During the summer of 2014, Gannon University is introducing a new service-learning initiative for students called the Social Change Fellowship.
Funded by an Erie-GAINS mini-grant and the Center for Social Concerns, four students will complete a 10-week fellowship commitment, volunteering 15 to 17 service hours per week at local non-profit organizations within the Erie-GAINS neighborhood.
Center for Social Concerns Advisor Jessie Badach Hubert will oversee the students in this leadership development program by providing weekly instructional training and enrichment surrounding the Social Change Model of Leadership Development and guiding an assigned reading of "Leadership for a Better World."
The following students are the program's inaugural participants, leading the way in social change:
Marya Hoffman
Senior occupational therapy major, will volunteer at Gannon’s Goodwill Garden to develop and implement curriculum for a garden-based learning program for the youth at the Martin Luther King (MLK) Community Center.
Meredith Gursky
Junior social work major, will volunteer at Multicultural Community Resource Center to develop and implement wellness programming for East High students in a truancy prevention program.
Patrice Swick
Senior business administration major, will volunteer at United Way, working to plan and implement Imagination Library Reading Buddies events at various locations throughout Erie County.
Evan Cook
Junior history major, will volunteer at the MLK Community Center, working in conjunction with Gannon's School of Education to design and implement a summer literacy program for the MLK Summer Program.