HomeAbout UsNews & EventsPress ReleasesView Press Releases
2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEDate: 2007-12-05
Contact: Kim Wall
Public Relations Program Coordinator
Marketing and Community Relations Office
University of New Hampshire, Manchester
(603) 641-4306
kim.wall@unh.edu
A Small Group Makes a Big Difference
Manchester, NH: What impact can seven committed students and a professor have in only 14 weeks? They can provide a community with more than 800 warm coats, scarves and hats, help coordinate bone marrow donations at the 2008 College Convention, and educate more than 40 high school National Honor Society members about coordinating a community service project. All of this, along with research and writing papers, was completed by the Community Leadership (CoLead) program which offered its first course this fall at UNH Manchester, introduction to community service and leadership. The course, taught by Kate Hanson, Program Director and Associate Professor of Social Science, introduces students to current and historical definitions of community and service, to the variety of organizations providing service within communities, and to the challenges facing leaders within community organizations as they work to address key problems.
Students in the course were asked to address a problem in the community through the development of a service project. Together they decided to address poverty and homelessness. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, almost 25,000 Hillsborough County residents live in poverty. To help meet this need, the class coordinated Warmth from the Millyard, a coat drive held just before the holiday season. A number of Millyard businesses partnered with the Community Leadership program for the drive.They included the Manchester School District, FIRST, Autodesk, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Manchester Historic Association/Millyard Museum, the SEE Science Center, and the PSNH Women’s Committee. The drive collected more than 800 articles of winter clothing for distribution to New Horizons for New Hampshire, SHARE of Milford NH and the YWCA’s after school program. One of the kids in the YWCA after school program wrote a letter of thanks for her coat. She said, “I am going to wear it to the bus stop and keep warm everyday. I got a brown coat and it is my favorite color!” The coat drive provided winter coats, hats and gloves to the 22 girls in the YWCA program.
The CoLead class also had the opportunity to lead a workshop for more than 40 high school students at the annual New Hampshire National Honor Society (NHS) conference held at UNH Manchester in October. The students lead small work groups where NHS participants broke down the steps necessary to organize a service project. Lauren Fish, a senior at West High School and NHS parliamentarian, said, “Kate Hanson and her talented students impacted our society as a whole. Their leadership and community skills helped each member of our society grow individually and as a group. They taught our group some amazing service drive tactics that we have been able to take right out of the classroom and into our own schools. They inspired us to become more active and gave our society insight into how much of an impact we can truly make in our communities.”
The Community Leadership (CoLead) program, an associate in applied science degree, is an innovative program that combines a rigorous academic program with service learning, leadership development and nonprofit management. The program prepares graduates for continued education at the baccalaureate level or for leadership positions in nonprofit and community organizations. It is one of a few programs in the U.S. to combine hands-on community outreach with an academic study of leadership.
Guided by the motto “Purposefully Powerful,” it is not a surprise that CoLead students have become some of UNH’s most involved, recognized and successful students. The program itself has received national recognition including being named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll in 2006. The program also received the 2007 Spirit of New Hampshire Champion Award for Higher Education, given by Volunteer NH and the Governor, for their work in promoting volunteerism and civic engagement in the state.
UNH Manchester’s existing outreach and service initiatives in education, the environment, crises management and youth development provides CoLead students with a variety of leadership and service opportunities. By combining academic and real-world experience, students learn how to work collaboratively in leadership roles to find positive solutions to shared problems and to effect social change at local, regional, and national levels. Anna Gdanian, a student in the communication arts program, took the CoLead course this year as an elective. She said the class has helped to reignite her passion for service. She said, “I remember driving home from class every Friday and, no matter what went on in my classes during the week, I always felt really good about my life and about my education… I will be a part of community service hopefully for the rest of my life.”
For more information about the AAS in Community Leadership contact: UNH Manchester Admissions Office 603-641-4150, unhm.admissions@unh.eduor Kate Hanson, Program Director, 603-862-1064; email kate.hanson@unh.edu.
UNH Manchester, UNH's urban campus, offers liberal arts and applied majors in business, science, and technology, all with an urban focus. UNH Manchester is UNH. Learn more at www.unhm.unh.edu.
