25 students cited for community service

Senior Stephen Koczirka (center) receives the Nikki Woolf Award from Dennis Woolf (right) and Newark Mayor Vance Funk.

4:40 p.m., May 5, 2005--Twenty-five University of Delaware students were honored by the city of Newark and the Town & Gown Committee for service to the community in a ceremony at city hall, Monday, May 2.

Newark Mayor Vance A. Funk III and Ron Smith, chairperson of the Town & Gown Committee, paused briefly before the ceremony to express sympathy for the family and friends of Lindsey Bonistall, a 20-year-old UD sophomore found dead in her apartment Sunday, May 1. Funk said the people of Newark were horrified by the murder and everyone involved has been touched by the tragedy.

To open the program, Funk said, "We are not residents. We are not students. We are a community. This is a great city and a great University, and we attract great kids."

Deb Hoff, assistant University secretary and member of the Town & Gown Committee, spoke for UD President David Roselle, who could not be there. On his behalf, she extended thanks and congratulations to each of the 25 students.

Marianne Green, assistant director of UD’s MBNA Career Services Center, presented the awards. When all 25 had received their certificates of appreciation, Green introduced Dennis Woolf to present the Nikki Woolf Volunteer of the Year Award.

Woolf established the award in 1994 to honor the memory of his daughter, Nikki, a 21-year-old UD student who died when she was hit by a car while crossing I-95. Woolf said his daughter, an avid volunteer always anxious to help others, was instrumental in establishing VOICE, a group of psychology students who mentor patients at the Delaware Psychiatric Center.

The 2005 Nikki Woolf Award was given to Stephen Koczirka, a biology pre-med senior, who has contributed more than 2,400 hours of volunteer time and responded to 315 calls to the University of Delaware Emergency Care Unit, a nonprofit, student-run ambulance company for UD and the surrounding community.

Koczirka gave special thanks to his mother “who has been a big influence on my life.”

These UD student volunteers also were recognized at the May 2 ceremony:

Kathryn Wolinski, AS ’06, of Middletown, has been a volunteer for Planned Parenthood of Delaware since February, assisting in updating the agency databases, creating posters and flyers;

Colette Pastore, AS ’06, of Media, Pa., has been a volunteer for Planned Parenthood of Delaware since February, assisting in the education and public affairs departments and conducting research for the organization;

Jessica Whitehead, CHEP ’05, of Wilmington, worked with Planned Parenthood of Delaware’s public affairs department and currently heads its VOX chapter on campus;

Callie Jo Winslow, CHEP ’06, of Newark, spent Winter Session working in the public affairs, marketing and education departments of Planned Parenthood of Delaware;

Cori Chascione, CHEP ’06, of Dix Hills, N.Y., working with AIDS of Delaware, has conducted presentations on campus and at health fairs and is part of a campaign to reinstate HIV-AIDS testing on campus;

Joshua Sacher, AS ’05, of Wilmington, volunteers for Sexual Offense Support (S.O.S.), the 24/7, on-campus rape crisis beeper service and is a cofounder of the Men Against Rape Society (MARS), serving as co-president;

Lauren Johnston, AS ’05, of Lansdale, Pa., is a volunteer for S.O.S.;

Sarah Ohrenschall, AS ’05, of Wilmington, is a volunteer for S.O.S. and Rape Crisis CONTACT Delaware, providing services for rape victims throughout New Castle County;

Leslie Forsyth, AS ’05, of Royersford, Pa., volunteers for S.O.S.;

Ashley Smalls, AS ’06, of Wilmington, volunteers for AIDS Delaware;

Meghan Bills, AS ’05, of Oswego, N.Y., volunteers at Emmaus House and Meadows, working with children and the elderly;

Steven Becker, BE ’05, of New Rochelle, N.Y., volunteers with the city of Newark and has been instrumental in organizing the city of Newark Community Clean up of eight local parks;

Elvis Gisiora, BE ’05, of Kisii, Kenya, is active in the Delaware Kenya Association, has helped recruit people for the 18th Delaware AIDS Walk and raise more than $18,000 for a child with cerebral palsy and for HIV/AIDS orphans;

Elizabeth Wathen, CHEP ’05, of Hockessin, is president of the University Mentors Club and is herself a mentor;

Lindsey Joy Messenger, AS ’05, of Syracuse, N.Y., volunteers for Habitat for Humanity and has been instrumental in the growth of the organization on campus;

Maria Pullella, CHEP ’05, of Hockessin, volunteers for Habitat for Humanity and, with Messenger, has helped the organization develop on campus;

Andrea Tetreault, CHEP ’06, of Wilmington, is a volunteer at Kirk Middle School and has dedicated 20 hours of service there;

Emily Wood, AG ’08, of Landenberg, Pa., is a volunteer for Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research Inc. and donated more than 600 hours to caring for orphaned and injured birds;

Jessica Martin, AG ’06, of Middletown, has done volunteer work for the Delaware Nature Society since November 2004;

Vincenza Carrieri-Russo, AS ’08, of Newark, is the cofounder of Success Won’t Wait literacy program and has organized dozens of book drives that have collected more than 16,000 books, and she was one of the 2004 recipients of the White House’s Daily Points of Light Award;

Suzanne Miller, M/BE, of Dover, has been active in the Latin-American Community Center’s JUMP Mentoring Program since 2003 as a mentor to a 10-year-old girl;

Rosalia Grigoli AS ’05, of Newark, volunteers at the Latin-American Community Center in the JUMP Mentoring Program;

Heather Miller, AS ’05, of Middletown, mentors in the Latin-American Community Center’s JUMP Mentoring Program; and

Ebony Payne, CHEP ’06, of Philadelphia, serves as the head tutorial coordinator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s NUCLEUS Community Tutorial and Advancement Initiative.

Article by Barbara Garrison
Photo by Duane Perry

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