Ohio Campus Compact, a non-profit membership organization of 41 Ohio colleges and universities, has announced that Denison University senior Emma Share, a psychology major and Spanish and dance minor from Ann Arbor, Mich., has been awarded a 2016 Charles J. Ping Student Service Award. This annual award recognizes and honors undergraduate students for their outstanding leadership and contributions to community service or service learning on their campus and within their community.
“Simply put, Emma is one of the most self-reflective, tenacious, brave and intellectually honest students I have had the privilege of working with in my 20+ years here at Denison.” said Gina Dow, director of the Alford Center. “Her willingness to challenge herself, to set forth bravely in new and even uncomfortable settings, about to pushing though self-doubt is an example to us all. In many ways, Emma exemplifies what it means to act as a responsible member of a democratic society. I’m sure she will carry these habits and values into her new community after her graduation this May.”
Among Share’s accomplishments:
- Volunteered with YES clubhouse, an after-school and summer refuge for many of Newark’s youth.
- Volunteered with young children at the Look Up community center in Newark’s East Side,
- Worked with three sets of juvenile court-involved youth participating in Denison’s Alford Center-administered long-running restorative justice program, the Garden of Hope.
- Served on the Denison Community Association cabinet as education chair and as vice president.
- Coordinated and directed committees that serve the local area.
- Served as co-chair and a site leader for Breakaway at Selma, Ala., and worked with the Freedom Foundation and the Random Acts of Theater Company to impact the lives of marginalized adolescents though self-expressive dance and theater.
- Contributed more than 400 service hours, while maintaining a high grade point average in a rigorous major. Further, her service has increasingly been in a leadership capacity.
- Served as an August Orientation leader and a Denison Service Orientation leader.
- Served as a mentor in the Big Brother Big Sister program.
In her nominating letter, Susie Kalinoski, associate director for the John W. Alford Center for Service Learning noted, “Ms. Share’s continual willingness to lead by example has gained her the respect of her peers. She is the bright spot in everyone’s day. Emma is a kind person and is committed to serving those in need. She always puts others ahead of herself and is consistently the first to volunteer for any worthy cause. She is a person of great personal integrity whose actions consistently match her words.”