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RELEASED: Feb. 14, 2001 DANVILLE, KY—Betsy Dahms of Villa Hills was honored as the February volunteer of the month at Centre College. Dahms, a Spanish major, coordinated a service learning site at Northpoint Training Center in Burgin, Ky. The service learning site is a program that helps the Spanish speaking community learn English as a second language. Dahms got the idea from other service learning centers that are in the area and thought Northpoint would be a logical spot for one. Her twice weekly trips teaching the inmates has received such rave reviews that other institutions would like to implement the program. Dahms will spend the spring term in Mexico in a Centre College travel/study program and plans to become even more fluent in her Spanish and learn more about the culture. She is unsure of her future career plans, but says she feels "very fortunate to be put in a situation to do this and being able to improve my Spanish and meet members of the community." As a sophomore, Dahms is also involved with other campus organizations including, CHARGE (Centre Helping to Achieve Respect and Gender Equality), CentrePeace and is a member of the soccer team. She is the daughter of Yvonne Dahms and is a graduate of Dixie Heights High School. The college launched the volunteer award program to show appreciation to the many students who provide service to the local community. Each year, around 60 percent of all Centre students become community volunteers. The college encourages voluntary service by planning a community service day each year for all first-year students. Kentucky's highest ranked national institution, Centre is listed by U.S. News and World Report among the country's top 50 national liberal arts colleges and leads all colleges and universities in the percentage of alumni who give annual financial support.
Communications Office
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