50th anniversary Alumni Service Registry shows how the volunteer spirit lives on for VWC grads
By Leona Baker | February 6, 2012
Community service is an important part of a transformative education at Virginia Wesleyan College. Whether volunteering or fulfilling an academic requirement, students often have profound, even life-changing experiences as a result of participating in one of the myriad community service opportunities available to them on campus and off.
For many of those students, the desire to give back is something that sticks with them after commencement. For Sean Westrom, who graduated in 2009 with a degree in environmental studies, volunteering was a chance to broaden his education and serve the greater good at the same time.
After restoring oyster reefs as part of the College's Alternative Spring Break program, serving as the Community Service/Philanthropy Chair for his fraternity and completing a work-study as the recycling coordinator though the VWC Office of Community Service, Westrom found himself back at VWC this past spring to help build rain gardens with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
"To me, community service means seeing what you're studying in school is making a difference in the real world," Westrom says. "Instead of just reading text books or listening to lectures, being out there doing something that makes a difference—that's what makes the experience real."
As part of the College's year-long 50th anniversary celebration, Community Service Director Diane Hotaling established the online Alumni Service Registry as a way of recording the ongoing community service work of Marlins—from recent grads like Westrom to the first graduating class of 1970.
"It is quite clear to me, having been at Wesleyan now for half its life," says Hotaling, "that service is the thread that ties this place together. From the very caring people who make up the faculty and staff to the students who choose to attend this college, the ethic of helping one another is part of who Marlins are—when they are here and when they move on."
"Service is the thread that ties this place together. From the very caring people who make up the faculty and staff to the students who choose to attend this college, the ethic of helping one another is part of who Marlins are."—Community Service Director Diane Hotaling
Serving others isn't always about participating in a program; sometimes it's about rallying around a community member in need. As one of the first students to enroll in the College's Adult Studies Program, Richard Carmichael '86 grew to love the "friends and family feel" of the VWC campus.
He was especially impressed, he says, when he saw the way the College community came together to support a fellow ASP student and young mother who lost her husband.
Later, after watching two dear friends cope with a terminally ill child, it was this giving spirit that led Carmichael to volunteer for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to children with life threatening illnesses.
He signed on to be an Airport Family Greeter, not realizing that would mean a lot of pre-dawn trips to see families off to Disney World in Florida. After 15 years volunteering, he says he wouldn't trade it for the world.
"That 4 a.m. wake-up...it's nothing. Call it karma, good deed, golden rule or whatever you please; it makes you feel good to help others, especially a child because when you help a child you touch the future."
Carmichael has gone on to do a variety of jobs for Make-a-Wish including wish granting, fundraising, speaking and special events. It was as a volunteer for special events that he got a chance to make some lasting one-on-one connections with wish families.
"My very first event was a fundraiser at the mall where I met a young man named Ryan, who was about 6 with an extremely rare disease. Doctors told his mother that he would not likely see his 16th birthday. I'm glad to say they were wrong because I was at his 16th party, and he's now 19! We are still friends."
Richard Carmichael and Sean Westrom are just two of the Marlins who have entered their "service stories" in the alumni registry. The goal, says Community Service Director Diane Hotaling, is to record 1,961 alumni (in honor of the College's 1961 charter) who continue to serve others in some way—"from the Soccer Mom to the non-profit Board Chair and all the random volunteers in between."
"These are former students who came to Wesleyan with a giving spirit and continue to share it after they've left," Hotaling says. "They continue to make a difference wherever they are and that's worth celebrating on the College's 50th anniversary."
More Alumni in Service
"I am currently helping at my church's soup kitchen twice a month. I am also VP of programs for the PTA for the school where I teach."— Sandi McClave '76:
"I foster dogs for K-9 New Life, a dog rescue organization based in Virginia Beach. The organization focuses on rescuing dogs that are often overlooked in shelters."— Arianne Avery '94
"I serve on the board of a charitable foundation that hosts a golf tournament each year to raise money for a Central Virginia that helps kids at risk."—Jason Williams '95
"Through the company I own, we purchased a house and fixed it up then donated it to Habitat for Humanity."—Anthony Stile '96
"I create and host volunteer opportunities throughout Maryland to offer school beautification projects, community enhancement events and mentorship programs for inner city youth."—Molly McConnell '01
"I am currently serving in the US Peace Corps as an environmental educator in Nicaragua."—Lillian Reyes '05