only deepened this semester when we moved in together. As her roommate, I gained another glimpse into her passion and dedication for service in the community she now calls home. Weekend after weekend I would catch Madeline sneaking out of the room in the morning trying not to wake me up so she could lead her 8 a.m. trip to A-HOPE, a day center for individuals experiencing homelessness in the Asheville area. I’ve spent months trying to understand how Madeline has managed to do all of this, and all I can tell you is a lot of co"ee has been involved.

As Je" Keith put it, “Madeline’s mind is alive with interests, her hands are worn from work and her heart is warm as a result of her service.” Madeline is leaving here a true Wilson student, and I can’t wait to see where her tremendous talent will lead her.

P.S. Madeline, I adore you. All my love, Marissa

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Pavilion by Ann Vasilik, 2005WARRENWILSONCOLLEGE