Released: Dec. 22, 1999

Centre College runs pilot program for service scholarships

DANVILLE, KY -- Centre College is running a pilot project this year for a student scholarship program based on community service. The college was selected by the Bertram and Corella Bonner Foundation of Princeton, N.J., to participate.

The project is being financed by a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), based in Washington, D.C., and is being administered by the Bonner Foundation.

According to Ann Young, director of volunteer service at Centre, the college selected 10 students to join the pilot project as Bonner Scholars for the year. Each is assigned to a community agency and does community service for six to eight hours per week. One of the students was named student project coordinator and assists Young in administering the program. All of the student participants receive grants to apply toward part of their college tuition.

Young says the students have been involved in projects ranging from adult literacy classes to recycling. The current students and their placement sites are as follows: Wes Heckman and Leslie Stout, Danville-Boyle County alternative school; Shelley Nickel, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Families First; Liza Turner, Boyle County Solid Waste Management; Andy Rafferty, Adult Learning Center; Tim Brauch and Martha Paris, Danville-Boyle County Housing Authority; Melinda Weathers and Beth Ann Choate, Woodlawn Children's Campus; LaToya Payne, Child Development Center; and Cindy McCarty, student project coordinator.

The Bonner Foundation is keenly interested in encouraging civic leadership and a sense of community service among college students and young adults. The foundation has established permanent Bonner Scholar programs at more than 20 colleges in the United States. As part of Centre's pilot program this year, Young has had the opportunity to meet representatives of other Bonner schools and learn what has been effective on their campuses.

Young has directed volunteer service at Centre for 12 years and annually helps place close to 60 percent of all Centre students in some form of community service.

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Communications Office
Centre College
600 W. Walnut Street
Danville, KY 40422

Coordinator of public information: Patsi Barnes Trollinger
Telephone 606-238-5719 - trllngrp@centre.edu