By Ben Sanders
This year, the Center of Community Service took the Student Life Awards by storm, showcasing the amazing work put in by students in the Center. On Thursday, April 14, the Center of Community Service recognized three exemplary students during the event for the honor of receiving the 2016 Community Service Leadership Award. Each year, since 2006, the CCS has recognized an outstanding graduating senior who has both participated in three or more of the Center’s programs over the past 2+ years, and has made a lasting influence to the center, campus, and local communities. This year, CCS was proud to recognize and congratulate the three winners of the 2016 award: Chrissy Beluk, Dan McKenna, and Amy Stahl. Each one of them has dedicated and put forth a lot of work in the programs here at the Center of Community Service, so it seems more than appropriate to feature their past work and future plans.
Chrissy has been heavily involved with the S-L program as a student, a Service-Learning co-op, a Service-Learning Teaching Assistant (S-LTA) for three courses, and a Service-Learning Team Manager (S-LTM). While co-oping with the S-L program, Chrissy made a huge impact in the center by extending the social media presence to better engage with community partners and the rest of campus. As if engaging in the communities of Boston wasn’t enough, Chrissy then went on to co-op abroad in Cape Town, South Africa at the environmental conservancy organization Greenpop. Chrissy sums up her CCS experiences saying, “The CCS office has probably provided 89% of the meals I have in college, and definitely 96% of my favorite memories.” Following graduation, Chrissy plans to intern in London, UK with the organization Cultivate London which works to bring community agriculture to the city, and later plans to travel to Zambia to again work with Greenpop at their Festival of Action. Good luck Chrissy!
Amy started volunteering through the Center early in her freshman year as a CEP student, and still hasn’t stopped five years later. With the arrival of sophomore year, Amy co-oped in the center’s community service programs/events office, and worked heavily with the Husky Volunteer Team and the Alternative Spring Break program. Amy has continued to participate in Service Days and currently works part-time as a CEP Program Assistant. In addition, Amy has been heavily involved with advocacy, particularly for women’s issues during her co-op with the Signs Journal. After graduating, Amy plans to travel and intern part-time with the center. You deserve it! Good luck Amy!!
Lastly, and certainly not least, Dan has been a student in the Civic Engagement Program (CEP) throughout all five of his years here at Northeastern, and has been deeply involved with the center. His connection to CCS was sparked when he first co-oped with the Service-Learning Program. From there, Dan went on to be a coordinator for the Alternative Spring Break and nuSERVES programs. Since he enjoyed being at the center so much the first time, Dan then returned for another co-op for the center’s community service programs/events office. Dan has also been working on a collaborative research team with the Northeast Organic Farming Association throughout the past year. Good luck Dan!
A big thank you to all of the winners of this year’s award for all of the hard work they put in and the extent to which they’ve reached out into the community. Also, a thank you to the Center for Student Involvement/Office of Student Affairs for welcoming us to the Student Life Awards this year!
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