Middlebury College celebrates 13th annual Public Service Leadership Awards
May received the first Dana Morosini Reeve ‘84 Memorial Public Service Award.
MIDDLEBURY, Vt.-At Middlebury College’s 13th annual Public Service Leadership Award dinner held on Tuesday, April 11, dozens of students received achievement certificates for volunteerism in the local community. Of the 39 students nominated by service agencies and individuals in Addison County for their volunteer efforts, nine garnered special recognition, each receiving one of four Middlebury College awards for public service: the Public Service Leadership Award, the John M. McCardell, Jr. Award for Public Service, the Bonnie McCardell Award for Public Service, or the newly-created Dana Morosini Reeve ‘84
Erica received the John M. McCardell Award for Public Service.
Memorial Public Service Award.
The memorial award was established last month in honor of Dana Reeve, and is given to a student who exemplifies Reeve’s spirit and determination while she cared for her husband, actor Christopher Reeve, and worked as an advocate, through the Christopher Reeve Foundation, for all those with spinal cord injuries. Dana Reeve, who died on March 6 of this year, was a member of the Middlebury College class of 1984.
Jess received the Bonnie McCardell Award in Public Service.
The awards given in honor of the McCardells were established two years ago. The John M. McCardell award is given to a student for efforts that bring Middlebury, both college and town, closer together for a public benefit. The Bonnie McCardell award is given to a student for outreach in the areas of youth and family services, literacy, and special needs of young people during the middle and early high school years.
The Public Service Leadership Awards are given to those students who have contributed in a significant and ongoing way to the college community’s level of awareness and involvement in public and social affairs.
A $300 donation will be made by the college on behalf of each award recipient to a nonprofit organization designated by the student. Those agencies and organizations selected by the students for donations are: the World Camp for Kids; the Campus Climate Challenge; the Champlain Valley Agency on Aging; the Middlebury Area Land
Ashley Valle for her service with Vermont Campus Compact, the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, and the Vermont Fundraising and Service Network.
The college’s public service leadership awards were initiated in 1993 by Patrick Durkin, a 1979 Middlebury graduate who continues to underwrite the award program. Durkin traveled to
Vermont to attend the Tuesday award dinner and to congratulate the students.
Each year in February or March, the call for nominations goes out to the community to begin the selection process for the awards. Decisions are based on students’ demonstrated dedication to a cause, level of help toward making a positive change for an individual or for the community, and initiative toward increasing the awareness and involvement of other students in public service. Each nomination is returned to the Middlebury College Alliance for Civic Engagement Office and reviewed by a committee of college students, faculty and staff.
All photos by Trent Campbell