Last Wednesday, Feb. 16, three Saint Louis University students received an award from President George W. Bush for their extensive community service involvement.
The three students, fifth-year senior Tim Lange, senior Anthony Lancia and 2004 graduate Sangita Gosolia were the recipients of the President's Volunteer Service Award and all were actively involved the John Cook School of Business' service leadership certificate program.
The ceremony was attended by Dean Ellen Harshman, Ph.D, Service Leadership Director Debra Faughn, Ph.D, Assistant Dean Debra Barbeau, Director of External Affairs Kim Lesko and the immediate families of the recipients. Gosolia was unable to be present at the ceremony because she was working elsewhere at the time.
Faughn gave several formal remarks regarding the Service Leadership program as a whole, and her speech was followed by Dean Harshman.
"Dean Harshman made many heart felt remarks that were not scripted and discussed in detail how these three leaders are trying representing SLU's mission statement by acting as men and women for others," Faughn said.
Faughn recognized these students' service as far above average and talked with Rick Skinner, the director of volunteer programs for United Way about different possibilities for recognizing these outstanding efforts.
"Rick is on the Service Leadership Board as well as the Regional Volunteer Awards Committee nationwide, and he knew that there were a few service leaders that went above and beyond and looked into ways that they could be acknowledged," Faughn said.
All three of the award participants were very active in the service community. Lange spent considerable time working with the missionary of charities, as well as organizing a clothing drive. He also planned and implemented four mission trips.
"In doing this service I've realized that you receive just as much from the people that you're helping. The people that I've worked with are very inspiring and I see service as an opportunity to give back to the community," Lange said.
Lancia's primary service was through a missionary program at St. Joseph's Parish. He also led many retreats both at the church and on SLU's campus.
"It's definitely been an honor because Deb saw us standing out from the rest of the service leaders, and thought that our work was significant enough to send in for this award," Lancia said. "And it is a double honor because we received an actual letter from the president for our efforts."
Although Lancia feels extremely honored to receive the award, it was the experience that proves worthwhile for him.
"The teens I work with on a regular basis are what really inspired me, and I would be still be involved with them regardless of whether I was in service leadership or not," Lancia said.
Faughn spoke very highly of the service leadership program in general, but specifically of these particular students.
"This program is so unique because we do not do service in the county areas, but we go to the depths of the inner city, the poorest of the poor, and these students spend 300 hours working directly with these people," Faughn said. "And these three students even went beyond that and exerted amazing effort."
The service leadership program has completed over 30,000 hours of community service since it was created, a figure that shows how much impact the students can have on the community.
"This whole program really increases students' understanding of social justice issues and gives students an opportunity to help solve the problems of the community on an individual basis," Faughn said.
