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2008 Carter Academic-Service
Entrepreneur Grants
The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation has selected two
Macalester students as recipients of 2008 Carter Academic-Service
Entrepreneur (CASE) grants.
Congratulations to Kristina Doan and Elizabeth McCreary who will
receive funding to recognize and support their academic civic
engagement work. They are the first Macalester students to receive
this honor from the Carter Partnership Foundation. They are being
supported by their academic project advisors, Patrick Schmidt
(Political Science) and Daniel Trudeau (Geography), as well by the
staff of the Civic Engagement Center.
 Kristina Doan
Catalyst Foundation Mentorship Program
Faculty Advisor: Patrick Schmidt
Thousands of Vietnamese orphans struggle to survive without the love, care, and attention afforded by a stable family. Catalyst Foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit located in Northfield, MN works to improve the lives of these Vietnamese children by providing them with educational scholarships, direct relief efforts, and personal enrichment through appreciation and awareness of the Vietnamese culture.
Kristina Doan, a junior Political Science major and Chuck Green Civic Engagement Fellow, is partnering with the Catalyst Foundation to develop a Mentorship Program. With support from the Carter CASE grant, Kristina's efforts will enhance Catalyst's Vietnam Culture Camp by creating ongoing, healthy relationships between adopted Vietnamese youth and local Vietnamese-American professionals and college/graduate students. These relationships will expand local Vietnamese social networks and develop youth identity through the exploration of heritage, independence, and personal ambitions.
Kristina also hopes to embed a civic engagement component into the program. During the school year, each mentor-mentee pair will participate in a service project through which mentees will develop an understanding and knowledge of public leadership. Imbued with the capacity for creating change, the Vietnamese mentees can continue contributing to a brighter and better future for all Vietnamese children.
 Liz McCreary
Art for Artists
Faculty Advisor: Daniel Trudeau
The system to address the needs of homeless children in Minnesota is not a comprehensive one; currently, there is a dearth of programs attending to their mental health and holistic education.
Liz McCreary, a senior Geography major and Phillips Scholar, is seeking to change this through the medium of art. She believes art education and art therapy offers these children, who are sometimes overwhelmed by the intensity of their emotions, a chance to express and face their
feelings in a supportive and creative manner. With funding from the CASE grant, Liz will be working with the Family Place, the only day shelter for homeless children in St. Paul, to provide a cycle of weekly art activities, guest speakers, and field trips. Children will create several projects using such techniques as photography, sculpture, and puppetry. Each week, one exhibit will be publicly displayed as an example of the children's accomplishments.
Ultimately, Liz believes this project will help bring the community together to share talents, skills, and interests with children attempting to identify their own skills and interests. She sees this as an excellent opportunity to generate community dialogue about homelessness while also inspiring and promoting children's growth through alternative means of expression.
The Carter Foundation has selected Liz McCreary's project for the additional honor of being featured on the Carter Foundation's website: http://www.servicebook.org/content/view/426/1/ |
