ethics news & views: EASL students awarded Emory Humanitarian Award

February 04, 2005

EASL students awarded Emory Humanitarian Award

Emory undergraduates Erik Fyfe and Molly Harrington, both recent members of the Ethics and Servant Leadership Forum, were among six students honored with the 2005 Emory University Humanitarian Award. Awards were presented January 26th by Emory President James Wagner and other top administrators.

Both Fyfe and Harrington were participants in the 2003-2004 EASL Forum, and Harrington was also a Servant Leader Summer Intern in 2004.

The students were nominated for the awards by fellow students or professors. Criteria for selection were:

Consistent living of one’s own life with honesty, integrity, responsibility, and a sense of the welfare of the community

Special acts of courage benefiting others

Unusual commitment of time and energy in service to others

Special gifts of friendship

Both of the students received their awards in large part due to work they undertook during their time in the EASL program. Fyfe was recognized as a co-founder of Emory Peace Coalition, which focuses on political and environmental issues, and for his efforts, along with fellow EASL members Anita Husen and Leila Barker, in establishing MetroVision, a mentoring program at the Metro Regional Youth Detention Center, as their Forum group project. The program matches detention center inmates with Emory students who serve as tutors and mentors, doing activities with the students or just listening to them.

Last year the Metro Vision leaders won the Chris Gellar Award in addition to recruiting many new volunteers. Anita Husen applied won $1,000 for the development of their organization's work.

Harrington was recognized for leading the Mental Health Anti-Stigma Campaign, which she began as her Servant Leader Summer Internship project. The campaign works to bring the entire Emory community together in a people-centered community building approach to promoting individual and societal mental health and wellness, primarily by calling upon all community members to work together to overcome the fear associated with mental illness.

The campaign has met with marked successes this year, including the creation of a student government initiated task force on mental health and a popular petition for the creation of a President’s Commission on Mental Health at Emory. Current standing Commisions include Race and Ethnicity, the Status of Women, and Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns.

[ Posted by Chance Hunter at February 4, 2005 10:34 AM |