Three students honored with 2001 Robinson-Appel awards

The 2001 Robinson-Appel Humanitarian Awards were presented April 6 to three Cornell undergraduate students for their community service work.

This award was established by alumni Gerald '54 and Margot '55 Robinson and Robert '53 and Helen '55 Appel to recognize and honor students who have had significant involvement in community service by providing support for their projects, which address a community's social needs or problems. Three students are selected annually and each receives $1,500 to further a community service project that he or she has initiated and proposed. Listed below are this year's recipients and descriptions of their projects.

Ana Cajina '04, College of Architecture, Art and Planning; major: city and regional planning.

The Northside Reading Area project is a means of promoting literacy for at-risk youth and low-income children who live in the Northside public housing complex in Ithaca. At the community after-school program, the Robinson-Appel Humanitarian Award will be used to purchase new books and furniture in order to set up a reading area. The project also will work with REACH tutors from the Cornell Public Service Center and the children's teachers to oversee each child's progress by keeping folders with monthly assessments.

Avery DeVenanzio '03, College of Arts and Sciences; major: English.

Ithaca's Eden is a project that integrates staff and residents of Lakeside Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, residents' family members and Cornell students by the cooperative creation and maintenance of gardens. The gardens will be raised and accessible by wheelchairs. The purpose of this project is to allow residents an opportunity to interact with each other and with students and staff outdoors, in a natural setting. Beginning with the construction of the gardens, which will be carried out by student volunteers, staff members, residents and their families, Ithaca's Eden will continue to grow and evolve. The gardens will be used for both recreational and therapeutic purposes.

Ernst Valery '01, College of Human Ecology; major: public administration.

In Ithaca there exists a struggle to recruit teachers of color for the school district. Valery's proposed program is to "grow our own" teachers. This model for recruiting teachers has been used and originated in Savannah, Ga. It looks for dedicated professionals already working in the school district (bus drivers, teachers' aides and school secretaries, for example) and funds their college and teachers' certificate education at a local college. For the Ithaca program, Valery has proposed to further encourage teens who are interested in the teaching profession by providing them a stipend teachers' aide position this summer during the summer-school period. Through this program, they will have a mentor who explains the profession and the importance of coming back to Ithaca and teaching in the district.