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Colgate Program Gives Students A Chance To Give Back

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Tuesday, April 20, 1999

 Fellowship funds summer community service internships for students with financial need Hamilton, N.Y. - Twelve Colgate University students have recently been selected for a summer internship program that provides students who have financial need the chance to do community service when they might otherwise be unable. Funded by an endowed fellowship, the program provides stipends to students for ten-week internships in the greater Boston, Massachusetts area. Colgate has a strong tradition of student volunteerism, according to Judy Fischer, associate director of career services, “but those positions are usually unpaid. For students on financial aid, a paying summer job is usually a necessity,” said Fischer, who administers the Manzi Fellowship program. Established in 1995 by Jim Manzi, a 1973 Colgate alumnus and Trustee with ties to the Boston area, the Manzi Fellowship will enter its fourth summer of operations this year. Manzi, former CEO and chairman of Lotus Development Corp. in Cambridge, established the Colgate internship to mirror a similar effort with the Lotus Foundation, where, with then-philanthropy director Michael Durney, he had worked to place Lotus employees as volunteers with Boston area social service agencies. The Colgate fellowship provides a different experience outside the normal things students learn in the classroom and on study groups and answers a crying need for volunteers at social service organizations. Through the fund, Colgate is currently able to support twelve volunteers with a stipend of $3,000 each. During the summers of 1996 and 1997, six students participated, and in the summer of 1998, the number increased to eight. Volunteers are selected through an application process in which they demonstrate financial need as well as their interest and dedication to community service. At the end of their internships, the Manzi Fellows and sponsoring organizations are required to file a report on their experiences. Daniel Patenaude, a 1998 graduate whose hometown is Riverside, R.I., spent the summer of 1998 working in the medical clinic of the Pine Street Inn, a homeless shelter in Boston. Patenaude, who held a double major in molecular biology and English, plans a career in which he can tie his interest in medicine to his sense of civic responsibility to work for social justice, as a clinician in infectious disease or immunology. He says the internship put him “one step closer to developing what some have called a ‘cultural competence’” and hopes the experience will help him to one day be a better physician to “all people.” He is currently doing research at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland. Leanne Nassar, a junior from Windham, N.H., worked at Shelter, Inc. in Cambridge. Nassar spent part of her time working in the administrative office, and the rest at a women’s drop-in program. “Leanne immediately became an integral part of the staff in a program where very traumatized women come in looking for a safe place,” said Judy Perlman, director of program planning at Shelter. “She had so much enthusiasm, and demonstrated empathy, concern, and a remarkable ability to connect with people. They loved her.” Perlman pointed out that in return, Shelter Inc. was able to give Nassar a grasp of the critical factors that keep a non-profit organization running. “I received a major gift this summer,” said Nassar. “I was afraid that I would not be able to relate to the homeless women — how would they react to a middle-class college student, and how could I make a connection with them? I learned that all humans have a common thread, no matter what color, ethnicity, or economic status. You have to put down your guard and be willing to reach out to people to discover these connections.” Nassar also said the Manzi Fellowship gave her real-life examples that she can bring back to the classroom. “In my psychopathology class we learned about the symptoms of a disorder related to schizophrenia. I immediately thought of a woman I worked with at Shelter and described her behavior to the class, because I thought that could be what she was suffering from. It’s a perspective that even the professor may not have.” Michelle Park, a 1998 graduate from Hanson, Massachusetts, who majored in psychology and Spanish, worked at a national education program called Facing History and Ourselves last summer. Headquartered in Boston, Facing History offers professional development to teachers who work with students on issues of racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism in examining the moral choices they make each day and the impact this has on their role as citizens. Among other duties, Park was assigned to RISE (Raising Issues for Safer Education), a model program that used the Facing History curriculum to facilitate discussion and a better relationship between Dorchester High School students and Boston police. “The whole experience was phenomenal,” said Park, who had done her senior thesis on racism and prejudice. “And the fellowship allowed me to have more time to decide what I wanted to do after graduation. ” Park is currently employed in Washington, D.C. at a polling firm that works with social interest groups. Other organizations that have hosted Manzi Fellows have been Summerbridge/Cambridge, Boston Children’s Services, Massachusetts Coalition for Battered Women, Celeste House in Plainville, United South End Settlements, Carney Hospital in Mattapan, Service Providers Shelter in Springfield, New England Baptist Hospital, and the Newton Boys & Girls Club. The 1999 fellows will hold the internships at a number of these places as well as the International Institute of Boston and Horizons Initiative. The 1999 Manzi Fellows include seniors Emma Jackson from Warsaw, N.Y. and Stephanie Wood of Englewood, Colo.; juniors Nicole Avila of Potsdam, N.Y, Erin Majewski from East Granby, Conn., and Welling Savo from Bainbridge Island, Wash.; sophomores Alicia Hayes of Longmeadow, Mass., Omara Hernandez from Bronx N.Y., and Adrienne LaGier from Buffalo, N.Y.; and first-year students Elvis Alves of Brooklyn, N.Y., Michelle Arku from Takoma Park, Md., Edgar Crespin of Flushing, N.Y., and Diego Duran of Silver Spring, Md. -30- 041699rac




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