Ware in the News

F&M awarded prestigious 2012 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll

What this is: The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll (PHECSHR) recognizes higher education institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities. The Honor Roll is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s strategic commitment to engage millions of college students in service and celebrate the critical role of higher education in strengthening communities.

The total number of students at F&M engaged in community service of any kind is 1,985 (83% of the student population) and that the total number of all community service hours engaged in by the institution’s students was 68,108.

The PHECSHR was started in 2006 to recognize colleges and universities that support innovative and effective community service and service-learning program. It is the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement. F&M applied and was awarded the Honor Roll in 2006 and 2007. The award is given each year to only a handful of institutions -- in 2012, only 635 colleges and universities were recognized.

Read the complete article in My Diplomat.

PIT Class of 2016

August, 2012
Before most of their classmates even began packing for college, 66 members of Franklin & Marshall's Class of 2016 arrived on campus Aug. 19 to continue an F&M tradition—and serve the Lancaster community in which they'll live for the next four years.

The students did so through Putting it Together in the Community (PIT), a four-day service initiative organized annually by F&M's Ware Institute for Civic Engagement. The program, which takes place the week before New Student Orientation, helps students acclimate to life at F&M by introducing them to campus leaders, immersing them in community-service projects and encouraging them to think critically about social issues and human needs.

F&M student Chris Neuhaus '13, a psychology and Spanish double major, served as the Ware Institute's PIT planning intern for the second consecutive year after developing a passion for service through his own PIT experience in 2009. This year, Neuhaus organized a group of 16 other PIT planning assistants, all upperclass students, to mentor the first-year students.

"Hands down, doing PIT my first year was the best decision I've made at F&M," Neuhaus said. "You get to meet upperclassmen right away, and it helps you adjust to campus, learn about Lancaster and learn about F&M. I was nervous as a freshman because it was my first time away from home. Meeting other first-year students and developing a support system is a great thing to have."

Read the complete article in My Diplomat

This year's PIT volunteers worked with refugees in northwest Lancaster, cleared trails at Millport Conservancy, spent time getting to know senior citizens at local retirement communities and mentored students in the School District of Lancaster.

F&M Makes Honor Roll for Record of Community Service

April 25, 2012

Franklin & Marshall College students take pride in giving back to the community and improving the quality of life in Lancaster. Last year alone, students logged 68,108 hours of community service, which adds up to a staggering 405 weeks’ worth of volunteering.

In March, a federal agency formally recognized the institution’s commitment to civic engagement.

F&M has been included in the 2012 edition of the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, which recognizes colleges and universities committed to community service. It is awarded by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that engages more than 5 million Americans in service through the Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President Barack Obama’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. Read the full article in My Diplomat.

Honduras Alternative Winter Break

Waking up before the crack of dawn. Driving more than an hour over bumpy, unpaved roads. Working in a remote location on the side of a mountain.

For 11 Franklin & Marshall College students, it was called spring break. And they would not have had it any other way.

The students traveled to Honduras March 11-17 for an “alternative” spring break organized by F&M’s Ware Institute for Civic Engagement. The group traveled south in partnership with Central American Relief Efforts (CARE), which mobilizes volunteers in the United States to benefit populations in extreme poverty in Central America. Director of Health and Wellness Education Jan Masland and Ryan McGonigle, special assistant for education outreach and athletics planning, led the health-related trip for students interested in medicine, public health and service to others.

Read the complete article in My Diplomat.

Franklin & Marshall College received the Circle of Honor Award from United Way of Lancaster County on Monday, April 9. United Way presents the award to organizations that run excellent workplace campaigns in support of United Way’s annual campaign. The award also recognizes F&M’s year-round engagement with the community. More than 80 members of the F&M community donated $26,479 to the 2011 United Way campaign. Members of the Ware Institute for Civic Engagement, which oversaw the campaign at F&M, accepted the award. Pictured here, from left, are Evan Towt ’11, AmeriCorps VISTA; Ryan McGonigle ’08, special assistant for education outreach and athletics planning; Lisa Wolfe, associate director of the Ware Institute; Sandi Smoker, department coordinator of the Ware Institute; Professor Susan Dicklitch, director of the Ware Institute; and Lilah Thompson ’11, post-graduate fellow for human rights and social justice. (Photo by Angie Kline)

Green Named Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact

April 5, 2012
Rebecca Green ’14 has been named a 2012 Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact. Above, Green takes a break from the action at Chris Campbell Memorial Field in South Africa with one of her newest friends in The ONE Goal program in July 2011. (Photo by Mona Lotfipour ’12)

Franklin & Marshall’s Rebecca Green ’14 has been named a 2012 Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact, a national coalition of college presidents committed to making civic engagement an integral part of the college experience. Green is one of 162 students from 32 states to receive the award, which recognizes emerging leaders who have worked to find solutions for challenges facing their communities.

Green, the human rights intern at F&M’s Ware Institute for Civic Engagement, is an active member of The Human Rights Initiative (THRI), a student-led organization on campus that raises awareness of issues relating to refugees, immigrants, women’s rights and human trafficking. She traveled to South Africa in the summer of 2011 to participate in The ONE Goal, a sport-based education program founded by Mona Lotfipour ’12 and a core group of F&M students to introduce public-health issues to children.

“Community service has always been part of my life,” Green said. “When I was applying to colleges, F&M stood out to me because of the Ware Institute and the opportunities to get involved in service outside the classroom. Read more about Rebecca's committments in The Diplomat.

Educating and Learning in Ghana

December 28-January 15, twelve students traveled Ghana on an Alternative Winter Break. Their destination was Kwesi Koomson's "97 Heritage Academy. This experience has left a life-long impression on the lives of these service-minded students. Read the complete article about the Ghana Alternative Winter Break in My Diplomat.

Human Rights Course changes many lives.

1/8/2012

In Seminar in PA, undergraduates help asylum seekers.

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press – 1 day ago

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A few years after leaving Franklin and Marshall College's leafy campus in Lancaster, alumna Kristen Stephen and Morgan Marks reconnected last month at an apartment on a gritty North Philadelphia street.

Inside, a 25-year-old woman from Sierra Leone rocked her new baby and mixed warm tea with cocoa for her 3-year-old as the college friends recalled the life-changing day in 2007 they had met the woman at the York County Prison.

"I was scared out of my mind walking into that prison. And she's in there with women who have actually committed crimes," Marks said. "She was just turning 20, younger than us. ... I couldn't imagine myself reversing roles."

The woman was seeking asylum. Marks, 25, and Stephen, 26, were assigned to help her case as part of a unique seminar at F&M called Human Rights/Human Wrongs.

Dr. Susan Dicklitch, an associate dean, started the class in 2002 to offer students a chance to see the nation's immigration policy play out on the local level, even in Lancaster, a hub of Amish culture that's hardly a cross-cultural hotspot.

Just 25 miles away, 700 immigrants are detained at the prison, along with 1,700 criminal inmates.

In the seminar, pairs of students are matched with asylum-seekers referred by nonprofits or local immigration lawyers. The students meet with the applicants and help lawyers prepare affidavits, briefs and country condition reports. For the complete article, follow the link above.

9/24/11 Inauguration Service Project

Lilah Thompson ’11, post-graduate fellow for human rights and social justice in the Ware Institute for Civic Engagement, spearheaded the President’s Inauguration Service Project in partnership with the Office of the President and The Human Rights Initiative (THRI). Dozens of members of the F&M and Lancaster communities donated items—including school supplies, toiletries, cleaning supplies and house-warming items—to produce more than 115 welcome kits for local refugees to be distributed by Church World Service, one of the leading refugee resettlement agencies in Lancaster.

The project culminated on Saturday, Sept. 24, in the Alumni Sports & Fitness Center, where alumni, parents and students took part in a refugee simulation workshop. After being assigned a “home country,” participants moved through the various steps of the refugee resettlement process, learning about persecution, life in refugee camps, resettlement and citizenship.

8/31/11 President Porterfield's Blog

Continuing a Tradition of Civic Engagement
President Dan Porterfield commented on Ware Institute's PIT (Putting It Together in the Community and Project LAUNCH programs in his blog. Please read the full posting!

PIT 2011

First-Year Students 'Put It Together' in Community

Katherine Perry ’15 (above) and other first-year students paint a wall at the Spanish American Civic Association on Monday afternoon.

The mission of Franklin & Marshall refers to graduates of the College making a meaningful contribution “to their occupations, their communities and their world.” This week, dozens of members of the Class of 2015 are getting off to an excellent start.

A week before most of their classmates arrive on campus for New Student Orientation, 62 first-year students are participating in Putting It Together in the Community (PIT), a four-day service program organized annually by the Ware Institute for Civic Engagement. The program helps students acclimate to life at F&M by introducing them to campus leaders and providing opportunities to volunteer in Lancaster and the surrounding area.

GOV425 & IST 426 Human Rights-Human Wrongs

What is a “well-founded fear of persecution”? Who deserves to live in the U.S.? Students, in teams of two, will work with a political asylum seeker, under the supervision Dr. Dicklitch and Ware Institute community partner PIRC (Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center), a non-profit legal organization based in York, PA. The teams will compile evidence, testimony, detainee affidavits, and a legal brief that will be used in immigration court.

Complete Article: U.S. News Recognizes F&M's Human Rights- Human Wrongs, Spring, 2011

Taking Initiative, One Project at a Time

From two Hackman scholarships to a growing list of community-service initiatives she has helped to develop, Mona Lotfipour ’12 soaks up her liberal arts experience. more >

Three of the student leaders in F&M's VITA program, from left: Tom Dalrymple ’13, Anne Kolesnikoff ’13 and Jared Gorin ’13.

V.I.T.A.- Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Helps Students Change Lives

For a group of Franklin & Marshall students, providing tax assistance to local residents has led to a return that goes well beyond IRS forms. Students not only partnered with United Way and received training from the IRS, they took a seminar INT 371 Social In/Justice and the vulnerable in Lancaster County, which help them to understand the larger ramifications that their volunteer effort created for their clients and themselves.

More >