Elisa LeDesky

"Change in Action" (CIA) isn’t just the name of a Cottey College organization that Elisa LeDesky helped found; it’s a pretty good description of LeDesky as well. In her two years at Cottey, LeDesky has made an enormous impact on the lives of girls in Guatemala. Because of her efforts (along with those of her suitemates and friends), three Guatemalan girls have their education paid for all the way through high school. How did it all start?

"Last year I was eating with my suite at the beginning of the year," said LeDesky. "We began to talk about travel and our life goals and I let my suite know that I had spent three months living in Guatemala doing service projects across the country. I told them how much I wanted to do something for girls in Guatemala. My entire suite was gung-ho about being proactive and making this happen, so we got together brainstorming what we could do. From that evening on we met on a weekly basis in the Library conference room to brainstorm and plan our projects."

In her freshman year, LeDesky organized "Color Their World," a project to send crayons and coloring books to an orphanage where LeDesky had done some of her service work. LeDesky and her friends ended up sending over 220 boxes of crayons to the orphanage.

That project only served to inspire LeDesky and CIA to bigger and better things. In her second year, she began a new initiative "Enlighten Their Minds, Empower Their World" to sponsor the education of indigenous Guatemalan girls. In Guatemala, there is no free education as in the United States. Parents must pay tuition for their children to attend school. Many indigenous Mayan families are too poor to send their children to school, or if they can afford some, they will send their sons, but not their daughters.

Through fundraising events, CIA raised over $3,900. "Because of our financial success this year," said LeDesky, "the three students we sponsor (who are in eighth grade at the moment) have just had their entire education through high school paid for. In other words, we sent San Lucas Toliman Scholars a check to pay for the education not only this year -for the three girls-but also paid off the tuition costs for their entire high school education! This is so exciting!"

Now that she has her Cottey diploma, LeDesky is transferring to Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She plans on majoring in peace and conflict resolution and intercultural studies. Afterwards, she plans on attending seminary and becoming a pastor.
 

Elise Omaits

First-year student Elise Omaits has been accepted as one of 50 students nationwide in OXFAM’s CHANGE Initiative. Omaits will participate in a week-long training in Boston in July and is expected to implement an OXFAM Campaign on Cottey’s campus during the 2009-2010 academic year.

“I plan to tie together a lot of the activities that I will do with Amnesty International since I am the president [of the campus chapter],” said Omaits. “I presently hope to do something with Peace Week next year. This will really be a team effort, I just have the opportunity to learn how to lead it.”

OXFAM is an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and social injustice. The CHANGE Initiative is a highly competitive national program that trains college students to become actively engaged in OXFAM America’s social justice mission, and are asked to work on one or more of these issues on their campus during the academic year. OXFAM assumes the cost of training, room and board, and travel.

Amy Sue Guinn

Second-year student Amy Sue Guinn (second from right), created and staged a fund-raising event to aid Linda Platt (center) with her medical expenses. Linda Platt, Cottey’s VISTA volunteer and service learning coordinator, has ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Guinn organized a 1.5-mile walk and 4-mile fun run event on April 11. Hoping to raise $500 at best, Guinn far exceeded her modest goal. With over 120 participants and numerous other donors, Guinn was able to raise $8,060.50 to present to the Platt family at Cottey’s Baccalaureate service on Friday, May 15. Pictured are (left to right): Linda’s daughters, Jae Miller and Abi Platt; Linda Platt; Amy Sue Guinn; and Rev. Bill Platt.

Vesi Hristova

Cottey College is pleased to announce that a member of the Class of 2009 has been recognized for her academic achievements with a prestigious national scholarship. Veselina Hristova received a Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship valued at up to $30,000 annually. Hristova is the fourth consecutive Cottey graduate to have been awarded a Cooke Scholarship.

Hristova, from Krepost, Bulgaria, was one of only 30 students in the nation to be named a Cooke Scholar. Hristova has been accepted for transfer at Smith College in Massachusetts. Her long-term plans include earning a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and returning back to her homeland to work with substance abusers.

Each year the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation works to identify the best community college students in the nation to receive its prestigious Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, which awards up to $30,000 per year for up to three years, making it the country’s largest, most competitive undergraduate transfer scholarship.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation awards Undergraduate Transfer Scholarships to approximately 50 deserving students annually. Each award is intended to cover a significant share of the student’s educational expenses – including tuition, living expenses, books and required fees – for the final two to three years necessary to achieve a bachelor’s degree. Awards vary by individual, based on the cost of tuition as well as other grants or scholarships he or she may receive.

Previous Cottey College Cooke Scholars are Alexandra Swidergal in 2008, Volha Charnysh in 2007, Ivy Fitzgerald in 2006, and Maggie White and Amanda Bryant in 2002.