The great and important overlap

Brian Kaylor introduces panelists (l-r) Jim Shaeffer, Meg Mulrooney and Chaz Evans-Haywood

For every college and university in every town and every city in every part of the country, there is town and gown, yin and yang, give and take, push and pull. JMU in Harrisonburg is no exception.

Since 1908, Harrisonburg and Madison have grown together and sometimes groaned together, side by side. Occasionally, there are spats, but for the most part it has been a mutually beneficial arrangement. A university’s presence in a community, a state, a nation can and should have a positive impact. It should be a catalyst for positive change.

Last night citizens from the community, students and Madison faculty came together for a Citizenship Forum as part of the weeklong celebration of Friday’s inauguration of President Jonathan Alger. They discussed higher education’s responsibility to society to help produce educated, informed and enlightened citizens, who will in turn influence their communities.

In the wise words of panelist Jim Shaeffer, “We’ve got to live with each other at the end of the day.” It is, perhaps, the best reasoning I’ve ever heard for civic and civil engagement, but how do we get there? What is higher education’s responsibility in producing educated, informed and enlightened citizens?

Jim, associate vice president for outreach and engagement at JMU, was joined on the panel by Chaz Evans-Haywood (’96), Clerk of the Circuit Court for Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, and Meg Mulrooney, JMU associate professor of history and associate dean for University Studies. Brian T. Kaylor, JMU asistant professor of political communication, advocacy studies, rhetorical methods and public speaking, moderated the discussion.

JMU senior Oliver Brass addresses the Citizenship Forum.

Jim has spent 30 years in outreach and engagement. He characterized the intersection of civic involvement, community involvement and education as a Venn diagram whose purposes overlap. Based on the Carnegie model, he says, civic engagement should provide mutual beneficial exchange of ideas and strengths, partnerships and reciprocity. “All of us bring strengths to the table,” he said, “You leverage the strengths of both.”

That’s exactly what happened in Chaz’ office, for example. After he was elected, Chaz was faced with an office full of documents dating back to the 1700s. His predecessors had “saved everything,” he said. Preserving that history has been an important task for his office, and JMU students have played a part. “The students were excited about the technology and how they could use it [to preserve the court’s history].” It was a win/win for the clerk’s office and for the students. Students provided enthusiasm and ideas based on their technical saavy. The opportunity to work in an office setting helped hone students’ critical relationship skills.

When students and community groups intersect both also have responsibilities. Chaz pointed out to the students in attendance that they — as voters in local elections — influence the lives of his children through votes on issues such as local school funding and the allocation of funding.

To make those decisions, Meg Mulrooney said, students — as future citizens — need good judgment. One of higher education’s responsibilities is to prepare students to make these decisions wisely and to apply learned and practiced skills in ethical reasoning. Teaching ethical reasoning across the curriculum is the focus of the Madison Collaborative, a new program that will ensure that every student will graduate equipped with the critical thinking skills to function as thoughtful and positive members of society.

The obligation of higher education to teach ethical reasoning in action and civic responsibility goes even further than teaching, Jim said. “As a public university, we have a moral obligation to share our resources, our expertise with the community.”

“The Madison community must also model community engagement to students,” he also said.

The Madison faculty does that well. “As a student, I found those teachers who helped me get involved in the community,” Chaz said.

Participants in the event included current students, members of the JMU debate team, faculty members, community members, one toddler (who was the least interested in the event) and even friends of the Algers, the Matsons from Princeton, NJ, who were on campus to celebrate the inauguration of their good friend Jon Alger.

The Citizenship Forum was an evening of engagement in action, one that is repeated in offices, classrooms, clubs and organizations — anywhere that the university and the community overlap.

For more of Jim Shaeffer’s perspective on JMU’s civic engagement, read his blog, Shaeffer’s Forays.

Ten reasons to pick JMU

Photo by JMU’s Chris Velazquez

February and March are the longest months of a high-school senior’s life — the months before most colleges and universities announce who’s been accepted. After that comes the decision that will change their lives: What school to choose? It’s a huge decision and as deadlines loom, it doesn’t get easier.  So here’s a little help: My Top Ten reasons to pick JMU …..

1. You’ll earn a degree of substance and significance that will mean much more in practice than it ever will mean on paper. Madison has always charted its own path and never believed that the status quo or the experience of another university is what works best for us. In fact, Madison offers exceptional opportunities to students — from athletics and leadership to dazzling arts and undergraduate research. Many opportunities here simply aren’t available at other schools.
2. JMU is a fun place to go to college. Students love it here. In fact, more than 90 percent of freshmen come back for the sophomore year.
3. Harrisonburg has a little bit of everything: beautiful mountains (for climbing, biking, skiing), a lively downtown, great food (Ethiopian, Asian, Greek, Cuban, you name it), convenience (everything is close to campus), and shopping. (Well, maybe not great shopping, but there’s always Amazon.)
4. JMU students are ambitious but not obsessed. The typical JMU student wants to wring every drop out of college that they can. Many pursue two and three majors. They also devote time and talent to worthy campus and community organizations. Few students spend four years only studying. They work hard, don’t misunderstand me, but they look at life in balance, a philosophy promoted by the university. Here, it’s about the whole person.
5. It could change your way of looking at the world — literally. JMU is one of the top master’s-level universities in the nation for the number of students who study abroad. Almost all of these students returned “home” to JMU changed in some way. It is an enlightening experience to step out from the comfort of the familiar and venture into another world that is exotic, often challenging, but always interesting.
6. Here students are people, not numbers. The student teacher ratio at JMU is 16:1. At an institution of higher education with an enrollment around 20,000, that’s remarkable. Teaching matters here. It’s not an ancillary activity that professors endure so they can do their research. Over and over we hear stories about students whose lives have been changed by the diligent and dedicated mentoring their professors generously give. A top piece of advice that new grads almost always offer to freshmen is this: Get to know your professors.
7. You’ve got a great shot at landing a good job. That’s because there’s a very practical bent at JMU. I’ve heard SMAD students report that their professors regularly remind them that they are teaching them for jobs that don’t yet exist. JMU’s determination to respond to the marketplace sets it apart.  The combination of a liberal arts-focused college with a penchant for understanding the reality of landing a job is priceless.
8. You can make it through in four years if you work and plan well. JMU has one of the highest four-year graduation rates in the nation. And you can change your major if you wish. JMU offers 71 undergraduates degrees. The programs are strong and many are nationally ranked.
9. We turn out citizens. There’s more to life than education; and there’s more to education than academics. Eventually, all students graduate and what they do with the rest of their lives is important. We understand that, so from day one we cultivate the habit of thinking big, thinking broadly, and thinking how one person, one group, one JMU class can change the world. We’ll challenge you to do that—to start a meaningful life right here.
10. JMU has a spirit like none other. It’s an extraordinarily open and friendly campus. If there’s one stat to remember, this is it: 97 percent of students give it high marks. You should keep that in mind when making this all important decision. And if you are, by chance, leaning elsewhere, you can always change your mind.

Still busy fighting …

Patrick Wiggins (far right) and friends who helped with  HARTS – Harrisonburg’s thermal shelter for the homeless

Patrick Wiggins (’11) has been busy this past year as a first year masters of public health student at Drexel University. His passion to abate hunger problems worldwide has turned into full-fledged pursuit of solutions to this problem.

In May 2012, Patrick helped organize Beyond Hunger: Real People. Real Solutions, a national conference on hunger and poverty that attracted hundreds of spectators and participants, including those who had been directly impacted by poverty and hunger in the United States.  The conference was a unique event, as not only did it feature researchers, students and philanthropists as speakers, but also “true experts” as Patrick calls them — those who have experienced poverty and hunger firsthand. Patrick’s desire to end hunger that he displayed through his undergrad volunteer work in Harrisonburg area soup kitchens, is expanding to a national level; the conference attracted people from all over the country to discuss the issues of hunger and poverty.

In his article on the conference, Patrick writes: “The Beyond Hunger conference provided a masterful venue that juxtaposed the expertise of anti-hunger advocates, government officials, and philanthropists with the expertise of people who experience hunger and poverty firsthand.”

Patrick is also a staff member of Drexel University’s Center for Hunger-Free Communities, an organization that works with communities dealing with hunger issues. The center has a particular emphasis on helping families with malnourished children, and works with Children’s HealthWatch and Philadelphia-area hospitals to provide outreach to families stricken with hunger and poverty.

Link to Patrick’s article on the conference: http://publichealth.drexel.edu/Media/Latest-News/News-Detail/5036/newsid–1108/

Patrick’s Be the Change Profile: http://www.jmu.edu/bethechange/people/wiggins.shtml

Center for Hunger-Free Communities website: http://www.centerforhungerfreecommunities.org/about-us

– by Tyler McAvoy (’12), Be the Change intern

He shuffles when he walks…..

He shuffles when he walks and tilts his head up so he can look at you through thick glasses. He’s not tall and is usually heavily laden with clothing, even in hot weather. His beard is scruffy. He is unwashed. And he is homeless.

Around Harrisonburg, he’s a fixture — well, a moving fixture. Sometimes he sleeps on the porch of local college students. Sometimes he comes to Carrier Library to do “research.” During Fridays on the Square, he is an eager volunteer. He often shows up at the Sunday evening service of a local church. “Hello, Phil*,” the congregants greet him.  Despite his disheveled appearance, Phil is part of the Harrisonburg community, every bit as much as the residents of the stately old Victorian homes up and down Franklin and Paul and Campbell Streets.

Phil doesn’t fit the mold. Still, as one Old Town resident told me, “his network of friends is incredible.”  They feed him, provide him a place to sleep. They look after him.

I don’t know Phil’s circumstances, why he is homeless, or his life’s back story. Neither do most of the students who live downtown nor do the residents of the stately old homes. But it doesn’t seem to matter. Phil is a neighbor, a homeless neighbor, but a neighbor nonetheless. He is a also reminder to them that homeless individuals have names, histories, needs. They are not statistics, even though they are often gathered together as such.

I’ve heard it said that Harrisonburg is the perfect size city. For Phil, it seems to be. He is not forced to live over a grate or under a cardboard box; neither is he mocked or preyed upon by those who might take advantage of one with so little worldly wealth and such an unfamiliar societal position. Here, at least in Harrisonburg, he is treated to the kindness of friends.

To the casual observer, especially one who looks at statistics instead of faces, Phil might be deemed a burden, a bother, an inconvenience. After all, in the traditional sense, he hasn’t produced much. He hasn’t cured a disease or rebuilt a community, piloted a successful business or inspired a classroom. To my knowledge, he has not built a bridge or a program or even a committee, as so many students will go on to do during their lifetimes. But he reminds us  that all humanity has worth. He brings a perspective like none other.

Last Saturday while hundreds of students celebrated their JMU commencement, their official launch into successful, conventional and productive lives, Phil was there.  The students called him by name, gave him hugs and high fives. He celebrated with the graduates, as welcomed as the students who sat next to them in classes on international relations, finance or chemistry. He was  part of the Madison Community that day.

Being the Change we want to see in the world doesn’t always mean accomplishing something that is newsworthy. In fact, the operative word is “be,” not change. Anyone can change the world, but few of us are as gifted as Phil at reminding us that life is of little value without each other. It is recognizing the wealth of humanity and seeing the needs of others — the children living in a garbage dump in the Phillipines,  the elderly neighbor no longer able to mow his own grass, the unwed teenage mother with no layette, the laid-off employee without prospects, the college student short on tuition, families caught in war-torn nations, communities recovering from natural disasters, the homeless in our cities.

Kindness is the first step in changing the world, and a whole lot of JMU students and community members who have befriended Phil know this already. Their kindness resonates, not only through Phil’s life, but long and loud in their own. This is how changing the world starts: with heart, with compassion, with the magnanimous acts of kindness that cost us so little.

You can’t get a degree in kindness, but then again, you don’t need one to enrich one homeless man’s life with friendship.

To learn more about another group of students dedicated to meeting the needs of individuals like Phil and many others — students majoring on social work — visit JMU’s website: http://www.jmu.edu/jmuweb/general/news/general11941.shtml

You might also be interested in learning about a JMU student, now an alum, who spearheaded a program to house Harrisonburg’s homeless during the winters. You’ll find it here: http://www.jmu.edu/bethechange/stories/patrickWiggins.shtml

*name has been changed

Why April 14 matters

Springfest was a good thing — if you believe that lessons learned from mistakes can become excellent drivers for positive change.

That’s what happened in the spring of 2010 when an annual student block party got out of hand, leaving a Harrisonburg neighborhood trashed and JMU sporting a big black eye. The press was bad. What was worse was the ammunition it gave to those who gripe about JMU’s presence in Harrisonburg.

Everyone makes mistakes, even college students. Mistakes, however, can be valuable tools when they produce good life lessons — and especially when they provoke positive change. Unquestionably — Springfest — as bad as it was, did just that. Springfest spurred the university administration and students to take a hard look at the relationship between Harrisonburg and JMU.

Historically, there has always been tension between communities in which colleges and universities are located and the citizens of those communities. The universal tension between “town and gown” is as old as the first institutions of higher learning. Harrisonburg is no exception. A college town since 1908, the city has grown and prospered. JMU has also grown. Conflicts are inevitable.

But so is the opposite. Like any successful relationship, however, it takes effort. When “town and gown” is at its best, it becomes a symbiotic relationship that benefits both entities — and that’s what happened following Springfest.

Andy Eblin (’11) and an army of student volunteers spread out all over Harrisonburg shortly after the disastrous Springfest to perform community service. It was a kind of public penance, but it meant far more. It was a deliberate attempt to demonstrate that JMU students wanted to be contributing members of the Harrisonburg community.

At the same time, JMU officials pondered if letting off a little steam and having a some fun toward the end of a long, grueling winter semester might be done a better way. They came up with Madipalooza, which debuted last spring. It was a rousing success and an excellent alternative to the now-defunct Springfest.

This year, on Saturday, April 14, the Big Event and Madipalooza will again occur. Hundreds of students will spread out all over Harrisonburg to perform community service projects. The Big Event is jointly sponsored by  Student Greater Madison and by the SGA. Co-chairs are Truman Horwitz, a junior studying public policy and administration who is executive directive of SGM, and Jessica Morris, a junior sociology major who chairs the SGA’s community and traditions committee.

Students lined up for assignments at last year's Big Event. (photo by the Breeze)

Last year, a thousand students participated in The Big Event. Sign-ups this year are on par to meet or exceed that number, according to Truman.

And in the afternoon, the fun continues on the lawn of the Festival. Mechanical bull. Velcro wall. Lots of inflatables. Zip lines and more. And music. LOTS of music.

Instead of an event that leaves Harrisonburg wondering if it’s worth being a college town, both Madipalooza and The Big Event tell a better story. It should convince even the most diehard JMU bashers that students are determined to be good citizens of  Harrisonburg. And that yes, these university students know how to have crazy fun — sensibly.

To read about last year’s events, visit http://www.jmu.edu/jmuweb/general/news/general11598.shtml

And to learn more about Madipalooza and The Big event — and to sign up — follow these links:

http://madipalooza.com/

http://www.jmu.edu/thebigevent/

Two who are building change

Building for a downtown Renaissance

by Tyler McAvoy (’12)

Prior to the construction of the Valley Mall in 1977, downtown Harrisonburg was the place to be. Shops and large department stores lined Main Street and Court Square. Restaurants and businesses thrived, and a theater, complete with a huge lighted marque, was always showing the latest and greatest blockbuster hits.  Yet when the mall was built, things began to change rapidly, and businesses began to migrate out of downtown. When the businesses left, the people began to leave too, and throughout the 80’s and 90’s downtown Harrisonburg was only a memory of what it once was.

Barry Kelley ('83) and Andrew Forward ('86) (photo by Mike Miriello)

Yet, things have started to change.

A slew of new restaurants have opened up in recent years, each offering a different style of food.  Coffee shops and bars now stay open late and some provide  floor space where customers can cut a rug. Three different types of museums have opened their doors, featuring the world of local artists and craftsmen. A new theater regularly shows indie and art-house films to challenge your normal film-going conventions. Yearly holiday events attract thousands to Court Square, and there’s a bigger demand for housing in Downtown than there has been in years.

This change isn’t accidental, or some matter of luck. Much comes from the hard work of an organization of local businessmen and professionals who have banded together to restore downtown to its former glory. Focusing on attracting businesses to downtown, the Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance brainstormed the idea of getting parts of downtown designated “historical districts” meaning that whoever builds or develops a property in these places can get a federal tax credit, as a means to attract developers to the area. And it has worked. Tax breaks piqued the interest of more then one developer, including Barry Kelley (’83) and Andrew Forward (’86). Both members of HDR, Kelley and Forward have utilized this to their advantage. And the result has been to downtown Harrisonburg’s advantage.

Urban Exchange, part of Harrisonburg's future

Kelley and Forward have partnered together on several high profile projects, such as City Exchange and Urban Exchange, which have fundamentally changed the culture of Harrisonburg.  City Exchange, located in an old abandoned seed mill, is now a modern complex featuring a restaurant and fashionable flats, while still retaining the history of the building. For Urban Exchange, Kelley and Forward took an empty parking lot and turned it into a huge multi-level apartment building, complete with underground parking and outlets for electric cars, adding a sense of definition to Harrisonburg’s generally vague architectural design.

Future projects are in the pipeline too, including turning an old ice factory into a multi-use building with a focus on creating space for artists and designers. Kelley and Forward have been instrumental in Harrisonburg’s revitalization and, as ideas emerge, will continue to develop Harrisonburg into a cultural and societal center.

For the contributions these two JMU alumni have made to the rebirth of downtown Harrisonburg, the late John Noftsinger nominated them last year for Be the Change. He was right; It’s a good fit. So soon we’ll be adding Barry Kelley and Andrew Forward to our Be the Change website.

We will also keep track of what’s next for these two builders of change.

To read more about Urban Exchange, visit their website at http://www.liveue.com/

A cup of sugar, please…

Ricky Porco during an interview with WHSV news.

If you’re old enough and fortunate enough to have grown up in a neighborhood that flourished with close friendships, you’ll understand the title of this post.  Once upon a time when you ran short of sugar in the middle of a batch of chocolate chip cookies, you walked next door. Before the Internet captured our attention, before airlines crisscrossed the world accessing places once utterly remote, and before our new global mentality altered our perspective, neighborhoods defined our worlds. Community didn’t mean, “we are the world.”

But that has changed — and not all for the better. Too many of us are disengaged from our neighbors and communities. I’m guilty. I don’t even know many of my neighbors’ names. Some say it hasn’t made us happier. The truth is: no matter how far we travel electronically or otherwise, how connected we feel to the world at large, the immediacy of a physical locality has benefits like nothing else.

One JMU student from Westchester, N.Y., has worked all summer to put the sugar, as it were, back in our neighborhoods. Ricky Porco (’13), an energetic, determined, hard-working JMU junior majoring in communication studies has started a local online community with a huge goal: to reverse our electronic separateness and reinvigorate our sense of local community.

I learned about Ricky’s work when a flyer arrived on my front porch about CommonPlaceHarrisonburg. Intrigued, I got in touch with him. I learned that he, inspired by the book Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam, was determined to make a difference. Ricky explained his mission so well in an email to me that I’ll let him tell you more. Here’s what Ricky wrote:

The book Bowling Alone outlines a simple principle that seems to have less publicity than it should: Civic engagement in America has been on a consistent decline since the 1950s. Across the board, from participation at town hall meetings, to participation in civic social groups, right down to the most minute metrics like “picnics in public parks” have been on a downward slope for substantially longer than I’ve even been alive. People don’t know their own neighbors, don’t trust them, don’t care about interacting with them. In my opinion, this is a tragedy, and thankfully mine isn’t the only opinion that matters because many sociologists would agree that these factors contribute to our (also declining) happiness as people. A nation that prides itself on togetherness, ironically, is so ‘un-together’! If we could increase neighbor-to-neighbor interactions, and thus, increase the level of trust people have in their neighbors, maybe then, could people be happier? I certainly think so, and that is one of the things that motivates me most. I love happy people.

Human beings are tribal by nature; we to want to be part of a group, a community. I believe that the decline in community cannot be directly attributed to the notion that people don’t engage within their community simply because they don’t want to. Rather, I believe that community is in decline because of a whole host of other distractions, and most importantly an increase in a communication gap. Every minute that you spend watching television is one less minute than you spend interacting. Currently, 54 percent of households in the US have at least three TV sets, up from 11 percent in 1975 (back when community was experiencing decline, but still mattered more than it does today). TV is just one example of a distraction and has proven itself expert in drawing people away from their community.

The other important factor is a widening gap in local communication. Remember way back when the best place to communicate with one of your neighbors was the post office? Well, the post office barely exists these days. I’ve sent one letter through the USPS in the last three years, and I’ve sent about 250 emails in the last week. So how else do you communicate with your neighbors? How would you, lets say, find other new mothers in your area who have 2- year-old children to start a weekday play group? You can utilize social and work networks that you’re already part of, and meet and communicate with those people who are connected to you by an organization. You can take out a classified ad in the local newspaper or on Craigslist advertising for moms to contact you if they wished to start a play group. You could start calling random people out of the phone book or walk around town with a megaphone calling to all new mothers. All acceptable answers, all pretty fruitless efforts to connect with people around you. Simply put, people don’t start civic groups not because they don’t want to, but because it’s not easy.

Convinced?  Ricky was. After developing a similar, successful program in Falls Church, Va., he brought it to Harrisonburg. Part Facebook, part Craigslist, part newspaper and part old-fashioned party line, CommonPlaceHarrisonburg is an online LOCAL community that acts as a platform for local civic engagement. It connects people with common needs and interests within a specific locality. It’s so local, in fact, that you need a Harrisonburg or Rockingham County address to join the network.

Out of this platform, Ricky hopes face-t0-face engagement will occur. “While interactions on the CommonPlace platform start out as electronic,” he wrote, “many of them require face-to-face interaction at some point, and the hope is that all communication that happens on the platform leads to increased face-time with your neighbors. That’s a big difference between the type of communication that happens on CommonPlace and most other electronic-based communication.”

So, if you need a cup of sugar, go next door. If you live in Harrisonburg or Rockingham County and you want to find someone interested in yoga or recycling or starting a children’s play group, or if you want to trade a piano for a gas grill, or organize a group for spelunking or beading, CPH is the place to start.

The possibilities are limitless — yet close to home.

To explore and join CommonPlaceHarrisonburg, visit the website: https://www.ourcommonplace.com/harrisonburg

You can read even more about Ricky Porco and his work at Harrisonblog: http://www.harrisonblog.com/2011/06/commonplace-harrisonburg-uniting-local-residents-and-organizations-in-one-central-site/

(Harrisonblog, by the way, is run by another community member who believes in the local community, Harrisonburg Realtor and JMU alumnus Chris Rooker (’92). Like Ricky, and hundreds of JMU alums who’ve made Harrisonburg their permanent home, Chris is also interested getting people together.)

The bitter and the sweet

Classes are winding down on campus this week and today, after a thundering, blustery night, it’s warm and sunny in Harrisonburg. Wind toppled a few area trees, one on top of a house a few crow miles east of campus, and Shenandoah County to the north sustained some damage, but all and all we were unscathed.

Other parts of the state were not so lucky.  JMU alum Jon McNamara (’05) knows that well.  He is the regional director of media and donor relations for the American Red Cross in Richmond. As you might expect, he’s been working around the clock to assist those in need.

Here, however, the campus is beautiful, blooming with spring greens and sprinkles of flowers. Grounds crews are beginning the spruce up in anticipation of graduation only nine days away.

For students, the thunder they hear is the rush of the academic year running out. There are papers to turn in, labs to complete, projects to polish, exams to study for, summer plans to organize and internships to anticipate.

For seniors, though, the end of this academic year is bittersweet. While they are excited to move into lives they have dreamed about and worked hard for, leaving JMU also means leaving behind friends and professors who have sustained them emotionally, academically and professionally. It is a tearing away every bit as much as leaving home to come to Madison four very short years ago.

Mention it to any senior and they are a bit shocked. Wasn’t it just yesterday the Class of 2011 arrived on campus as freshmen?

JMU, though, will always remain a stabilizing place in their lives. This is where they forged friendships for a lifetime. This is where they grew up. This is the spot from which they are launching their lives.

Now is their turn to take what they have learned — but most importantly — what they have become and use it wisely. Some will go on to graduate school. Some will choose volunteer work. Some will begin careers where they make a difference, like Jon McNamara and Anna Frederickson (’11), whom you met in Monday’s post.  Some will marry (and a lucky few will have Madison magazine’s Duke Dog on the guest list), but all will leave with only a vague idea, an imperfect view of where they are going.

Some think they have it all planned out, but life throws punches, reroutes rivers, produces tornadoes, and also opens avenues of great opportunity. The difference between a JMU graduate and all the others, however, is that for every avenue they choose, they take with them a spirit and a willingness to do more than run the corporate race or do a job. They have been indoctrinated with a spirit to do more than live but to make the world a better place. Any one who doubts that need only look as far as JMU’s consistent ranking among schools that have historically served the Peace Corps.

This year’s graduation is a little special. While Madison was established in 1908, the first degrees were not awarded until 1911, making this graduating class a centennial one of sorts.  For a century, Madison has turned out graduates with an exceptional spirit to change the future.  If you doubt that, perhaps the late Dr. Raymond Dingledine can convince you. In his seminal book, Madison College, the First Fifty Years, he wrote of first President Julian A. Burruss:

“His faculty caught his vision for the future and were inspired by it. As one of them expressed it, ‘Those early faculty meeting were so stimulating that we sometimes could not sleep after their late adjournment even, but would lie awake seeing the possibilities and rejoicing in the Virginia which was to be.'”

And while 100 years ago, it was the faculty who often couldn’t sleep for the excitement of the future, no doubt it is this year’s seniors. While their futures thunder toward them, they leave JMU with the will, the courage, the intent and the support to change the future.

To see Jon McNamara in action, here’s a video clip from a Richmond station:  http://www.wtvr.com/videobeta/41f46a04-7df4-4b00-94a4-f24352de0e18/News/Red-Cross-Helps

Little slivers that save lives

What do you do with the little slivers of soap from your shower? What happens to the millions of barely-used soaps left behind in hotel rooms all over the country? Ever thought about that?

Someone did — an organization called Clean the World.  

Every day in North America, thousands of hotels discard millions of pounds of soap and shampoo. These products often end up in already overflowing landfills and contaminate fragile groundwater systems. Impoverished people around the world die every day from acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease because they have no soap. The death toll is staggering. Each year more than five million lives are lost to these diseases with the majority of deaths being among children less than 5 years old. Studies have shown that simple hand washing substantially reduces the spread of these diseases. Unfortunately, the essential items for proper hand washing are unobtainable for millions of people worldwide …. In an effort to prevent these needless deaths from occurring, Clean the World distributes recycled soap products, along with appropriate educational materials, to impoverished countries worldwide, and to domestic homeless shelters. (From their website)

APO at CTW: Helping change the world with slivers of soap

I learned about Clean the World when I received an email from Matt Gomez of CTW telling me that 19 JMU students from Alpha Phi Omega fraternity spent part of their spring break helping out there. JMU junior Amanda Schott, APO’s special projects chairwoman who organized the trip with the help of the Orlando United Way, explains:

“The organization collects used soap from hotels that would normally be thrown out when a traveler leaves.  This soap is then recycled. The process involves scraping off the dirt and particles from the soap using knives. (This is what we did while in Orlando). Then they sanitize the soap using a solution and allow it to dry. Next the soap goes to a steamer. Soap is porous so the steam removes all the bacteria that could be inside the soap. The soap is again dried and ground, so it can be remolded into new bars of soap and sent all over the world. Most of the children in these countries have no idea what soap is. Many diseases that are killing children could be prevented by just giving them soap so they can wash themselves. I find this to be a simple yet amazing cause. It just goes to show that even the smallest things can make the biggest difference in lives or even save lives.”

Small things indeed. Changing the world, one sliver of soap at a time. During their time in Orlando, the Dukes helped recycle some 4,250 bars of soap, enough to provide for 425 children for an entire month, according to Matt.

“In less than two years Clean the World has collected, recycled and distributed more than eight million bars of soap to children and families in the United States, Haiti and more than 40 countries. We get most of these soaps from our nearly 800 hotel partners in North America, but we also receive soap donations everyday from schools, organizations and individuals helping to advance our global ‘hygiene revolution.’ Washing with soap helps stop the spread of preventable diseases, such as pneumonia and cholera. Soap saves lives,” Matt says.

Amanda says she and her fellow APOs are interested in getting Harrisonburg establishments involved in donating their leftover soaps to CTW. APO is JMU’s only co-ed community service fraternity. On any given week they work with Special Olympics, the Salvation Army, SPCA or a kindergarten class in Harrisonburg. They also do monthly projects such as Adopt-A-Highway, Habitat for Humanity and canteens at ARC.

As impressive as this effort is, though, CTW is not the only project the APOs did while they were on spring break in Orlando. On Thursday I’ll tell you more about APO’s spring break trip — or better still, I’ll let Amanda tell you.  So stay tuned.

To see these Dukes in action at CTW, explore more at their blog: http://blog.cleantheworld.org/2011/03/put-up-your-dukes.html

And to learn more about Clean the World and how you can help, click here: http://www.cleantheworld.org/donate-money.asp

Ever wished to name a cow?

Harrisonburg’s children’s museum is now open for business after a busy and productive hiatus.  For the past six months, the museum’s volunteers and executive director, Be the Changer Lisa Shull (’85, ’91M), have been hard at work on a new space and a new name. Now located only a hop, skip and a jump north of the Massanutten Regional Library, the newly-dubbed Explore More Discovery Museum will host an open house this Sunday, Nov. 21 from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. The museum says everyone is invited to “stop by this FREE event and discover exciting exhibits and activities at our 150 S. Main St. location. Meet a scientist, a veterinarian and Bob Corso of TV3. Vote for the name of our newest farm friend, a 6 ft., 200 lb. milking cow!”

The new museum includes new exhibits — the Discovery Tree, a television studio, a science lab, the Virginia Theater, CK’s Kitchen, a toddler area called Over in the Meadow, and a health center featuring a full-sized ambulance. You’ll definitely want to see this exciting new development in downtown Harrisonburg.

But don’t just look, volunteer! Explore More Children’s Museum is always looking for volunteers.  It’s a great way — and a fun way — to join with the hundreds of JMU students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends who help out at the museum. The museum is a perfect opportunity to Be the Change.  To sign up as a volunteer, contact Kristen at volunteers@iExploreMore.com !

One hour at a time, one child at a time, one job at a time, the Explore More Discovery Museum is changing Harrisonburg every day as it offers children an exciting head start on a lifetime of learning. 

The museum is now open Tuesdays — Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. — 5:00 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.hcmuseum.org/cms/ or contact us at 540-442-8900.

And read more about the museum here http://www.jmu.edu/bethechange/stories/childrensMuseumVolunteers.shtml