National Service-Learning Awards Presented in Colorado
Denver, Colo. (March 15, 2013) — The National Service-Learning Awards were presented on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 during the 24th Annual National Service-Learning Conference® in Denver, Colo. The awards are presented by the National Youth Leadership Council and are sponsored by the UPS Foundation.
The Youth Leadership for Service-Learning Excellence Award was presented to members of the Turning Grease into Fuel project of Westerly, R.I. for their leadership and service. The TGIF project was started in 2008 by the Junior WIN (Westerly Innovations Network) team and aims to recycle used cooking oil from local restaurants into biofuel to help families who need emergency heating assistance. “We first convinced our town council to place a waste cooking oil (WCO) receptacle at the town’s transfer station,” said Cassanda Lin. “Then we visited hundreds of restaurants to ask them to donate their grease, and partnered with grease collectors, biodiesel refiners, and charitable organizations to collect, refine and distribute BioHeat® to families who needed emergency heating assistance.”
Beth Nickle, a teacher for 23 years at Bailey Alternative High School in Springfield, Mo., is the recipient the Service-Learning Practitioner Leadership Award for her commitment to young people and service-learning. Through her efforts, service-learning has become systemic and interwoven with the academic and social goals of not only Bailey, but the community. Beth spearheaded the Missouri Service-Learning Institute where middle school students from across the state gathered together for intensive service-learning leadership training. She and her students have presented at a variety of state and national conferences, and in 2009 she was awarded the Teacher of the Year for Springfield Public Schools. Through her work, students have participated in hundreds of service-learning projects from recycling and water quality, to voting and tutoring.
Dawn Gifford Engle, executive director and cofounder of PeaceJam Foundation in Arvada, Colo., is the recipient of the Alec Dickson Servant Leader Award. The award honors exemplary leaders who have inspired the service-learning field, positively impacted the lives of young people, and motivated others to take up the banner of service. For the past sixteen years Dawn has built PeaceJam, an international education program, through which she has engaged more than 600,000 youth in service-learning, hosted more than 150 youth conferences with Nobel Peace Laureates, and supported youth to implement more than 1 million service-learning projects in their communities. “She was the first one to approach many of the laureates about working with youth, and had the courage to fly around the world, often to conflict areas, to convince them,” said Betty Williams, a colleague of Dawn’s.
"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." -- Greek Proverb. Each year during the National Service-Learning Conference trees are planted in honor of the award winners. This year’s tree planting will take place on Saturday, March 16, as part of a Day of Service event sponsored by the Piton Foundation in partnership with Earth Force and NYLC.
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At the National Youth Leadership Council, we strive for a world where all young people are valued and called on to lead. With passion, creativity, and ingenuity, young people can address world issues while strengthening academic, civic, and learning outcomes through service-learning. To that end, we provide programs and services that develop young leaders, support educators, and advance the field of servicelearning. Visit www.nylc.org to learn more about NYLC and service-learning.
