Cincinnati, Ohio, February
13, 2018 – The Ursuline Education Network recently honored eight Saint Ursula Academy students with 2017 Community Service Awards. Mae Dolbey ’19, Lizzie Jira ’19, Annie Malone ’18, Laura Wiedemann ’19, all from Anderson Township, Moira Garry ’18 of Amberley Village, Savannah Kleeman ’18 of White Oak, Rosemarie Bingham ’18 of Miami Township, and Ashley Voelkerding ’18 of Cleves were chosen from many applicants as leaders who are making a difference in their community.
Mae Dolbey and Lizzie Jira were nominated for initiating a new service outreach project which connects Saint Ursula Academy students with The Children’s Home, the largest provider of school-based mental health services in the region. The program goal involved creating a community for SUA students to collaborate on projects with students who have been diagnosed with Autism. This has taught Mae and Lizzie, along with many other students, the value of appreciating each other’s differences and seeing value in all relationships.
Annie Malone was nominated for her outstanding
contributions to the Saint Ursula Academy Community Service Learning
Department, where she has tutored elementary students after school, visited
Nicaragua on a mission trip, and, most recently, led the annual Personal Care
Drive. While she acknowledges all of
these experiences have a goal of helping others, she believes that she has also
benefitted from these experiences. She recognizes
the many obstacles others are facing, and this realization has helped her step
out of her comfort zone and do things she never imagined she would be able to
do.
Moira Garry, Laura Wiedemann, Savannah Kleeman, Ashley Voelkerding, and Rosemarie Bingham were nominated because they seized an opportunity to provide Saint Ursula Academy students with an education on Fair Trade while providing a morning jolt of caffeine for their peers. The students opened “The Bulldog Boost”, a coffee shop, where they sell Fair Trade coffee and hot chocolate before school. This helps bring an awareness of the unfair wages paid to many coffee and chocolate workers, and provides an alternative source of a morning beverage. This supports Fair Trade companies who provide safe working conditions and fair wages. In addition, the Bulldog Boost also uses ethically sourced and compostable cups, lids, and sleeves, which reinforces the sustainability initiatives at SUA. All profits from the sale of the fair trade drinks are donated to Saint Ursula’s weekly mission collection dedicated to similar sustainability and fair trade issues.
Judy Wimberg, Executive Director of the Ursuline Education Network, is proud of these eight students, as well as all of the other students across the country who were honored with the Ursuline Education Network’s 2017 Community Service Awards.
Wimberg said, “In a world where we often find it difficult to have hope, these students offer us incentives for boundless hope. Truly they are the “light of the world and the salt of the earth” that Jesus encourages his followers to be. The initiative, ingenuity, courage and compassion they exhibit is nothing short of extraordinary. With the significant contributions they have already made to the betterment of our world, we can only imagine what they will continue to do as they mature in wisdom, age, and grace.”
Saint Ursula Academy is a Catholic,
college-preparatory, secondary school for young women known for academic excellence
and rich tradition. Saint Ursula welcomes students from more than 90 grade
schools in the Greater Cincinnati area. The
Academy is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon
School. The campus, located at 1339 E. McMillan Street in East Walnut Hills has
been the home of St. Ursula Academy and Convent since 1910. The Class of 2017
earned college scholarships totaling more than $21-million.
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