From Brittney Calloway

Name: Brittney Calloway

Major: English and Philosophy

Hometown: I was born in Manhattan, NY but I currently reside in Edison, NJ (5 min from Rutgers' campus)

Favorite Book: I have way to many to name but I would have to go with Beloved by Toni Morrison.

Ramble: I am a rising sophomore here at the college and am involved in numerous activities here on campus but have not done as much service as I would have liked to. In high school volunteering at shelters, foodbanks, Girl Scouts,Habitat for Hummanity, as a tutor all of these were actiities that were in my daily regemine and were ongoing service activities but this past year all the GREAT service opportunities here at the college came to me after the deadline to apply:*-(...however this year I was apart of TCO (tribe college outreach) where I tutored high school students once a week. I am also apart of the organization Aids in Tanzania where I will be traveling to Tanzania in December as a volunteer for the Aids/HIV project. This summer I was also involved with ESL teaching spanish workers English. At the college I am also apart of Judicial Council, NAACP, and William and Mary Model Congress .Giving back to others in need means the world to me and is something I value deeply. What drives me most in all of the organizations I am in, is the opportutinty to help others in need...not myself.

I spy...

Drew Stelljes! 

Hey!

Sorry this is so late! I am in the same boat as Stephanie in terms of internet this summer. I look forward to meeting you all this semester. Looks like we have a fabulous group!

P.S. I'm in the blue shirt in this picture.

Name: Megan Coolidge

Major: International Relations and Hispanic Studies

Hometown: Great Falls, VA

Service Involvements: Students Helping Honduras, CPALs ESL tutoring, and Sharpe Community Scholars

Favorite Book: The Poisonwood Bible

Rambling about service: My parents always did a great job of emphasizing the importance of service to my brothers and I when we were growing up. I think as I have gotten older and had the opportunity to be involved with a variety of different projects, I have noticed that my favorite part of service is the connections and friendships you form with people...whether it is people you are serving or people you are serving with. As a few others have mentioned, William and Mary's dedication and emphasis on service was one of the main characteristics that attracted me to this school. Because of the strong emphasis on civic engagement at the college, I have been able to combine my passion for community service with my academic courses and have been able to put both to use in service organizations such as Students Helping Honduras. The academic courses, service organizations, and people I have met at W&M have shown me how you can transform community service from a weekly activity to a part of everything you do.

Hi!

Hi Everyone! Sorry that I am late in posting; I haven't had reliable internet access for the majority of this summer! But, I am so excited to meet and get to know all of you!

Name: Stephanie Burton

Major: Environmental Policy and Elementary Education

Hometown: Colonial Heights, Va (a little city 20 minutes south of Richmond!)

Service Involvements: APO! I mainly volunteer with the READ Adopt a Grandparent program at Dominion Village Nursing Home each week! But I have dabbled in some other volunteer opportunities through APO at the Williamsburg YMCA daycare and with ARC. I have also been fortunate enough to travel on some awesome service trips! I went to Reynosa, Mexico, in May 2007 with Project Mexico to help build a home for a family there (the picture of me is from that trip). I also traveled to Philadelphia this past Spring Break with the Teach for America Spring Break Service Trip. I'm also a part of the Students for Belize Education Service trip!

Favorite Book: I think my favorite is probably Jane Eyre!

Service: I will try to keep my rambling statement concise! I think that one of my favorite aspects of William and Mary and its students is the strong dedication to service that exists on campus and throughout the student body. I have grown up greatly valuing the importance of service, so I knew that when I came to college I wanted to continue being involved in service projects and endeavors. I think that service should and often does manifest itself in all that one does. It isn't confined to a service trip or an hour long weekly committment. Therefore, the opportunities for service are truly endless!

Sorry this took wayyy long but here it is . . . :)

Name: Michelle Mullins

Major: Government (right now, I might try to double in Latin American studies but I currently don’t speak Spanish so we’ll see how that goes)

Hometown: Hamilton, NJ

Service Involvement(s): Sharpe Scholar, APO, Campus kitchens, CSL, Students Helping Honduras, W&M Habitat 2008 Spring Break Guatemala

Favorite Book: Well, I read a lot so its pretty much impossible to pick an alltime favorite, but the one I’m reading now is Three Cups of Tea and I really like it so I’ll go with that

and the rambling . . .

My concept about service is pretty simple, and probably doesn’t sound all that impressive or intelligent. For me it all about one thing; people. That’s it. Its about recognizing similarities and differences, and embracing both. I think the most valuable aspect of participating in service related activities is the ability to build relationships with other people, despite socioeconomic, cultural, or other differences.

Hi =D

Hey everyone! Hope you're all managing to squeeze the last days of enjoyment out of summer before we go back to school~ can't wait to meet you all!

Name: Jessica Kim
Major: Neuroscience and Music
Hometown: Is hometown where we currently live (Vienna, VA), where we lived most of our lives (Reston ,VA) or where we were born (D.C.)? I'm never really sure.
Service Involvement(s): Campus Kitchen at William & Mary, TFA SBST '08, I tutored at MW freshman year and I would like to start tutoring again either there or with ALL.
Favorite Book: My standard favorite has always been Jane Eyre...but I confess that I haven't been able to read enough lately to have many other options. x_x
Ramble: I think service is realizing that all people are members of the same community, recognizing that it is our duty to make sure everyone in our community has the same chance at happy, fulfilling lives, and acting on that conviction. Service to others helps us broaden our horizons past our own limited points of view and connects us closer to each other. Ways to serve are as diverse as the needs they fulfill, so there's ways for everyone to make service part of their lifestyle. I don't know if my path will lead me to a career involved directly with service, but all of my experiences so far have helped me learn how one can make service part of daily life. I think that's when the world will reach its full service potential, when everyone finds their own way to ingrain service into their lives.

Race and Religion in America

Check out this article posted today and feel free to comment if compelled:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/08/04/segregated.sundays/index.html

Hellooooo :)

Hi guys, I can't wait to meet all of you. Hope you enjoy your last few weeks at home!

Name: Sarah Hwang

Major: Neuroscience and Music

Hometown: Vienna, VA (Seoul, Korea for the first 10 years of my life)

Favorite Book: I enjoy all kids of books, but some of my favorites are Life of Pi, Poisonwood Bible, and I'm really enjoying the book I'm reading right now called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

Service: William and Mary Medical Relief, Matthew Whaley Tutoring (I absolutely love and adore kids), INOVA Fairfax Hospital, mission trips (from my church), and hopefully many/much more to come.

Ramble: I believe that the beauty of service is that there is not a single definition for it or ‘what it should be/look like’; each person has a chance to explore and learn what service means personally to him or her. One of the main purposes for my life is to love and serve others. I am the happiest and the most joyful not when I am doing something that will be beneficial for me, but when I am serving others and working to build a solid community around my home, my country, and the world. Service does not begin at a certain point and end at a certain point. It is an ongoing and continuous part of life. Giving up a few hours to help a neighbor with his yardwork or lending a hand to an elderly at the grocery store is just as much of an act of service as going to Nicaragua to help the poor and the sick. As we put our passion into action, we will slowly discover the true joy in life and thus spread that joy around us by planting a seed of passion for service in others.

Annnd here it is...

Name: Randall Ricardo Taylor Jr.

Major: Film Studies/Psychology double

Hometown: Richmond, VA baby... all my life

Service Involvement(s): Students Helping Honduras, W&M Habitat Guatemala trip spring 2008 (I'd like to get more involved after graduation)

Favorite Book: tough one... There are so many that I like to read. Its hard just to pick one.

A picture (of yourself, you and friends, you and family, etc)
A rambling statement about any or all of the following:

Soooo... the firs thing I would like to do is apologize for the very late post.

Growing up my parents and grandparents always made sure to let me know that the most important things to do in life is to give back and to share with others what has been given to you. When I was younger there wasn't one specific thing that I could say that did. For rhw most part it was the small thingslike cutting the grass for my elderly neightbors or anything to help out someone out of the basic responsibility to aid someone who needs it. In high school I became involved with tutoring and mentoring middle and elementary school kids. My Junior year I started volunteering with the recus squad as an EMT-B. I haven't done that since summer before sophomore year. I say that I'd like to get re-certified one day.

One of the biggest things that I get out of service is what I learn from others. Whether it be the people you are working with or those that you are helping and sharing with, you are going to leave with with more knowledge that you came into it with.
I think that is all for now. There will be more to come though.

Walker Somerville

Name: Walker Somerville

Major: International Relations and Latin American Studies

Hometown: Orange, Virginia

Service:Students Helping Honduras, Rotaract, College Partnership for Advanced Learners, Alpha Phi Omega, Community Service Leaders, Sharpe Scholar.About Me: Service has always been a part of my growth and development. I always feel that I get much more from my projects through what I learn than what I give. I grew up around service projects and have maintained that as a constant in my life. My m0m was one of the founders of the Habitat chapter in my area and she has and will always look out for families for need whenever she has the opportunity. When I was growing up there were always 3 or 4 families that my mom would try and help as much as she could throughout the year and especially Christmas. i learned a lot as a child about sharing ones resources and abilities to help others in need; today my current projects always continue to teach me new things. Man of the greatest changes in my life have occurred through the result of participation in service projects. Currently my future seems to be guided for my love for the city of El Progreso, Honduras. My college education has been attained more from projects than from any class that i have taken at William and Mary. My service adds to my classes and often gives me the ability to better understand the classes in my major. I love working with people and love helping people and if all possible am in search of a way/ the way to make it my profession to be able to continue working on projects similar to those i have participated on in College.

Name: Adam Harris

Major/ minor: Government
/Latin American Studies

Hometown: Bridgewater, VA

Service Involvement: JMU Alternative Spring Break Trips, W&M ISTs, Sharpe, helping little old ladies cross the street

Favorite Books: It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong; The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara; America by Jon Stewart; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

Ramble : A quote from The Killer Angels pretty much sums up my views on service: "Many of us volunteered to fight for the Union. Some came mainly because we were bored at home and this looked like it might be fun. Some came because we were ashamed not to. All came because it was the right thing to do. It's the idea that we all have value, you and me. What we're fighting for, in the end, is each other." - Colonel Lawrence Chamberlain.

Due to my parent's careers, I've been exposed to volunteering / community service for practically my entire life. As I've had the pleasure of meeting many different people involved in various roles dealing with service, I've come to form a conclusion about service that parallels Chamberlain's words. We have all been drawn to service for many different reasons, ranging from passionate ideological views to simple obligation. However, regardless as to where or why we've decided to serve, I believe that we all came because the underlying premise behind our motivations is that serving is the right thing to do.

Personally, I enjoy doing service for a few reasons. Primarily though, I enjoy it because I think it's beneficial to all who are involved. I'm not a huge fan of the "oh let's go help all the poor helpless people who can't survive with us" approach to doing service, as I view it as a fairly elitist mindset and rather insulting to both parties involved. Doing service has given me so many opportunities for friendship and new experiences that I think it's unfair to think that service is a one-way street.

Anyways, I think I've made my thoughts as convoluted and confusing as possible.. so my work here is done :-)