Four years ago, alumnus Scott Douglas MacDonald ’72 (M.R.P.) decided to support undergraduate students by endowing a scholarship for those committed to public service.
MacDonald Community Service Scholars receive a $5,000 annual scholarship, offered through the Buckley Public Service Scholars program. The program provides them with opportunities and structure to build service portfolios and develop skills related to community service. During their third year, scholars also participate in the MacDonald Community Fellowship program, where they work with a community partner to identify a signature public service project to be completed by the time they graduate.
“My participation in the MacDonald Community Service Scholars program exposed me to a wide array of public service opportunities I never knew existed, pushed me to continuously involve myself in surrounding communities and try new things,” said Hanan Alazzam ‘19, one of the very first scholars.
This May, the first class of MacDonald Community Service Scholars will be graduating, leaving behind a legacy of an inspired generation and platforms for community support. They are: Finn Loendorf of Stanley, North Carolina; John Roberson of Durham, North Carolina; Hanan Alazzam of Asheboro, North Carolina; Emma Hughson of Colerain, North Carolina; and Anish Bhatia of New Hyde Park, New York.
“These students receive help and, in return, provide help,” MacDonald said. “It is a simple concept that could potentially change the way aid is funded and how communities are supported.”
Loendorf (they, their, them) saw their love of science and working with youth converge when they realized a need for STEM exposure among the underserved youth in the Chapel Hill area. For their MacDonald Community Fellowship project, Loendorf implemented a week-long program, Full STEAM Ahead, that involved coding activities, science experiments and literary arts. The students ended the week-long camp with a renewed excitement for learning and an even stronger support system.
“Helping others is just the right thing to do. It’s everyone’s responsibility to do what they can to make the world a better place,” Loendorf said.
“This is just the beginning, and I salute UNC-Chapel Hill for leading the way,” MacDonald said. “Students will learn as well as give, preparing them to leave Carolina committed and equipped to continue working for the betterment of society. I hope other donors will follow by creating their own community service scholarships at Carolina.”
The MacDonald Community Service Scholarship was made possible by a gift from Scott MacDonald to allows students the support to work with faculty and staff to identify and implement a signature, experience-based public service project.
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A passion for public service is in Rachel Schaevitz’s DNA. Her family instilled in her the importance of being involved in your community — whether through volunteer efforts, a chosen career path or a stint in public office.
In her new position with Carolina Public Humanities (CPH), she’s launching new collaborations with the Town of Chapel Hill, community colleges, museums, movie theaters and nonprofits to advance the University’s mission of serving the state.
“It’s nice to be a bridge between the University and the town of Chapel Hill and to understand both worlds,” she said. “I feel so grateful to be at Carolina and CPH...”
Read the complete Carolina Story...
The Mellon-funded Humanities for the Public Good initiative has been helping to support Schaevitz’s partnerships with community colleges. She received a Faculty Engagement Award, which is designed to catalyze connections between humanities faculty and collaborators beyond the campus to do socially significant work."
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UNC School of Nursing professor Cheryl L. Woods Giscombé’s commitment to public service begins with her upbringing in Roxboro, North Carolina. Her family moved there after her father, one of the first African-American graduates of the UNC School of Dentistry, received a grant to provide dental care in a rural community — one where most citizens worked in factories or on farms, and twice as many people had not finished high school as had graduated from college. His dental office served to underscore for his daughters the value of hard work and helping others.
“He never allowed us to think that we were more than or better than anyone else,” Giscombe said. “After Sunday dinner, my sister and I would go with him to his office. We vacuumed, dusted and cleaned the bathrooms.”
Today, Giscombé focuses her research on understanding and reducing stress-related health disparities among African Americans.
Read the complete Carolina Story from the University Gazette...
Giscombé is the Melissa and Harry LeVine Family Professor of Quality of Life, Health Promotion and Wellness.
This is story number 191 in the Carolina Stories 225th Anniversary Edition magazine."
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For anthropology professor and Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholar Anna Agbe-Davies, archaeology is not digging through dirt, searching for bones. Her work at the Pauli Murray House in Durham has her preserving and contextualizing the childhood home of Murray, a lawyer and co-founder of the National Organization for Women and unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement.
In addition to the inspiration from the historic women she studies, Agbe-Davies credits the Carolina Center for Public Service's Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholars (FES) program with helping her branch out and interact with scholars across disciplines.
"The key thing for me about Faculty Engaged Scholars is talking to people in other disciplines about what their engaged scholarship looks like," Agbe-Davies said. "It has helped me see possibilities I hadn’t envisioned before."
Read the complete Carolina Story from the Carolina Center for Public Service...
This is story number 217 in the Carolina Stories 225th Anniversary Edition magazine."
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