Announcing the 2015 Indiana Service Egagement Award Winners

Photo by John R. Gentry Jr.  Left to right: Troy Fears (United Way of the Wabash Valley), Mary Jane Eisenhauer, Tirnere Bacon, and Mary Rayburn

Congratulations to:

• Trinere Bacon, Indiana State University, winner of the Richard J. Wood Student Award
• Mary Jane Eisenhauer, Purdue University North Central, winner of the Brian Douglas Hiltunen Faculty Award
• Mary Rayburn, Taylor University, winner of the Community Service Director Award
• United Way of the Wabash Valley, nominated by Indiana State University, winner of the Outstanding Community Partner Award

Trinere Bacon is a senior at Indiana State University where she will graduate in May with a Bachelor of Human Development and Family Studies. Her AmeriCorps supervisor says Trienre is to be admired. The Executive Director of the agency where Trinere volunteers says she lights up the room. Trienre says the girls she works with have taught her more than she ever imagined was possible. She says that she has learned a lot about herself by helping others. That's how the humble student from Indiana State University talks about her community outreach. Trienre volunteers at the 14th and Chestnut Community Center as a youth leader. She has more than a dozen young charges in their afterschool program. These adolescent girls have grown to look up to Trienre as a role model. She says, "Being a senior in college and serving at the center shows the children that I value an education. I remind them all the time that there are going to be difficulties throughout their lives, but it's up to them to keep moving forward, whether academically, mentally, or physically."

Mary Jane Eisenahuer's work fills her vitae with pages of copmmunity-engaged teaching, research, and service. She has secured well over $30,000 in grants to support service engagement projects in early childhood education. She has published in peer-reviewed journals, given peer-reviewed presentations, the list goes on. What her vitae doesn't say is how happy she is to do the work, to make a difference for her students, her colleagues, and her youngest community members. She says, "I strive to actively address the need for skillfully competent, extraordinarily insightful, and highly qualified professionals to work with young children and their families in schools, child care settings, and social service agencies. In my teaching, I embrace concepts essential to the profession, create a model of collaboration with the community and support students doing the messy work of early care and education. Collaborating with community agencies, stakeholders, and the local, state, and national early childhood network, I remain focused on the community-identified needs.

Mary Rayburn has developed and organized over 160 spring break trips, involving over 350 leaders and 3000 students. That's 3000 students who were able to provide meaningful service to those in need and reflect on what that service meant to not only the recipients, but the students themselves. In recent years, the trips have stayed close to home. Mary describes their first local week-long service trip – 14 miles away in Marion, Indiana. "This trip was developed as a result of interest from faculty and students who wanted to learn more about our Grant County neighbors by living, learning, and serving with them for a week rather than just serving with them a couple hours a week. Students and faculty who have participated in this trip for the past four years learned about the local community and served through St. Martin Community Center. (The students) saw areas of Marion, met local residents, and gained a deeper understanding of the challenges within neighborhoods that they bypass on their way to and from Wal-Mart or the movie theater. In addition to learning and experiencing the local community during their spring break, the students began a weekly outreach partnership with St. Martin's which is ongoing."

The United Way of the Wabash Valley worked with Indiana State University students at 32 of its community agencies.  That connection has provided students with the opportunity to learn about food insecurity while learning how to collect credible scientific data, develop their philanthropic skills by working on the annual United Way fundraising campaign, and manage and operate a technology company which supports the computer-related needs of United Way community agencies. "United Way of the Wabash Valley is very excited to receive this award", said Troy Fears, United Way of the Wabash Executive Director. "We work with many partners in our local community but none more extensively than Indiana State University. From the students to the staff, ISU has a campus-wide movement to help the community succeed. They play a vital part in our community and we are excited to play a small part in partnering with them to live United."

These exemplars of campus and community partnerships will be honored at an afternoon reception and awards program on March 26th as part of the Indiana Campus Compact Service Engagement Summit.