Press Release: Spirit of Service Award winners

On Wednesday, April 20th 2016 the Center for Civic Engagement had their annual celebration of service. Four Spirit of Service awards were bestowed upon individuals and community partners that have demonstrated dedication to serving the UNL community in the past year.

In the student category we recognized Virginia Calderón. Throughout her five years here, she has highly invested herself in the University of Nebraska community. Virginia is dedicated and passionate about pouring herself into whatever she takes on, which makes her a worthy recipient for this award.

The student organization that we recognized is Camp Kesem. Camp Kesem is a nationwide community that support children through and beyond their parent’s or guardian's cancer. The volunteers at Camp Kesem have a passion that radiates through their selfless love and dedication to others.

In the faculty category we identified David Gosselin as the recipient for the Spirit of Service award. Dr. David Gosselin is the Director of Environmental Studies and has spent 15 years developing and enhancing educational programs in this area. He has been instrumental in using service learning pedagogies in the environmental science minor.

The Kim A. Hobson, staff member award, was given to Thomas Allison. Thomas works in career services and has a passion for helping student veterans. He goes above and beyond in the community outside of the University, which further demonstrates how much of a difference Thomas is making.

Finally, the community partner award was given to Kait Madsen with Nebraska Appleseed. Nebraska Appleseed is an organization that focuses primarily on advancing policies and practices that promote self-sufficiency for Nebraska's working poor families. Kait has helped to give a voice to those who thought our communities and political system had left them.