Outreach Category
03.01.2013
The Center for Student Leadership Ethics & Public Service at NC State sends students who love to serve out into the world on what are known as Alternative Service Breaks. Students can choose between fall, winter or spring break and between programs that feature different countries or more locally-focused service projects. The stories in this series are just a few of many students who will be going out and developing leadership and service skills over spring break, which begins Monday.
E’lexis Brewer, Dominican Republic
Over spring break, E’lexis Brewer will lay aside her student role and don her teaching one.
Brewer, a senior from Powder Springs, Georgia, is traveling to the Dominican Republic for spring break with Outreach360, an organization that works to improve education in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic for first through eighth grade. This education can include English, literacy or health education.
Brewer receives a traditional headwrap in Guatemala
“This year, my group and I will be working with children in Monte Cristi helping to teach English and Spanish-based curriculum,” says Brewer. “We will engage with the children everyday: teaching, learning, and interacting outside of the school.”
Brewer was inspired to take on the Dominican Republic this year because of her trip to Guatemala last spring break.
“In Guatemala, I saw the thirst for education that many children have and wanted to foster that in the Dominican Republic as well,” says Brewer. “We do not only teach the children but they teach us as well.”
Brewer, a sociology major with a Spanish minor, is interested in furthering her understanding of Latin culture as well.
“I have always loved the culture and really loved the experience (in Guatemala),” says Brewer. “I wanted to have that same experience elsewhere so I chose the Dominican Republic. There exists strong pride in Latin culture and I was very intrigued by the customs and traditions which I also hope to learn this time.”
Brewer found out about CSLEPS because of work study. She was assigned to their office and found out about their alternative break program and immediately applied to take the trip to Guatemala..
“Honestly, I cannot describe in enough words how eye opening and wonderful that experience was,” says Brewer. “You go on this trip and you think it will be ‘fun’ but you don’t realize how extremely rewarding and fulfilling it is and you share that experience with people who understand and get that same feeling.”
Brewer doesn’t think the week is too short for life-changing experiences either.
“It sounds crazy to say I experienced so much in one week but it’s true,” says Brewer. “I still reflect on it today and created great friendships that I maintain today.”
She wants that same experience for herself and her team this spring break. That’s part of why she signed up to be a co-leader. Brewer hopes that her team takes away applicable experiences and leadership skills.
“I hope that my team and I come back with a better understanding of the Dominican culture and reflect that experience here in the United States in some way,” says Brewer. “The experience does not have to be profound but my hope and expectation is that everyone comes back with something to take away from the experience whether it is understanding privilege or customs and traditions. I want that experience to translate here and have some effect on how my team feels here.”
—Molly Green
02.27.2013
The Center for Student Leadership Ethics & Public Service at NC State sends students who love to serve out into the world on what are known as Alternative Service Breaks. Students can choose between fall, winter or spring break and between programs that feature different countries or more locally-focused service projects. The stories in this series are just a few of many students who will be going out and developing leadership and service skills over spring break, which begins Monday.
Brittney Garcia, Guatemala
Brittney Garcia’s spring break trip to Guatemala will be a personal and educational experience.
“As a Latina, I am very passionate about the Latino culture in general and being a part of this trip is another opportunity to become immersed into another lifestyle and adapt it as my own,” says Garcia.
Garcia, a senior majoring in international studies with a concentration in international relations, is a team leader for the alternative spring break trip to Guatemala. The team will mostly focus on gender issues in Guatemalan society.
Brittney Garcia, second from left, with host family from previous trip to Guatemala
“One of the reasons I am going is because this is a topic I am very passionate about,” says Garcia, who is from Rockingham, N.C. “I love listening to the different stories women have to share. I feel that personally listening to their stories and all they have gone through helps me understand them a bit more than if I were to read about it.”
On a previous trip to Guatemala, Garcia met many women and girls who changed her life through Starfish One by One, a group that helps girls continue education and find opportunities to use the skills they’ve developed. “One girl, about 15 years old, took care of the accounting for a local school!” she says.
Garcia saw the sorts of problems women and girls are dealing with in Guatemala, like the barriers blocking higher education. “Many of (the girls) had big dreams and aspirations but they knew they would not reach them due to several factors,” says Garcia. “Some of them did not have money, others had to stay home and help their families. It was heartbreaking.”
Garcia hopes to help these girls realize their dreams are achievable. “Here, we are taught to dream and it was difficult to see the faces of little girls who can’t really afford to dream sometimes,” says Garcia. “That is where the organizations we work with come in. They help them realize that their dreams are closer than they think. It is a great project to be a part of.”
The organizations the NC State students will be working with provide the girls with opportunity through internship or other options to achieve goals.
“It is amazing to see how their work really helps many of these girls,” says Garcia. “Mayra, the 15-year-old that manages the accounting for a school, has a big opportunity to help her family through this internship. I hope that in the coming years, more families realize that education would ultimately help them.”
This coming spring break may be Garcia’s second time to Guatemala, but it will be her first experience leading a trip. She was inspired by the leadership of the last trip to become as a leader herself.
“Besides the fact that I fell in love with Guatemala the first time I visited, my team leaders from last year’s trip played a major role in my life as I applied for the position,” she says. “Together, they led by example and exemplified what I believe a true service leader should be like. I think the most important part for me was also the fact that they believed in me enough to tell me to apply. That meant the world to me.”
Garcia hopes to gain a lot more personally on this second trip. “Last year, I went through a lot of personal growth throughout the trip,” she says. “I hope that this year brings the same not only for me, but for our team as well.”
Besides personal growth, Garcia sees her alternative spring break trip as an opportunity to spread education of gender issues and change lives. “I hope to learn more about the culture in Guatemala and share it with others here,” she says. “But, more than anything, I want to come back prepared to become more involved to work with gender issues here in the USA.”
–Molly Green
02.26.2013
The Center for Student Leadership Ethics & Public Service at NC State sends students who love to serve out into the world on what are known as Alternative Service Breaks. Students can choose between fall, winter or spring break and between programs that feature different countries or more locally-focused service projects. The stories in this series are just a few of many students who will be going out and developing leadership and service skills over spring break, which begins Monday.
Chelsea Bowman, Belize
Chelsea Bowman in El Salvador last year
Chelsea Bowman is excited to motivate others this spring break and contribute to a healthier environment.
Bowman, a junior from Randleman, N.C., is a student co-leader on the CSLEPS spring break trip to Belize. Since June, she planned to travel with a group of fellow NC State students to focus on environmental and agricultural issues in the area near Punta Gorda.
Bowman and her team will be working throughout the week with the Toledo Cacao Growers Association, or TCGA. The growers association is focused on creating a better life for its farmers through competition and ecologically-friendly practices.
“We’re working at the garden,” says Bowman. “So (the trip) focuses more on environmental issues.”
The team will also coordinate with the House of Chocolate, a museum that features the story of the Cacao plant. The Belize team might help build drying racks for the beans, but the garden will be the main focus, says Bowman.
The service trip will also have a lot of fun activities for the students.
“Through the week we just work with (the TCGA), have lunch in town and then on the weekends we have extra-curricular activities,” says Bowman. “That includes Mayan ruins and snorkeling, water falls. We only work Monday through Friday.”
Chelsea Bowman, right, working in El Salvador
This kind of volunteering is not new to Bowman. Last year, she spent her spring break and first time out of the country with another CSLEPS program in El Salvador. She laid foundations and poured concrete for houses with the Fuller Center for Housing program.
“I’ve always felt the need to do more activities, become a leader,” says Bowman. “I really enjoy service, I did in high school.”
Bowman, an education major, would like to let that love for service carry over after college. “I’d like to join the Peace Corps,” she says. “Just wherever they send me, the location doesn’t matter to me.”
Bowman became a leader because of all the love she has for volunteering. She hopes it inspires others on the trip. “My biggest hope is for my team members to become as inspired as I am to become involved with serving, here at NC State and carrying over what they learn to be a leader themselves,” says Bowman. “I hope they become leaders in service like I have. That’s what I really want; and to also make an impact with the TCGA.”
– Molly Green
NC State students in El Salvador
02.25.2013
The Wake County alumni network is taking its volunteer spirit to the bank on Saturday, March 2, from 9 a.m. to noon, when it will volunteer at the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. Adam Compton, the Wake County alumni network leader, says anyone is welcome to participate.
“It’s open to alumni, non-alumni, their spouses and children, anyone who is a Wolfpack fan, we’d love to have them out,” says Compton.
It’s the first time the Wake County network has volunteered at the food bank, Compton says, but the network’s members have been involved in other volunteer efforts in the past, such as their work on National Wolfpack Service Day.
Compton salutes the Wake County network’s degree of engagement. “One of the things that we’ve been trying to do is increase our community service,” he says. “[NC State] students are constantly doing community service but, when they graduate, it’s a little hard to find opportunities.”
The food bank event serves as a great way for people to interact with and meet fellow alumni, Compton says. It’s also a way for the food bank to impact the community.
“I volunteered personally and everyone always seems to have a good time,” Compton says. “It resonates in our community to see the Food Bank and learn about the work that they’re doing.”
–Molly Green
12.14.2012
It has been customary for alumni in and around Washington, D.C., to get together each year around the holidays and take up a collection for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program.
This year, NC State’s DC alumni network decided to pump things up a bit. Instead of inviting just Wolfpackers to the event, they invited alumni from colleges and universities throughout North Carolina to join the festivities.
The result was about 350 people (including about 45 NC State alums) from 11 different colleges and universities — including Duke, Meredith, Davidson, Elon, UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Asheville, Appalachian State and, yes, UNC-Chapel Hill — enjoying a holiday party last night at Capitale. The event was a chance for rivals to join forces for a good cause.
The group collected about 200 toys and raised money through a silent auction and cash donations that can be spent on additional toys.
The event was organized by Jennifer Bradley, a 2009 NC State grad who is the meetings manager for the Independent Petroleum Association of America. In 2013, she will become president of the DC alumni network.
Bradley was thrilled by the turnout and the number of toys collected. An extra U-Haul trailer had to be brought in to carry all the toys.
“The highlight of any event for me, whether its in my home for four people or an event for almost 400 people, is watching people enjoy themselves,” she says. “Seeing the excitement in (Marine) Sgt. Collins’ eyes as the tower of Toys for Tots grew, friends gathering around the food truck, rivals shaking hands and planning future alumni events together. I love a satisfied crowd.”
10.12.2012
Students and alumni across the nation will unite this weekend to participate in service projects on National Wolfpack Service Day. Several alumni networks are participating in service events with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, local food banks and schools. The volunteers from the Orlando alumni network will be spending their day in the alligator habitat at the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens.
Mary Jevitt, '79, is one of the co-leaders for the Orlando alumni network
Mary Jevitt, ‘79, is one of the co-leaders for the Orlando network and came up with a different sort of service opportunity after collaborating with the business director at the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens.
“We met at a leadership class and both discovered we were connected to NC State,” Jevitt says. “With her help, our network was able to come up with a unique service event that families could participate in together.”
Jevitt moved to Florida eleven years ago, and has been a member of the alumni network in Orlando for nearly nine years. Saturday’s project will be the first service event for the network.
“We really want to reach out to the greater Orlando alumni,” Jevitt says. “We hope that after this event we can start participating in more service events together.”
On Saturday morning, the two American alligators will be removed from the exhibit and volunteers will engage in light manual labor such as cleaning, digging, cutting and removing plants that are overgrown.
The American alligator is native to the southeastern United States and typically lives in habitats like freshwater lakes, swamps and marshes. In the wild, the alligators live in dens in rivers and spend time sitting in the sun. Like all zoos, the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens has an exhibit that imitates the American alligators’ natural environment. Those conditions have contributed to the overgrowth.
“Everything grows so fast in Florida and I think the zoo has been having trouble keeping up with the maintenance of the exhibit,” Jevitt says. “With our help, we will clean the habitat and the alligators will be more visible to the zoo visitors.”
After the service project, the group will enjoy lunch at the zoo pavilion and spend the afternoon at the zoo. The volunteers will get lunch and free admission to the zoo.
“I think National Wolfpack Service Day is a great idea and wish they had something like this when I was an undergraduate,” Jevitt says. “There is no lack of agencies or non-profit organizations in the area that need our help and we are excited to help.”
10.11.2012
Alumni in Seattle and Portland will be among wolves this Saturday, both figuratively and literally. They will gather to volunteer at Wolf Haven International for National Wolfpack Service Day, an annual event that allows alumni networks to engage in service projects in their communities.
Wolf Haven International is a nonprofit organization located in Tenino, Wash. Its mission is to aid in and promote wolf conservation, and it has served as a sanctuary to protect wolves and their habitats since 1982.
Wolf Haven International rescues displaced, captive-born wolves and is currently the home to 51 wolves, including gray wolves, wolfdogs, coyotes, red wolves and Mexican gray wolves.
Ryan Hester ‘02, leader and one of the founders of the Pacific Northwest alumni network, moved to Seattle after graduation and quickly became homesick, with the absence of Wolfpack fans in the area. After finding out there are more than 900 NC State alumni in the Seattle area, he helped form the alumni network in November 2011.
For the last year, members of the Pacific Northwest alumni network have had several social mixers, networking events and game-viewing parties. But Saturday will mark their first service project. More than 20 people are expected to attend as the alumni will work from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. pulling weeds, painting and cleaning up the grounds at the sanctuary.
Hester learned about Wolf Haven International while attending an auction on its campus with his wife. Soon after, he began thinking about volunteering at the wolf sanctuary with the alumni network.
In February, a Wolf Haven wolf was featured as the "Photo of the Day" in National Geographic
“I felt that a service day on Wolf Haven’s campus would be a great way to show our Wolfpack pride in the Pacific Northwest,” Hester says. “Volunteering at a wolf sanctuary is so uniquely NC State.”
The Pacific Northwest alumni network’s National Wolfpack Service Day project was selected as the “Most Unique” service day event out of all the national alumni chapters at NC State. As a way to award the network, a local Starbucks will donate hot coffee and the Alumni Association will provide lunch for all volunteers.
Ellen Richardson ’01,’10, the director of outreach with the NC State Alumni Association, will help with the service project and eat lunch with the alumni afterward. A special group photo opportunity is also planned.
Cody, one of the two coyotes living at Wolf Haven International
During his time as an undergraduate, Hester participated in Service Raleigh events and personally organized programs that benefited local organizations and inner-city community programs while he was a resident advisor. Today, Hester believes National Wolfpack Service Day is a benefit for all NC State alumni.
“National Wolfpack Service Day is a valuable opportunity to support our local community while showing our support and love for NC State no matter how far from Raleigh we live,” Hester says.
09.27.2012
Alumni in Philadelphia gathered last night to send out some brotherly love to NC State as it celebrates its 125th anniversary.
More than a dozen alumni turned out at Ladder 15 in Philadelphia for the birthday party hosted by the Alumni Association. The group seemed to be evenly split between chemical engineers, many of whom work at Merck, and alumni who work in the financial industry.
But while they may have had different jobs, they all loved living in Philadelphia and most of them agreed on the place for the best Philly cheesesteaks - Tony Luke’s.
09.19.2012
Taylor Cooke lives in Austin, Texas, so he is surrounded by fans of the University of Texas. Burnt orange, the color of the Texas Longhorns, is everywhere.
So it’s not surprising that Cooke, a 2004 NC State graduate, is eager to bring a little Wolfpack red to his environment. He’s doing so as the NC State Alumni Network leader for the Austin area, organizing events to watch NC State football and basketball games and, this year, a community service project tied to Wolfpack Service Day.
“I thought State was big, and it is,” Cooke says. “But the University of Texas has 50,000 to 60,000 enrolled, so they just pump them out. It’s pretty huge.”
Cooke moved to Austin in 2006 after finding a job recruiting medical sales people. He enjoyed getting together with other NC State alumni in the area to watch Wolfpack games at local bars. A few years ago, he was asked if he would take the lead in running the local network.
“It’s more fun to watch the games in groups, or packs, so to speak,” he says.
Cooke says its not unusual to get 15-20 Wolfpack alumni and friends to show up to watch a game together. Nearly 30 NC State fans got together last year to watch NC State’s basketball team take on Kansas in the Sweet 16. “We get spikes for any UNC game,” Cooke says.
Alumni in Austin get together at a network event
Cooke is traveling back to campus this weekend to take part in the Alumni Association’s Volunteer Leadership Conference. The volunteers will hear from top university officials about ways that alumni can reconnect with NC State. They will also get pointers from Alumni Association staffers on everything from how to plan a great event to effective communications strategies. The weekend will include a tour of the College of Veterinary Medicine, dinner at the University Club and Saturday’s football game against The Citadel.
Cooke says he looks forward to swapping ideas for events with leaders from other alumni networks around the country.
“Cities that aren’t close to Raleigh probably have the same problems we do,” he says. “It can be hard to get the word out to everybody. I’m interested in ideas they’ve had for successful events.”
Besides, Cooke says, it was hard to pass up a chance to get back to NC State and away from all that burnt orange, even if only for a couple of days.
“I haven’t been back to campus in forever,” he says.
09.18.2012
About two dozen young alumni visited the Park Alumni Center last week looking for a little help.
They found it in the form of Catherine Tuttle ‘03, alumni career services coordinator for the Alumni Association, and a crew of career counselors from NC State’s Career Development Center and the Poole College of Management.
Catherine Tuttle '03 meets with a young alum
Tuttle arranged for the young alumni, who were on campus for a weekend of activities sponsored by the Young Alumni Council, to get 30-minute sessions with a career counselor. It was a chance for a quick resume review and some suggestions about how to go about looking for a new job.
“Most of the folks were really appreciative,” says Tuttle. “It was fun.”
Tuttle said most of the alumni were employed, but hoping to change jobs. A couple were unemployed and looking for that first job, while some were eager to find a job that would bring them back to North Carolina.
Career counseling is one of the benefits of membership in the Alumni Association. Members are eligible for two 45-minute sessions, and also have access to the association’s alumni director and job posting board. To schedule a counseling session, contact Tuttle at catherine_tuttle@ncsu.edu or 919-515-0520.
Tuttle says many job hunters underestimate the value of networking. “People get stuck behind the computer,” she says. “They apply for a job online, and then don’t follow up.”
Tuttle encourages job seekers to try to find contacts within a company or organization where they would like to work. She acknowledges that it can be a time-consuming process, but that it often yields results.
“Get out from behind the computer,” she says, “and put a face with the resume.”
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