College Announces the 2016 Service-Learning Excellence Awards

April 21, 2016
By: Tedi Rountree

Brunswick, GA – The fourth annual Service-Learning Symposium, Awards Ceremony, Poster Showcase and Community Partner Exposition was held Wednesday, April 20.

Hosted by the Center for Service-Learning, the event recognized faculty, community partners, and students for Excellence in Service-Learning. Nominations for the awards were gathered from students, faculty members, deans, and department chairs.

“As one of the primary tenets of our mission and what makes the College of Coastal Georgia distinctive, service-learning is an integral part of the education process here.” said Dr. Tracy Pellett, Vice President of Academic Affairs. “These integrated educational experiences are highly impactful on our students and accentuate the servant leader philosophy that is so well modeled by our faculty and staff. Today we are grateful to recognize the collaboration of students, faculty and community partners whose investments have benefitted both the College and our community as a whole.”

2016 Award Recipients

Excellence in Service-Learning Outstanding Student Awards

Derek Jackson, (Sr., Conyers, GA, American Studies)

Nominator’s comments:

“Derek Jackson has been working on a grant for the Oak Grove Cemetery Society for preservation and restoration of the historic cemetery. The work has required him to work closely with the organizational leadership, but to go a step beyond that in figuring out what would be appealing to a grantmaker, and then taking those ideas back to the organization for discussion and approval. He has played the integral role in pulling all of the grant ideas together and making them work. His work is quite professional. He is very deserving of recognition.”

Alyssa Lee, (Sr., Brunswick, GA, Psychology)

Nominator’s Comments:
“Alyssa was absolutely essential to the success of the YMCA SL project in the spring of 2015. She took leadership the entire way, arranged meetings with key persons at the Y, met with them to collect information about their needs for service, and informed all other SL students about what they needed to know, possible hours, and so forth. Not only was she a great coordinator, Alyssa got up early every Saturday and helped to coach the youngest of soccer players in the Y program. She was enthusiastic, gracious, and spent the time to apply course materials on coaching young children to improve her service with the children. Then, after the semester ended, Alyssa stayed with the program until the soccer season was over, making sure that the children has their coach and friend to see them through. I was so impressed with her SL scholarship, her dedication both within and after the semester was over, and how she used her Saturdays to engage with her SL project. I nominate her for a SL award wholeheartedly.”

Excellence in Service-Learning Outstanding Faculty Award

Dawana Gibbs, RN, MSN, CNE, Associate Professor of Nursing

Excellence in Service-Learning Outstanding Community Partner Awards

Glynn County School System

Golden Isles Arts and Humanities Council

Pictured:

Top – College of Coastal Georgia Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Tracy Pellett, Derek Jackson, Interim Director of Service-Learning Kimberly Mannahan

Bottom – College of Coastal Georgia Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Tracy Pellett, Alyssa Lee, Interim Director of Service-Learning Kimberly Mannahan

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For Immediate Release
April 20, 2016

Contact:John Cornell
jcornell@ccga.edu

O: 912.279.5703
C: 912.506.7192