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Welcome to the May 2008 Center for Public Service Alumni e-Newsletter!
We hope to keep you informed of news at CPS, connect alumni with each other and link current students with CPS alumni.

Learning Circles on race, class and migration were added to the social justice curriculum for Program Coordinators for the first time this year. Learning Circles helped students to deepen their learning by exploring their experiences as a Program Coordinator in the context of a larger social issue. Each Learning Circle aimed to bring people from diverse backgrounds together to develop trust, understand each other's experiences, explore social issues and work together for long-term change. The Race Learning Circle joined eRace: Gettysburg Dialogue for Campus Unity. The Class Learning Circle joined the community initiative Circles of Support and the Learning Circle focused on migration met with various community members and co-hosted the Immigration Forum with the Eisenhower Institute.

One student commented:
eRace has been where my greatest learning has taken place this year, not only in my CPS experience, but in my Gettysburg College experience in general. From my involvement in my Learning Circle I have learned about the racial injustices that go on everyday that I was once oblivious too. I have learned the power of my voice. I have also learned my great passion for justice of all kinds, but specifically racial justice. eRace has encouraged me to put myself in a vulnerable position to critically discuss race and race relations. It has challenged me to use my voice outside of the learning circle and live out what I believe, that as humans we are all equal and deserve the same respect and opportunities to define our future. My involvement has truly been a life changing event, for I have learned that I must truly "be the change I wish to see in the world."  

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CPS initiated a web-based learning portfolio for each Program Coordinator entitled Student Reflections: Learning and Action. Often times, students express that they have learned and grown so much through their work with CPS, yet it is challenging to describe their transformation and solidly explain the link between CPS and their academic and professional endeavors. This initiative provides students with a means to track their learning and accomplishments, compile the information into a synthesized and concrete format, continue to revisit the material for future learning and their demonstrate learning and accomplishments to others. At the same time, it allows CPS to demonstrate the richness of our programming.

At the Baccalaureate Service prior to Commencement, senior Miriam Parson connected her reflections from CPS to experiences while studying abroad and to her work with environmental sustainability. She spoke eloquently about consciousness-building and community action.  Read the address.

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Congratulations to all the graduating seniors who have been involved with CPS! We wish them the best as they head off to the following exciting new adventures.

From Left to Right:
Cody Georgia
Program Coordinator 2005-2007 & Communities in Action Intern 2007
Physical Education Teacher - Dallastown Elementary School, PA

Christine Nemetz, Program Coordinator 2006-2008
Campus Kitchen Coordinator - Americorps*VISTA Member Gettysburg College, PA

Megan Rodella, Program Coordinator 2005-2008
Research Assistant - Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA

Rachel Losito
Program Coordinator 2005-2007 & Communities in Action Intern 2007
High School Teacher - To be determined

Miriam Parson
Program Coordinator 2006-2008 & Communities in Action Intern 2007
Campus Coordinator - New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (NJPIRG), NJ

Jason Loh, Communities in Action Intern 2007
Graduate Student - Vermont Law School, Burlington VT

Amy Hoffmann, Communities in Action Intern 2007
Graduate Student - John Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD

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At the end of each year, CPS compiles this report that highlights accomplishments, statistics and new initiatives. It is a celebration of partnership - of so many committed individuals working together to create a new vision and practice of community.

Read Highlights: Learning Through Partnership.

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CPS is excited to welcome Christine Nemetz '08 as the Americorps*VISTA member to coordinate the Campus Kitchen at Gettysburg College. Christine just graduated from Gettysburg College majoring in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and Health Sciences. She has worked as a CPS Program Coordinator for the past two years and we are pleased that she will continue to have a positive impact in our community.

Christine will play an integral role in maintaining Campus Kitchen operations and leading program growth, serving as a link between CPS, the student coordinators of Campus Kitchen, community partners and faculty involved with the project through service-learning classes.

MELISSA ZOOK FRANKLIN '94 

Melissa Zook Franklin ‘94 was at Gettysburg College during the creation of the CPS. She reflects on her experience and how it has influenced her life today as she practices medicine in Eastern Kentucky:

Dora Townsend was my beloved mentor and I saw the Center for Public Service at its earliest stages. I was very involved in community service at Gettysburg prior to and after the CPS was founded. I was president of Alpha Phi Omega and Chair of the Social Justice Committee as well as a hospice volunteer and probably many other things I can't remember.

After I graduated in 1994 I took a fellowship co-sponsored by the Congressional Hunger Center and Americorps and spent time in rural Eastern Kentucky. While there I planned a service learning trip over the Thanksgiving holidays for Gettysburg students to eastern Kentucky and it was coordinated through the CPS. After I finished my fellowship I returned to school and completed my premed requirements (a task for a History/Latin American Studies major). I went to Penn State for medical school and then trained in family medicine in Greensboro, NC. I now practice family medicine in the same rural Eastern Kentucky town – about 45 minutes from a hospital in any direction and am part of the only health care for the entire county. I am the medical director of the organization I work for - the White House Clinics. We are a federally qualified community health center which means that we receive special funding each year from the federal government so that we are able to provide primary health care to everyone regardless of their ability to pay. Without us - there would be no health care for the 11,000 people of the county we serve. 

Read the full spotlight

We would love for you to share how and what you are doing, professionally and personally.

Submit Your News!

2001

Alison (Wood) Camp '01 married Tim Camp in 2005. Alicia Fornal '01 was one of my bridesmaids and Karl Mattson performed the ceremony. She writes "Since then we have had a daughter who is now almost a year and half. I received my masters in ed. this past May and am teaching 6th grade. While my time is limited for volunteering, it has been inspiring to be a catalyst for change in my students' lives and to in turn inspire them to give as well. This past fall we completed three mini service learning activities and I like to think my classroom has an atmosphere of giving and awareness. We shall see!"

Sarah Calhoun ’01 worked as the Environmental Issues Program Coordinator during her time at Gettysburg. It was her participation in the Apache Service Learning Trip her freshman year which sparked her interest in the West, and she is now settled into a small ranching town in central Montana. After instructing for Outward Bound and leading trail crews for years, she became rather fed up with wearing men’s workpants, so she decided to change that. In the fall of 2006 she opened the doors to Red Ants Pants, a company that designs and manufactures work wear for women. For more information about the company, please visit www.redantspants.com. You can also watch the Red Ants Pants commercial on YouTube!

Alicia Fornal ’01 writes These last few years have been a blur...I've recently finished my masters degree in elementary education at McDaniel College and am currently teaching fifth grade in Sykesville, Maryland. I've picked up the marathon bug and have completed 4 in the last two years...most recently the Boston Marathon!

2002

Curran Geist '02 has been living in New York City for the last four years with his fiancée Holly Traynor. During this time, he has worked for the Simon Wiesenthal Center - New York Tolerance Center as the Project Coordinator for the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Programs. Curran is responsible for the training of over 8,000 law enforcement and criminal justice professionals from throughout New York City, New York State, New Jersey, and also Pennsylvania.

The fundamental goals of the training programs are to increase understanding, break down stereotypes and prejudices and end discrimination in all its forms. The programs have become required components of multiple Police Training Academies and Curran Geist was recently awarded by the New York Police Department with a honorary certificate "For Outstanding Performance and Lasting Contributions". 

Curran Geist is also a recent graduate of the first-ever "Strength Through Diversity: Young Professionals Leadership Program". This inaugural year-long program was designed to identify and energize emerging community leaders committed to promoting mutual understanding among New York City's diverse ethnic populations. Curran was one of only twenty-five professionals selected for this prestigious program.

2003

Holly Traynor  '03 has been living in Queens, NY for the past four years with her fiancee Curran Geist. From 2005-2007 Holly worked for Demos, a non-profit policy think tank in Manhattan. During her time there, Holly managed the office and assisted in coordinating a monthly events series. Holly left Demos in order to pursue a Masters of Science in Childhood Education degree at Hunter College, the largest CUNY school in New York. Holly is half-way through the 2-year program is very excited to start her teaching career!

2007

Elizabeth Davis '07 has been a part of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps since October 2007. She writes "I live and work with a team of 12 other people traveling throughout the Western and Gulf Coast regions of the US doing different service projects that last between 1-2 months each. Right now I'm living outside Sisters, OR helping to set up a summer arts camp, called Caldera, for at risk and underprivileged youth. Before coming to Oregon I spent about 5 months in the Gulf Coast working with HandsOn New Orleans, the Florida Trail Association and ULM Relief in Biloxi, MS."

Cassandra Cochran '07 is still teaching at Maximo Nivel in Peru and is enjoying the fun as well as the challenges. She plans to stay until at least December 2008 before returning home. 

Kate Hargrove '07 finished her first year of law school at Villanova and assisted with intakes at the homeless shelter while in school. For the summer she is interning for six weeks at the Office of the Child Advocate in Delaware and then plans to take two classes on terrorism and cultural law in Rome before the school year starts again in August.

Louisa Polos '07 writes, "Since graduating in December 2007, I have been taking some time to regroup after an amazing, but crazy-busy three and a half years at Gettysburg. This spring I have been coaching lacrosse at a local high school and working part-time at a public relations firm in New York City. I am currently looking for a full-time job in the New York area. In my free time I have been actively volunteering for the Barack Obama campaign. I hope to visit with many CPS alumni this summer."