3:01 p.m., May 26, 2009----The first University of Delaware Leadership Award, honoring an exceptional leadership major who has exhibited great promise and service to the community, has been presented to sophomore Gillian Looney.

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The Leadership Program, an undergraduate major offered through the College of Education and Public Policy, has formed a working partnership with the Jefferson Awards for Public Service, a prestigious national recognition system founded in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Sam Beard and Senator Robert Taft Jr. to honor community and public service in America at the local and national levels.

“For the past two years the Jefferson Awards Youth Service Initiative has been honored to partner with the University of Delaware Leadership Program,” said Michele P. Fidance, national director of the Jefferson Awards. “The leadership major at the University advocates a system of values and ethics to mobilize change resulting in improved quality of life. Because of these shared values and ethics, we have created a winning partnership.”

The Jefferson Awards Youth Service Initiative (YSI) was created to encourage high school students to get involved in volunteering and community service.

“Our mission is to build lifelong habits around leadership, ethics and community service,” Fidance said. “The YSI program is currently operating in eight communities across the country and in 25 high schools here in Delaware.”

According to Karen Stein, director of the UD Leadership Program, “Our students serve as leadership coaches in Delaware high schools participating in the Youth Service Initiative, and our senior capstone students put on a Leadership Development Conference for high schoolers in the fall. This service is a requirement for seniors, but it was Gillian's voluntary, enthusiastic and effective participation in these efforts, as well as many other opportunities for service, that earned her this award.”

The $1,000 prize was funded through the Delaware Youth Leadership Fund, established by the Jefferson Awards to provide educational scholarships and incentives to Delaware high school students for outstanding acts of community service and leadership. The Race for a Better Delaware, a 5K run/walk held April 5 in Wilmington as part of Gov. Jack Markell's call for Delaware citizens to embrace volunteerism, raised money for the fund.

Article by Beth Chajes