Assistant provost honored for service

11:33 a.m., March 31, 2005--Whittaker, who oversees UD’s Office of Student Diversity and Success, spearheaded efforts to bring candidates from across Delaware together for this year’s Boys and Girls Clubs of Delaware “Youth of the Year” award competition, and arranged for the contestants and their chaperones to stay at the Courtyard Newark- University of Delaware during the two-day event.

He also helped organize the weekend’s entertainment events, which included the awards dinner and a skating party, at the Fred Rust Ice Arena, on Friday, March 18.

Additionally, Whittaker served as one of 10 judges during the Saturday morning selection process, where he listened to candidates’ oral presentations and interviewed them on a series of topics. After the interview sessions, students attended a multiethnic career conference at the MBNA Career Services Center, where they mingled with UD freshmen and sophomores.

“Fourteen outstanding seventh- through 12-graders from across Delaware were selected as candidates for the award,” Whittaker said, “but there could only be one winner.”

That winner was Cherise Spruill, a senior at Christiana High School, who will go on to compete nationally for the 2005 Youth of the Year Award and will serve as this year’s spokesperson for Delaware Boys and Girls Clubs.

“All the contestants were outstanding in the hardships they overcame and in their ability to avoid the pitfalls that face so many in their circumstances,” Whittaker said.

Along with the other nine panelists, he judged the young finalists in categories that included leadership, moral character, presentation, poise, community service, service to clubs, family contribution, scholarship, life goals, obstacles overcome and written and oral communication skills.

Spruill, who received $2,000 in scholarship money, will attend St. John’s University in New York in the fall, and each of the 13 other contestants received $1,000 in scholarship money.

“The Office of Student Diversity and Success is trying to develop a pre-college partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Delaware, and this [event] was viewed as the beginning of that partnership,” Whittaker said. “One of the main things the University hoped to accomplish by hosting this competition was to introduce the University culture to members of Boys and Girls Clubs throughout Delaware and to foster a climate of success for future recruits.”

Whittaker, who received plaques marking his involvement, also accepted at the Youth of the Year Award luncheon held at Del Tech’s Terry Campus a plaque that recognized the overall contributions of the University.

Article by Becca Hutchinson
Photo by Kathy Atkinson

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