|
Ben Jastrzembski ‘08 " is awarded the Dean of the College Award for
Service on November 28, 2007.
Ben Jastrzembski’s distinguished service to the Dartmouth community has been
through his long-term commitment to the Tucker Foundation’s Cross Cultural
Education and Service Program (CCESP) in Siuna, Nicaragua. The CCESP Nicaragua
program is designed to collaboratively build infrastructure that advances
community development and health in the Siuna region; to foster Dartmouth
students’ historical and contemporary understanding of this region so they may
help address systemic issues and solutions related to poverty; and to advance
Dartmouth students’ efficacy as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in a
global community. After two prior years of service with the program as a
community service participant and as a reflections’ officer Ben earned the
distinguished leadership role of student director. Ben currently manages most
aspects of this $75,000 program working collaboratively with the Dartmouth
Medical School, Tucker Foundation, Dartmouth students, Dartmouth faculty and
health providers, the Bridges to Community non-profit agency, local leaders in
Siuna and URACCAN (University of the Autonomous Region of the Caribbean Coast
of Nicaragua).
But his work did not stop here. Ben took to heart the concept of educational
reciprocity and cross-cultural exchange and he creatively co-designed and
provided leadership for a pilot initiative named the Dartmouth-URACCAN
Exchange, offered for the first time this past July at Dartmouth. Six URACCAN
college students, one URACCAN faculty advisor, and one Nicaraguan adult advisor
from the non-profit Bridges to Community group came to Dartmouth. During this
two-week visit to, Dartmouth sophomores, faculty, CCESP student leaders and the
URACCAN exchange group participated in academic programs in undergraduate
classes, extracurricular activities, a service project in the Upper Valley,
community presentations, and critical reflection sessions. Ben has enriched the
Dartmouth community by building a real bridge between this college and another
community and in doing so created new cross-cultural opportunities for
Dartmouth students, especially sophomore students on campus in the summer.
Professor Doug Moody, Senior Lecturer in Spanish and Portuguese, LALACS and
the Writing Program said of Ben, “…he was instrumental in the conception and
the realization of this exchange project, and he volunteered as the Student
Director of the exchange, spending countless hours preparing the grant writing,
organizing all of the logistics at Dartmouth College, seeking and securing the
Nicaraguans’ visa, and was involved in every aspect of the highly successful
trip the URACCAN group made to the United States. It would not have been
possible without his involvement and total commitment to the project.”
Please join me in thanking Ben Jastrzembski ’08 for this contribution to
Dartmouth and in congratulating him on being a recipient of the Dean of the
College Award for service.
|
