Shout Out to the Jumpstart Coordinator and Student Leaders! Even with the necessity of restructuring the look of the Jumpstart program, they have been able to educate, challenge, bond, and maintain a service attitude with our full corps of 80 UConn students. Through their dedication to the surrounding communities, Jumpstart student leadership continues to make a difference in the lives of young children.

Marissa Kowal (Health Services Student Coordinator) has been both an engaged Coordinator and participant in Health Services this semester. Marissa is supportive of the student leaders within the Health Services Community of Practice and always being proactive to ask questions and look out for their best interests. Even in the virtual world, Marissa is a positive force in CO and almost never without a smile

Emily Burnett (Social Services Student Coordinator) has been a true asset to Community Outreach and the Social Services Community of Practice this semester. In addition to her regular duties as Student Coordinator, Emily has been able to step in and fill a vacant student leader position to engage with a community partner that had service opportunities available.

Sarah Chen has been the ROCK of Alt Breaks this year. She is the brains behind so much of our work. She took on the role as coordinator by herself (when there are typically two), has navigated COVID-19 and our programming changes gracefully and thoughtfully, and has supported the entire Community of Practice through every decision, conversation, training, and hiccup along the way. Her attention to detail and ability to see the bigger picture simultaneously, her empathetic character and transparency, and her self-care/break reminders have been such an asset to our Alt Breaks team. THANK YOU, Sarah – truly, truly. We are beyond grateful for you.

I would like to recognize the Student Leaders in the Social Services Community of Practice, I appreciate all your work this semester and your flexibility. I look forward to continuing to help our community next semester with the experience of this semester behind us!

To Rowan and Joe on Special Olympics: for being flexible and working with each other and the community partners while keeping the best interest of the athletes and student participants in mind. I can't wait for your events and to see what you do next semester

To Carly: for working with Camp Horizons and adapting to their need. Carly did an amazing job with creating and facilitating the creation of videos for the campers which I'm sure they enjoyed and appreciated.

To Grant: for having SOS Food recovery be one of the first programs in our CoP to get up and running and working with CO Transportation (shoutout Transpo!) to get food from Price Chopper to Covenant Soup Kitchen.

To Samantha (No Freeze Program Director), Danna, (MACC program director), and Alani (Holy Family Program Director) working on Hunger & Homelessness: for working with one-time projects to make sure anything left behind last semester was allocated to the community based on their need. Extra shoutout to Sam and Danna for working with PIRG and Hillel to help No Freeze. The drive collected 23 blankets, 13 sweatpants, 12 sweatshirts, 20 deodorant sticks, and hygiene products along with the supplies from clothing left on campus and cash donations, all delivered in time for Thanksgiving.

The Language and Literacy student leaders this semester have really flexed their creative and adaptive muscles in contributing to service in this novel (that was almost a literacy joke.. hehe) environment. All of their great minds helped to brainstorm and then reform numerous programmatic changes, which were executed using the same passion and energy they've exuded since August training. They showed growth and resilience in their paths as individual leaders, as well as the fundamental use of teamwork to make sure all three programs were as successful as possible. Their dedication to teaching and learning from each other, as well as others, has inspired me and I eagerly anticipate taking on the remaining semester alongside them.

Thank you for a wonderful semester! You were engaged, dedicated, and remained positive despite many setbacks. I am proud of your hard work and the friendships we have formed. I am looking forward to our next semester together!

The One-Time Programs and Initiatives CoP worked hard to provide meaningful service and dialogue opportunities this semester. Fiona Pare with Campus-Wide Initiatives ran a successful Fall Food Drive and is now hard at work planning MLK Day. Sam Wisnefsky, Ciara Dobrowolski, and Brian Fox with Community Service Days have worked on providing all new and exciting virtual service opportunities, such as writing to pen pals, creating science lessons for elementary school kids, and transcribing Ted Talks. Rebecca Nowinski created the content for the UConn Votes (voting resources) site, and Grace Burns facilitated several Dialogues surrounding important topical issues, such as voting and homelessness, racial inequity in healthcare, and the challenges faced by Native and Indigenous People.

Generations Connect Program Director

James Galske (Generations Connect: Mansfield Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation) has been an outstanding student leader this semester. He has stayed positive and preserved through programmatic changes related to COVID-19. James has not only come up with innovative and creative ways to engage participants and residents at MCNR, but he has also taken it on himself to create a weekly newsletter for his participants to make sure they’re aware of what is happening in the program and staying engaged and educated.

Big thank you to Alt Breaks this semester for staying flexible and positive as we’ve adjusted our programming to fit the virtual format! You all have been so innovative and intentional about what you want to put out to your participants and the community. Amazing job coordinating recruitment efforts; we are so excited to have forty participants across seven alternative break experiences this upcoming spring! 

To the whole Alt Breaks team – you amaze and inspire me. Thank you for keeping your energy high even at times when we were all so unsure of where we were headed, for believing in the power of conversation and dialogue, and for trusting in each other. I am so proud of the work that you’re doing and cannot wait to see it all come to fruition next semester

This semester was a crazy one-from transitioning to online platforms, COVID-19, the General Election, etc., but the student leaders Rebecca and Grace took on the challenge with smiles on their faces! They have done a wonderful job within their roles and have created amazing initiatives and events that all of the UConn community benefited from and enjoyed. I cannot wait to continue to watch them grow within their roles and as people in general!