Robinson-Appel Humanitarian Award 2004

2004 Robinson-Appel Humanitarian Award finalists are announced

2004 Robinson-Appel Humanitarian Award semifinalists pose with the award's founders, from left, front row, Elizabeth Wallach '06, Sarah Rhinelander '04, Margo Hittleman '05 and Daniel Klaff '04, and back row, Robert Appel '53, Helen Appel '55, Edward Pettitt '05, Marquise McGraw '06, Margot Robinson '55 and Gerald Robinson '54. www.jonreis.com

The recipients of Cornell's 2004 Robinson-Appel Humanitarian Award were announced during a dinner and awards ceremony April 16 on campus. The award recognizes and honors students at Cornell who have had significant involvement in community service by providing support for their projects, which address a community's social needs.

Six semifinalists for the award attended the ceremony in Statler Hotel and three were named finalists and award winners. The finalists included: Daniel Klaff '04, Marquise McGraw '06 and Edward Pettitt '05. The other semifinalists were: Margo Hittleman '05, Sarah Rhinelander '04 and Elizabeth Wallach '06. Finalists each receive $1,500 to further a community service project they have proposed and initiated.

The award was established by Cornell alumni Gerald Robinson '54, Margot Robinson '55, Robert Appel '53 and Helen Appel '55. All applications for the award are reviewed by a selection committee composed of alumni, members of the local community and representatives from community agencies, students and university staff members from the Cornell Public Service Center.

A list of this year's recipients and descriptions of their projects follows.

Daniel Klaff, industrial and labor relations major. Project: Teaching technology at MacCormick Secure Facility. The Cornell student group SpeakOut will purchase computer parts to be used to provide classes in computer building, basic computer applications, computer maintenance, and computer networking to the residents of MacCormick Secure Facility. SpeakOut will work in conjunction with the AmeriCorps*VISTA program and the staff at MacCormick to generate this new educational opportunity for the residents of MacCormick. The program will provide residents with the skills and confidence necessary to succeed in both the parole process and in the job market.

Marquise McGraw, economics major. Project: Let's Get Ready! The Let's Get Ready! program (LGR) provides free SAT and college preparation services to students in the Ithaca community through an intensive and highly structured program. The overarching goal of this initiative is to help eliminate socioeconomic class as a predictor of a given high school student's success. In its first year, LGR has had an impact on a diverse group of over 30 high school students, involved 25 Cornell student volunteers and made crucial connections with community organizations, such as the Village at Ithaca and the Ithaca Youth Bureau. During the 2004-05 school year, the program's goals are to forge stronger connections with its community partners and to implement the program in such a way as to maximize the benefits for the target population.

Edward Pettitt, human biology major. Project: Help Understand and Guide Me (HUG Me). HUG Me will be an HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention outreach program. It will address the need for intergenerational communication concerning HIV/AIDS among young people, their parents and youth-service providers in Ithaca and Tompkins County. The project will work to support parents, guardians, youth workers and other volunteers who work with youth to provide accurate HIV-related information to children and teens in sensitive, age-appropriate ways. The goal of the project is to save lives by reducing new HIV infections among young people. The project will involve volunteer student educators in delivering intensive, community-based workshops. The workshops will include basic information on the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its impact, skills development in HIV risk assessment and risk reduction, and extensive adult-youth communication activities.

Semifinalist Margo Hittleman was honored for her work with the staff of the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC), for whom she seeks to create an in-house staff development program. Sarah Rhinelander was selected as a semifinalist for her work with the Community Justice Center, for which she is planning workshops that will yield six 3-by-5 foot laminated color posters designed to bring a pro-community, anti-crime message to local youth. These posters will be displayed in Tompkins County organizations currently serving youth. Also dedicated to Ithaca's youth, Elizabeth Wallach was honored for her work bringing together the Big Brothers Big Sisters Club of Cornell, the Ithaca Youth Bureau and the Cornell Greek system's Creating Chapters of Excellence to initiate a yearlong site-based match program at a local middle school.

May 6, 2004