Service Program of the Year:
This award recognizes a campus based program which models student-led direct community service that has in some way contributed to making their campus and communities a better place for everyone.
University of Dayton Summer Appalachia Program
This program has roots back to 1965. Each summer UD students are gifted with the opportunity to live and work with a culture in our United States that is very different from the one most have grown up in. Fourteen UD students spend nine weeks each summer living in community and doing service as members of the University of Dayton Summer Appalachia Program (UDSAP).
The University of Dayton Summer Appalachia Program comes out of the University of Dayton’s Catholic and Marianist, Christian Heritage. It is a heritage of building a strong faith community, sharing prayer together and doing service for others.
Two goals the UD students have for each summer are to learn about the people who live in Appalachia and to appreciate the Appalachian culture. UD students achieve these goals by living and working in solidarity with the people of Salyersville: their families, their children and their elderly.
Every summer the UD students offer the following programs in rural Salyersville, Kentucky: A Day Camp for kids aged 5 to 12, a Teen Center for the older kids, and visiting a local nursing home. The programs for the teens and children are educational, interactive and fun. The UD students also take time to visit with the families of the teens and children who take part in the programs. The visits continue throughout the school year when UD students regularly travel back to that community
Action Program of the Year:
This award recognizes a campus based program which models student-led direct action work which has in some way contributed to making their campus and communities a better place for everyone.
The University of Louisville Civic Engagement Program
Through a partnership between UofL’s Engage Lead Serve Board, the community service and education branch of Student government, and the Andrew Goodman Foundation’s Vote Everywhere Program. This program is led by two UG students – Taylor Parks, and sophomore Brittany Greenwell.
The program’s primary focus is to foster a motivation for students on Louisville’s campus to be involved in the political process. They have done this through hosting events independently, and with other partners such as other student involvement groups and the secretary of state’s office. The most direct example of the action-based work is that the Civic Engagement program has registered 112 voters over the course of this year. They accomplished this by planning several on-campus events including their Rock the Vote event, and working with other campus student involvement groups to host events with local and state politicians.
Advocacy Program of the Year:
This award recognizes a campus based program which models student-led advocacy work which has in some way contributed to making their campus and communities a better place for everyone.
Madison House
Madison House is a 501(c)3 that has served the students at University of Virginia for nearly 50 years. Coordinating over 3,000 volunteers on a weekly basis is a huge task for a staff of six, with only two staff members devoted to managing Madison House’s programs and advising student leaders. With its strong train-the-trainer model, Madison House successfully achieves over 100,000+ service hours per year.
Madison House’s service programs are divided thematically. Currently, there are 23 volunteer programs that partner with over 185 organizations in the Charlottesville community.
There are currently 25 Head Program Directors at Madison House. These are the top student leaders of each program. Reporting to the Head Program Directors are 225 Program Directors. These students manage specific sites and work most directly with the volunteers and community partners. Everything from student recruitment to volunteer appreciation to evaluation is student-led and student-driven.
Madison House has not been afraid of having a voice in the Charlottesville community, while evolving its mission to be more service-learning focused. Madison House now has 5 academic partnerships and is using its model to give students taking classes with a volunteer requirement the opportunity to volunteer within one of their programs. This could not be accomplished without the commitment of the Head Program Directors and their ability to be organized and efficient in placing students from these classes into their programs.
Finally, after the events of August 11th in Charlottesville, Madison House and it’s Student Board Members took the lead, with several other Community Partners, organizing a campaign called “Dear Young Person.” This campaign encouraged people from around the United States and world to write postcards words of encouragement for Charlottesville youth. Madison House Student Board Members organized several nights called, “Sorting Nights,” where they spent hours reading and sorting every postcard so each one could be distributed to the appropriate organization, whether that be a school, nonprofit, or church.
Student of the Year:
This award is designed for a current undergraduate student who exemplifies a commitment to the mission and values of the Impact Conference through significant, continued, and unselfish service and leadership.
Wei Lin
Wei is a senior at the University of Virginia and has served as the Head Program Director (student leader) of the Madison House Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope (CASH). CASH is a volunteer tax preparation program that trains students as VITAs (Volunteer Income Tax Assistants). CASH volunteers provide free tax preparation services to low-income families and individuals in the Charlottesville community. Last year, in partnership with United Way, CASH volunteers helped file over 2,400 returns resulting in a direct economic impact of $4 million to the Charlottesville community.
Over the last two years, Wei has improved the CASH program in enormous ways. He doubled his team of students serving as Program Directors, added a fourth tax site that our students will oversee, doubled the CASH volunteer pool, and is taking leadership over one of the past tax sites that a community partner, United Way, used to manage. Doing all of this takes a great amount of unselfish service, leadership and commitment from Wei and he balances his responsibilities as the Head Program Director of CASH with his school commitments seamlessly.
Wei is not only concerned with growing and improving the CASH program for the clients served but he is also concerned and driven to improve the volunteer experience for the UVA students. Learning how to prepare taxes may not always seem like the most fun thing to do or most exciting volunteer experience. Wei worked to create training series of engaging and interactive lesson plans that teach the volunteers what they need to know, while also enjoying the experience. Training volunteers can take up to eight hours over the course of one semester and Wei offers multiple training sessions per week to accommodate multiple students’ schedule. While not every Program Director may be at every training, Wei attends every single one.
John Sarvey Administrator of the Year Award:
This award honors the life and work of one of the National IMPACT Conference’s early founders, John Sarvey. The award recipient exemplifies a commitment to the mission and values of the Impact Conference through significant, continued, and unselfish service and leadership. An ideal candidate’s efforts would benefit college students, professionals in the field and community members.
Hunter Goodman
Through the early years of her career, Hunter influenced countless students through her work and
associations with professional organizations in the service field like the Bonner Foundation, among
others. She was a presenter at conferences, a mentor to students at Wofford College and the University
of Southern Mississippi, a leader in the Bonner network, a guide to AmeriCorps members, and an
educator to so many young student volunteers and aspiring leaders through direct service engagements
and leadership development programs. Hunter has mentored a generation of young idealists and
volunteers who have continued to make service a part of their own lives because of Hunter’s influence.
She continues this work today as the Executive Director at the University of Dayton.