For the third year, Bates College students are leading a program to match fellow students with volunteer opportunities in Lewiston, Auburn and nearby communities.

The four Student Volunteer Fellows at Bates during the 2004-05 academic year are Ryan Conrad, a senior from Middletown, R.I.; Sara Gips, a sophomore from Cape Elizabeth; Brooke Miller, a sophomore from Anacortes, Wash.; and Meghan Thornton, a senior from Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Administered by the Center for Service-Learning, the volunteer program has involved hundreds of Bates students in dozens of projects — projects as diverse as reading with elementary-school students, tutoring seniors in computer use at Blake Street Towers and helping rehabilitate seven local residences with the Rebuilding Together program, whose local chapter was established by a recent Bates graduate, John Scott Johnson.

“It means more to the community that Bates students, rather than professors or administrators, are creating opportunities to volunteer,” says Gips, whose role on the team is to promote volunteerism among student organizations and sports teams. “I’m really proud of that.”

Bates students will have a chance to learn more about community volunteer opportunities on Sept. 20, when the volunteer fellows bring community organizations to campus for the annual Volunteer Fair. Organizations represented this year will include the Abused Women’s Advocacy Project, Auburn Land Lab, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Good Shepherd Food Bank, Maine Public Broadcasting, New Beginnings, the Rural Community Action Ministry and Lots to Gardens.

Conrad focuses on volunteer orientation and developing volunteer opportunities for students. Thornton administers children’s programming, such as the Longley Elementary School Mentoring Program. Miller concentrates on producing monthly events for all-campus participation, such as the annual Make-a-Difference Day and the Martin Luther King Day Read-in at Martel School, Lewiston.

“If you get people interested in helping even just once,” says Miller, “that makes a huge difference.”

Medals, plaques and cash awards were given to creators of outstanding science projects at the high school’s “Night of Excellence” last Tuesday, June 1.

The high school presents the annual fair with assistance from Bates College in the forms of student coordinators engaged by the college’s Center for Service-Learning, support from a science education grant funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the participation of Bates students, staff and faculty among the judges.

“Without Bates, the fair would not be nearly as successful,” said Donald King, head of the high school’s science team. Typically, more than 450 students take part in the fair.

For their study of the capillary effect in carnations, ninth-graders Maria Delcourt and Ashley Stuart earned “Best of Fair” honors. “It was interesting to learn about the science in simple things, like flowers,” Stuart said.

First prize for the ninth-grade category went to Matt Gutshell, who explored the properties of sound passing through chambers of varied size. Second place in the ninth grade went to Tim Gilbert, third to Rachel Spilecki, and honorable mention to Ken Roy.

In the 10th grade, Andrea Lama won first place for her investigation of chlorine’s effects on plant life. Matt Bouchard and Jacob Chaloux shared second place, Mina Moore and Sarah Peters third, and honorable mention went to Thomas Robataille.

In the combined category for 11th and 12th grades, Nathaniel Jillette earned the top honor for his examination of animal requirements for light. Kelsey Varney and Sam Leeman earned second place, Ally St. Pierre and Becky Boyle took third, and Tracy Bradley was the honorable-mention recipient. All ninth- and 10th-graders at the high school are required to do a science project, and upper-class students take part as required in specific courses.

The fair is designed in part to introduce students not only to the information and skills specific to the problems their projects address but, more importantly, to the rigors of the scientific method.

The yearlong science fair project “really gives the students a chance to understand the experimental method at a deeper level, to be creative and to pick up a sense of what it takes to complete a long-term project,” said Gabrielle Voeller, of Denver, a Bates sophomore who served as this year’s science fair coordinator.

“It brings out a new kind of thinking, where one concept is worked on the entire year and the student has a chance to really develop ideas.”

The Bates students who help judge the fair also get an educational benefit, especially those studying science and education. “Their experiences at the fair support and challenge what they think they know and understand,” said Sue Martin, of the Center for Service-Learning.

Internationally recognized for her pioneering work on how advertising represents alcohol, tobacco and the image of women, author Jean Kilbourne offers a slide presentation titled The Naked Truth: Advertising’s Image of Women at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The presentation by Kilbourne, twice named “Lecturer of the Year” by the National Association of Campus Activities, explores the relationship of media images to actual problems in society — violence, sexual abuse of children, rape and sexual harassment, pornography and censorship, teenage pregnancy, addiction and eating disorders.

The event is open to the public at no cost. It’s sponsored by the Bates Eating Awareness Association, the offices of the dean of faculty and the president, the departments of psychology and sociology, the Center for Service-Learning, the college Health Center and the Psychology Club.

A widely published writer and speaker, Kilbourne is the author of Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel(Simon & Schuster, 2000), called by Publishers Weekly “a profound work that is required reading for informed consumers.” It won the Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in Psychology.

Kilbourne is also known for her award-winning film and video documentaries Killing Us Softly, Slim Hopes and Calling the Shots. A visiting research scholar at the Wellesley Centers for Women, she lives in Boston, Mass.

Kilbourne has lectured at more than one-third of all the colleges and universities in the United States and all of the major universities in Canada, as well as scores of private and public schools. She’s known for her wit and warmth and her ability to present provocative topics in a way that unites rather than divides, encourages dialogue, and moves and empowers people to take action in their own and in society’s interest.

An editorial writer in AdWeek magazine wrote of Kilbourne, “After listening to [her], I would never doubt her intellectual honesty. While she bills herself as a critic of advertising, she is more akin to a prophet calling out in the wilderness for fundamental change in the way we communicate publicly with one another.”

Kilbourne is nationally recognized as an expert on addictions, gender issues and the media. She served as an advisor to former Surgeons General C. Everett Koop and Antonia Novello and has testified before Congress. In 1993 she was appointed by the U.S. secretary of health and human services to the prestigious National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

She has been deeply involved in the national campaign to stop the marketing of tobacco products to young people, and was the sole expert featured in a 1996 television special on this issue hosted by President Clinton and Linda Ellerbee.

Junior Lori E. Jessup of Hatboro, Pa., has received a national award for working with disabled Maine skiers as part of the third annual Glamour magazine-sponsored “Best of You” contest, honoring women for “their personal best quality to make a difference in the world.”

Jessup’s third-place prize includes a $2,500 award, along with a Feb. 2-4 all-expenses-paid trip to New York City, where she and three other winners will be honored at a luncheon.

One of four Center for Service-Learning volunteer fellows who support and encourage community service at Bates, Jessup serves as a board member for the Central Maine Adaptive Sports (CMAS), a non-profit, community-based recreation and sports program for children and adults with disabilities. Jessup also participates in the program as an instructor for disabled skiers at Lost Valley in Auburn and serves as a liaison between CMAS/Lost Valley and Bates by informing students of volunteer opportunities. Her efforts yielded 10 Bates coaches.

“Despite her busy academic schedule, Lori has not been afraid to make the commitment to serve physically and mentally challenged individuals in the community in which she temporarily resides,” said Mary McNulty, CMAS president. Calling her energetic, cheerful and resourceful, McNulty cited Jessup’s problem-solving talents and creativity.

McNulty described one of Jessup’s students, a young man with deafness and developmental delay. “He always arrives at Lost Valley in a state of extreme agitation and refuses to relax until a volunteer has plunged his boots into his ski bindings,” McNulty says. “Then, seated in the chair lift 40 feet above the groomed slopes, he squints at the pine trees and distant snow-covered hills, gives a huge sigh of satisfaction and links arms with his coach ”

A political science major with a concentration in economics, Jessup is a standout varsity athlete at Bates, where she plays lacrosse and field hockey. During her sophomore year, she led the women’s lacrosse team with 31 goals and earned Inside Lacrosse magazine’s National Division III Player of the Week honors for a 6-point performance against Williams. As a first-year field hockey starter, she led the Bates team in goals and points. She is a sports columnist for the campus newspaper, The Bates Student.

In addition to her CMAS commitments, Jessup works as a service-learning student with the Maine People’s Alliance, focusing on health care and environmental issues.

The three other top 2002 “Best of You” contest winners are a doctor who provides free dental care for foster children, the director of a baseball league with specially equipped fields for physically challenged youngsters, and the founder of a non-profit legal service to end domestic violence. In partnership with the cosmetics firm Sally Hansen, Glamour invited readers of their June 2002 issue to submit 100-words descriptions of “how they use the best in themselves to bring out the best in others.” Contest judges considered an entrant’s inspirational qualities and scope of accomplishments.

The presentation by Kilbourne, twice named “Lecturer of the Year” by the National Association of Campus Activities, explores the relationship of media images to actual problems in society — violence, sexual abuse of children, rape and sexual harassment, pornography and censorship, teenage pregnancy, addiction and eating disorders.

The event is open to the public at no cost. It is sponsored by the Bates Eating Awareness Association, the offices of the dean of faculty and the president, the departments of psychology and sociology, the Center for Service-Learning, the Health Center and the Psychology Club.

A widely published writer and speaker, Kilbourne is the author of Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel (Simon & Schuster, 2000), called by Publishers Weekly “a profound work that is required reading for informed consumers.” It won the Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in Psychology.

Kilbourne is also known for her award-winning film and video documentaries Killing Us Softly, Slim Hopes and Calling the Shots. A visiting research scholar at the Wellesley Centers for Women, she lives in Boston, Mass.

Kilbourne has lectured at more than one-third of all the colleges and universities in the United States and all of the major universities in Canada, as well as scores of private and public schools. She is known for her wit and warmth and her ability to present provocative topics in a way that unites rather than divides, encourages dialogue, and moves and empowers people to take action in their own and in society’s interest.

An editorial writer in AdWeek magazine wrote of Kilbourne, “After listening to [her], I would never doubt her intellectual honesty. While she bills herself as a critic of advertising, she is more akin to a prophet calling out in the wilderness for fundamental change in the way we communicate publicly with one another.”

Kilbourne is nationally recognized as an expert on addictions, gender issues and the media. She served as an adviser to former Surgeons General C. Everett Koop and Antonia Novello and has testified before Congress. In 1993 she was appointed by the U.S. secretary of health and human services to the prestigious National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

She has been deeply involved in the national campaign to stop the marketing of tobacco products to young people, and was the sole expert featured in a 1996 television special on this issue hosted by President Clinton and Linda Ellerbee.

Senior Trung Trong Huynh of Portland is one of three students named to receive the Maine Campus Compact’s 2002 Student Heart and Soul Award for outstanding contributions in community service and service-learning.

Maine Campus Compact is a statewide coalition of college and university presidents established to encourage and enhance campus involvement in the community. The Student Heart and Soul Award is presented annually to three undergraduates in Maine who have exhibited a depth and breadth of service experience, achieved significant results and been willing to lead and innovate in such work.

This year’s other recipients are Jann Jackson, a New Sweden resident and a senior at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, and Eric Staples, a South Portland resident attending Southern Maine Technical College. This year’s awards will be presented during a daylong celebration of service-learning at the Maine State House Hall of Flags on Feb. 28.

Huynh’s family came to Portland from Vietnam in 1989, moving into Riverton Park, a city-run housing project. For him, the academic and language support provided by the Portland Education Center at Riverton served as a bridge to the city school system.

“I know how important volunteers are,” Huynh told an interviewer in 2001. “My tutors answered all my homework questions, but they also shed light on college and introduced me to thinking about my future.”

When Huynh came to Bates, he organized a tutoring program at the Center, recruiting 19 Bates students to make the 70-mile round trip to teach immigrants from such countries as Sudan, Somalia, Cambodia, China and Ethiopia. Under the auspices of the Portland Housing Authority, but with Huynh managing all aspects of the program, the Portland-Lewiston Tutoring Program is now in its fourth year and involves 45 volunteers.

In 1999 and 2001, Huynh won Arthur Crafts Service Awards from the Bates Center for Service-Learning to sustain the program. Huynh’s efforts also led to his nomination for the national Campus Compact Howard R. Swearer Student Humanitarian Award.

Volunteers will spend approximately one hour in each classroom, reading from age-appropriate books about Dr. King and African-American history and literature. One book will be contributed to each classroom visited. Titles include Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky, by Faith Ringgold, A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman, by David Adler and When I Am Old With You by Angela Johnson.

Funded by the Office of the Chaplain and the Center for Service- Learning at Bates, and sponsored by the College Store and Amandala!, an African-American association at Bates, the effort will involve both public schools as well as St. Joseph’s, St. Peter’s and Holy Cross students.

“The Center for Service-Learning wishes to mark the King holiday this year by rekindling the call to service that was central to the mission of Dr. King,” said James Carignan, dean of the college and director of the Center for Service-Learning.

“This activity will be an opportunity to talk in an interactive way with children about these books, the importance of reading, and the King legacy,” Carignan said.