STAY CONNECTED WITH Scholar Leaders

Alumni Association

Murstein Alumni Center 725 E. Chestnut St. Oxford, OH 45056

Non Profit Org

US POSTAGE

PAIDMiami University

Your Connection to Miami

A LETTER TO SCHOLAR LEADER ALUMNI From Travis Tucker, Graduate Resident Director & Co-Adviser of the Scholar Leader Community

Greetings Fellow Scholar Leaders,

This is my second year as graduate resident director and co-adviser of the Scholar Leader Community, and we’re off to a great start for 2012-2013! Students arrived on campus in August for the retreat that was held at Camp Campbell Gard in Hamilton, Ohio, and spent their time playing icebreakers, roasting marshmallows and connecting with new friends. By the time the students had come back to campus, the sense of community and connectedness was already in place. Ever since, it has been common to see Scholar Leaders continuing to build on that same spirit

of community despite their demanding schedules; birthdays, sporting events and holidays are shared with one another.

The community also extends into the classroom. Many of our students are enrolled in EDL 206: The Nature of Group Leadership. Within this course, students are asked to engage in a way that they may never have done before in a classroom. Topics range from gaining multiple perspectives of leadership to recognizing the concepts of both power and privilege in our society. These conversations are successfully completed because the level of community allows for difficult subjects to be discussed and rationally processed.

Although we hope this newsletter gives you a better sense of what the Community is today, we also recognize that this Community would not be as successful without your contributions in the past. We thank you, and we hope you enjoy the newsletter!

Scholar Leader Love, Travis Tucker

C O N N E C T I O NSCHOLAR LEADER ALUMNI

WINTER/SPRING 2013 WWW.MIAMIOH.EDU/WILKS

Alumni Association

RA CORNER

with Kayla Bruggeman, Resident Assistant

»

Looking back on my time as a Scholar Leader, I see a vastly different experience from last year to serving as the resident assistant (RA) for the Community this year. While I loved every second of my experience as a Community member, I have been able to get to know more Community members and on a more personal basis as the RA.

Part of this is thanks to the retreat at Camp Campbell Gard that we were able to attend at the beginning of the year.

This retreat prior to school really allowed the entire Community to get to know one another while removing many external distractions. We started the retreat with community service, then went to camp together. While at Camp Campbell Gard not only were we able to have discussions about what we expected from the Community and one another but we also were able to relax and get to know each other. The entire retreat wasn’t totally relaxing, though; there was an intense game of kickball that showed many Scholar Leaders’ competitiveness!

The retreat allowed us to see the many strengths of Community members, and I am excited to see this play out throughout the remainder of the year.

Kayla Bruggeman, RA

Travis Tucker, RD & co-adviser

C O

N N

E C

T I O

NS

CH

OL

AR

LE

AD

ER

AL

UM

NI

WIN

TE

R/S

PR

ING

20

13

WW

W.M

IAM

IOH

.ED

U/W

ILK

S

Alu

mn

i Ass

ocia

tion

INSIDE:• A Letter to Scholar Leader Alumni (Pg. 1)

• RA Corner with Kayla Bruggeman (Pg. 1)

• Stay Connected with Scholar Leaders (Pg. 1)

• Current Scholar Leader Profile: Jordan Habel (Pg. 2)

• Scholar Leader Alumni Profile: Ryan Martini ’13 (Pg. 3)

• Wilks Leadership Institute (Pg. 3)

WELCOME TO THE SCHOLAR LEADER ALUMNI NEWSLETTER

YOU’RE INVITED TO ATTEND THE

Scholar Leader Alumni & “This I Believe” Banquet

Thursday, April 18, 2013 | 6 p.m.Club Lounge | Goggin Ice Center

Miami University | Oxford, OH 45056

The Scholar Leaders of 2012 and the Wilks Leadership Institute invite you to join alumni, friends and current Scholar Leaders at

the Scholar Leader Alumni & “This I Believe” Banquet.

Current Scholar Leader students will talk about their involvement in the community, and alumni will be encouraged to reflect on their own

Scholar Leader experience. Alumni also are invited to write and submit new “This I Believe” statements based on where they are currently.

To confirm attendance and/or submit a “This I Believe”

statement, please email WilksLeadership@MiamiOH.edu

If you are in Oxford and interested in seeing newly renovated Stoddard and Elliott Halls, or if you just want to catch up with the current crop of Scholar Leaders at

Miami. the Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute is here to help!

For more information on the Scholar Leader program and the Wilks Leadership Institute, check out Page 3 of this newsletter and go online:

www.MiamiOH.edu/Wilks

WHAT IS THE GOAL OF FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN?

Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is a Christian non-profit organization centered around bringing food to the nearly four million children who go hungry every day — and giving a chance at life each day to the 18,000 children who won’t see tomorrow.

With these meals sent to nearly 70 countries around the world, FMSC’s partners have the means to set up businesses, healthcare, education and sustainable activities.

Here is where we come in.

Last April Miami University hosted a meal-packing event called a “MobilePack” where more than 400 volunteers gathered to dance, cheer, encourage and compete to collectively pack 108,000 meals that were sent to starving children in Zimbabwe.

This high-energy event not only provides an adrenaline rush but it often changes the hearts of volunteers because it is so visible how so little time and money can go such a long way. Volunteers learned that 18,000 children die each day from hunger despite the fact that enough food is produced in the world to give each person 2,800 calories every day — more than enough to comfortably survive. They also learn that, through FMSC and their partners around the world, 22 cents is enough to feed a child for a day (92 percent of all donations go directly to this meal-packing process.)

WHEN DID YOU START THE ORGANIZATION?

I first heard about FMSC in September 2011 from my girlfriend’s mother.

CURRENT SCHOLAR LEADER PROFILE

JORDAN HABEL Scholar Leader & Fighting Child

Poverty, One Meal at a Time

Ashley VanBuskirk caught up with current Scholar Leader Jordan Habel, founding member of Miami’s branch of Feed My Starving Children,

to learn about his inspirational organization.

Making a long story short, she told me I should start a MobilePack at Miami. I told her she was crazy.

Then I guess I went a little bit crazy.

I was so moved and overwhelmed with passion for this organization that I started spreading the word and, by the end of October 2011, we had a leadership team of 12 and an email listserv of more than 300. Last year — as a freshman with a big vision, enormous passion, little knowledge of how the school worked and a very small wallet — I quickly learned that I needed a lot of help. I had the privilege to lead the movement and jump-start what I’m seeing become a contagious passion. However, the students, faculty and community provided the hands, hearts, networking and $22,000 we needed to pay for the meals that we packed to feed 300 children for an entire year.

HOW CAN PEOPLE HELP OUT?

Last year’s MobilePack was unbelievable, but “tradition” doesn’t happen from just one event. It’s amazing seeing the current Scholar Leader Community already organizing and fundraising for our second-annual event in April, but we want our second year to set the bar high for what will hopefully be a Miami (and Scholar Leader) tradition.

That said, we need help.

We want the reach of this event to extend outside of Miami University and Oxford.

We would like to work with schools and businesses to help fundraise and then pack

at the event; and we realize that the sky is the limit as we are looking to raise more money to buy more meals so we can allow for more volunteers to join us in the MobilePack experience. We just need help getting there!

FOR MORE INFORMATION

To learn how to get involved, sign up a group to pack meals or

make a contribution to Miami University’s branch of Feed My

Starving Children, connect with MU FMSC online!

Follow MU FMSC on Twitter: @MUFMSC

“Like” MU FMSC on Facebook: “MU FMSC”

Email Jordan Habel: HABELJA@MIAMIOH.EDU

Jordan Habel (pictured second from left) started a Feed My Starving Children MobilePack at Miami as a freshman Scholar Leader in 2011.

SCHOLAR LEADER ALUMNI PROFILE

RYAN MARTINI ’13 Taking the Scholar Leader experience

to Melbourne and Beyond

Meagan Schipper talked with Ryan Martini ’13, who majored in AYA mathematics education with a minor in gerontology and American

literature. Martini tells her what he’s up to now and how his Scholar Leader experiences have helped shape who he is today.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY DOING CAREER- AND EDUCATION-WISE?

I’m going into my final semester of college and will be student-teaching in Melbourne, Australia, starting in January 2013.

WHAT HAS LED/INSPIRED YOU TO GO IN THIS DIRECTION?

Having always had a passion for travel, I decided it would be a wonderful opportunity to find work where I could teach abroad.

Hopefully this experience is a launching pad to further international teaching roles!

HOW HAS BEING A SCHOLAR LEADER HELPED YOU GET TO WHERE YOU ARE?

One of my favorite quotes is by Isaac Newton: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” For me, the Scholar Leader program is about the connections you make with other individuals — individuals who have allowed me to see that anything is possible if I put my heart into it.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE SCHOLAR LEADER COMMUNITY?

Personally, I enjoyed the breakfasts, lunches and dinners we would have together either with a small group of two or the entire Community. Opportunities to just sit around and talk with friends often get overlooked when students are running around focusing on schoolwork.

DO YOU STILL KEEP IN CONTACT WITH YOUR FELLOW SCHOLAR LEADERS?

There is a small group of Scholar Leaders that I was quite engaged with, and we still hang out from time to time. Actually, I met my junior-year roommates through the program! The thing I think that is so great, however, is that no matter how long it has been since I’ve seen one of my fellow Scholar Leaders, we can always strike up a conversation right away!

“John Quincy Adams said, ‘If your actions inspire others to dream more,

learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.’ Whether Scholar

Leaders know this or not, they have this sort of impact every single day.”

-Ryan Martini ’13Martini ’13 will graduate in May after a semester abroad.

WILKS LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE »

The Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute is proud to partner with the Office of Residence Life and include the Scholar Leader Living Learning Community as one of our high-impact leadership development opportunities on campus. We are happy to include all past, current and future Scholar Leaders as members of the Wilks family.

In fact, almost all of the student-employees in the Wilks Leadership Institute are Scholar Leaders.

Our office is working with the Alumni Association staff to create the Scholar Leader Alumni group; we’re designing ways to stay in touch with you and to provide opportunities for you to remain a part of the Scholar Leader Community. If there is ever any way that the Institute or I can be of assistance to you, please let us know. For more information, please also visit us online at www.MiamiOH.edu/Wilks.

We hope to see you at the Alumni Banquet in April!

Eric F. Buller, Ed.D. Director, Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute

WHAT IS THE GOAL OF FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN?

Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is a Christian non-profit organization centered around bringing food to the nearly four million children who go hungry every day — and giving a chance at life each day to the 18,000 children who won’t see tomorrow.

With these meals sent to nearly 70 countries around the world, FMSC’s partners have the means to set up businesses, healthcare, education and sustainable activities.

Here is where we come in.

Last April Miami University hosted a meal-packing event called a “MobilePack” where more than 400 volunteers gathered to dance, cheer, encourage and compete to collectively pack 108,000 meals that were sent to starving children in Zimbabwe.

This high-energy event not only provides an adrenaline rush but it often changes the hearts of volunteers because it is so visible how so little time and money can go such a long way. Volunteers learned that 18,000 children die each day from hunger despite the fact that enough food is produced in the world to give each person 2,800 calories every day — more than enough to comfortably survive. They also learn that, through FMSC and their partners around the world, 22 cents is enough to feed a child for a day (92 percent of all donations go directly to this meal-packing process.)

WHEN DID YOU START THE ORGANIZATION?

I first heard about FMSC in September 2011 from my girlfriend’s mother.

CURRENT SCHOLAR LEADER PROFILE

JORDAN HABEL Scholar Leader & Fighting Child

Poverty, One Meal at a Time

Ashley VanBuskirk caught up with current Scholar Leader Jordan Habel, founding member of Miami’s branch of Feed My Starving Children,

to learn about his inspirational organization.

Making a long story short, she told me I should start a MobilePack at Miami. I told her she was crazy.

Then I guess I went a little bit crazy.

I was so moved and overwhelmed with passion for this organization that I started spreading the word and, by the end of October 2011, we had a leadership team of 12 and an email listserv of more than 300. Last year — as a freshman with a big vision, enormous passion, little knowledge of how the school worked and a very small wallet — I quickly learned that I needed a lot of help. I had the privilege to lead the movement and jump-start what I’m seeing become a contagious passion. However, the students, faculty and community provided the hands, hearts, networking and $22,000 we needed to pay for the meals that we packed to feed 300 children for an entire year.

HOW CAN PEOPLE HELP OUT?

Last year’s MobilePack was unbelievable, but “tradition” doesn’t happen from just one event. It’s amazing seeing the current Scholar Leader Community already organizing and fundraising for our second-annual event in April, but we want our second year to set the bar high for what will hopefully be a Miami (and Scholar Leader) tradition.

That said, we need help.

We want the reach of this event to extend outside of Miami University and Oxford.

We would like to work with schools and businesses to help fundraise and then pack

at the event; and we realize that the sky is the limit as we are looking to raise more money to buy more meals so we can allow for more volunteers to join us in the MobilePack experience. We just need help getting there!

FOR MORE INFORMATION

To learn how to get involved, sign up a group to pack meals or

make a contribution to Miami University’s branch of Feed My

Starving Children, connect with MU FMSC online!

Follow MU FMSC on Twitter: @MUFMSC

“Like” MU FMSC on Facebook: “MU FMSC”

Email Jordan Habel: HABELJA@MIAMIOH.EDU

Jordan Habel (pictured second from left) started a Feed My Starving Children MobilePack at Miami as a freshman Scholar Leader in 2011.

SCHOLAR LEADER ALUMNI PROFILE

RYAN MARTINI ’13 Taking the Scholar Leader experience

to Melbourne and Beyond

Meagan Schipper talked with Ryan Martini ’13, who majored in AYA mathematics education with a minor in gerontology and American

literature. Martini tells her what he’s up to now and how his Scholar Leader experiences have helped shape who he is today.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY DOING CAREER- AND EDUCATION-WISE?

I’m going into my final semester of college and will be student-teaching in Melbourne, Australia, starting in January 2013.

WHAT HAS LED/INSPIRED YOU TO GO IN THIS DIRECTION?

Having always had a passion for travel, I decided it would be a wonderful opportunity to find work where I could teach abroad.

Hopefully this experience is a launching pad to further international teaching roles!

HOW HAS BEING A SCHOLAR LEADER HELPED YOU GET TO WHERE YOU ARE?

One of my favorite quotes is by Isaac Newton: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” For me, the Scholar Leader program is about the connections you make with other individuals — individuals who have allowed me to see that anything is possible if I put my heart into it.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE SCHOLAR LEADER COMMUNITY?

Personally, I enjoyed the breakfasts, lunches and dinners we would have together either with a small group of two or the entire Community. Opportunities to just sit around and talk with friends often get overlooked when students are running around focusing on schoolwork.

DO YOU STILL KEEP IN CONTACT WITH YOUR FELLOW SCHOLAR LEADERS?

There is a small group of Scholar Leaders that I was quite engaged with, and we still hang out from time to time. Actually, I met my junior-year roommates through the program! The thing I think that is so great, however, is that no matter how long it has been since I’ve seen one of my fellow Scholar Leaders, we can always strike up a conversation right away!

“John Quincy Adams said, ‘If your actions inspire others to dream more,

learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.’ Whether Scholar

Leaders know this or not, they have this sort of impact every single day.”

-Ryan Martini ’13Martini ’13 will graduate in May after a semester abroad.

WILKS LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE »

The Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute is proud to partner with the Office of Residence Life and include the Scholar Leader Living Learning Community as one of our high-impact leadership development opportunities on campus. We are happy to include all past, current and future Scholar Leaders as members of the Wilks family.

In fact, almost all of the student-employees in the Wilks Leadership Institute are Scholar Leaders.

Our office is working with the Alumni Association staff to create the Scholar Leader Alumni group; we’re designing ways to stay in touch with you and to provide opportunities for you to remain a part of the Scholar Leader Community. If there is ever any way that the Institute or I can be of assistance to you, please let us know. For more information, please also visit us online at www.MiamiOH.edu/Wilks.

We hope to see you at the Alumni Banquet in April!

Eric F. Buller, Ed.D. Director, Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute

STAY CONNECTED WITH Scholar Leaders

Alumni Association

Murstein Alumni Center 725 E. Chestnut St. Oxford, OH 45056

Non Profit Org

US POSTAGE

PAIDMiami University

Your Connection to Miami

A LETTER TO SCHOLAR LEADER ALUMNI From Travis Tucker, Graduate Resident Director & Co-Adviser of the Scholar Leader Community

Greetings Fellow Scholar Leaders,

This is my second year as graduate resident director and co-adviser of the Scholar Leader Community, and we’re off to a great start for 2012-2013! Students arrived on campus in August for the retreat that was held at Camp Campbell Gard in Hamilton, Ohio, and spent their time playing icebreakers, roasting marshmallows and connecting with new friends. By the time the students had come back to campus, the sense of community and connectedness was already in place. Ever since, it has been common to see Scholar Leaders continuing to build on that same spirit

of community despite their demanding schedules; birthdays, sporting events and holidays are shared with one another.

The community also extends into the classroom. Many of our students are enrolled in EDL 206: The Nature of Group Leadership. Within this course, students are asked to engage in a way that they may never have done before in a classroom. Topics range from gaining multiple perspectives of leadership to recognizing the concepts of both power and privilege in our society. These conversations are successfully completed because the level of community allows for difficult subjects to be discussed and rationally processed.

Although we hope this newsletter gives you a better sense of what the Community is today, we also recognize that this Community would not be as successful without your contributions in the past. We thank you, and we hope you enjoy the newsletter!

Scholar Leader Love, Travis Tucker

C O N N E C T I O NSCHOLAR LEADER ALUMNI

WINTER/SPRING 2013 WWW.MIAMIOH.EDU/WILKS

Alumni Association

RA CORNER

with Kayla Bruggeman, Resident Assistant

»

Looking back on my time as a Scholar Leader, I see a vastly different experience from last year to serving as the resident assistant (RA) for the Community this year. While I loved every second of my experience as a Community member, I have been able to get to know more Community members and on a more personal basis as the RA.

Part of this is thanks to the retreat at Camp Campbell Gard that we were able to attend at the beginning of the year.

This retreat prior to school really allowed the entire Community to get to know one another while removing many external distractions. We started the retreat with community service, then went to camp together. While at Camp Campbell Gard not only were we able to have discussions about what we expected from the Community and one another but we also were able to relax and get to know each other. The entire retreat wasn’t totally relaxing, though; there was an intense game of kickball that showed many Scholar Leaders’ competitiveness!

The retreat allowed us to see the many strengths of Community members, and I am excited to see this play out throughout the remainder of the year.

Kayla Bruggeman, RA

Travis Tucker, RD & co-adviser

C O

N N

E C

T I O

NS

CH

OL

AR

LE

AD

ER

AL

UM

NI

WIN

TE

R/S

PR

ING

20

13

WW

W.M

IAM

IOH

.ED

U/W

ILK

S

Alu

mn

i Ass

ocia

tion

INSIDE:• A Letter to Scholar Leader Alumni (Pg. 1)

• RA Corner with Kayla Bruggeman (Pg. 1)

• Stay Connected with Scholar Leaders (Pg. 1)

• Current Scholar Leader Profile: Jordan Habel (Pg. 2)

• Scholar Leader Alumni Profile: Ryan Martini ’13 (Pg. 3)

• Wilks Leadership Institute (Pg. 3)

WELCOME TO THE SCHOLAR LEADER ALUMNI NEWSLETTER

YOU’RE INVITED TO ATTEND THE

Scholar Leader Alumni & “This I Believe” Banquet

Thursday, April 18, 2013 | 6 p.m.Club Lounge | Goggin Ice Center

Miami University | Oxford, OH 45056

The Scholar Leaders of 2012 and the Wilks Leadership Institute invite you to join alumni, friends and current Scholar Leaders at

the Scholar Leader Alumni & “This I Believe” Banquet.

Current Scholar Leader students will talk about their involvement in the community, and alumni will be encouraged to reflect on their own

Scholar Leader experience. Alumni also are invited to write and submit new “This I Believe” statements based on where they are currently.

To confirm attendance and/or submit a “This I Believe”

statement, please email WilksLeadership@MiamiOH.edu

If you are in Oxford and interested in seeing newly renovated Stoddard and Elliott Halls, or if you just want to catch up with the current crop of Scholar Leaders at

Miami. the Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute is here to help!

For more information on the Scholar Leader program and the Wilks Leadership Institute, check out Page 3 of this newsletter and go online:

www.MiamiOH.edu/Wilks