Ward Family Learning in Action Award 2010 The Ward Family Learning in Action Award was established in 2007 through a gift from the Ward family-Dorothy Mears Ward GP’05 and ‘08, Tom and Beth Ward P’05 and ‘08, A.T. Ward ’05, Christopher Ward ’08 and Chase Ward.
This award annually recognizes one rising sophomore, junior or senior and their experiential learning project. The projects may include, but are not limited to, international study, undergraduate research, internships, service and leadership experiences. Eleven applications were submitted for the Ward Family Learning in Action Award this year.
All the applications were outstanding and the projects were truly amazing. It was obvious that there was a great amount of time, effort and energy put forth from each applicant and the committee and the Ward Family had a difficult time determining a recipient.
Below is a brief synopsis of the winning project plus the top three additional projects.
The Ward Family Learning in Action Award for 2010 was given to Jesse Lee.
Jesse Lee
Project: The Trivelo Project-a collaborative effort from undergraduate students as Elon University and Appalachian State University.
The Trivelo Project has three specific goals. The first goal is to design and build a two person recumbent tricycle capable of traveling long distances on human and renewable energy, namely solar and wind. The second goal is to ride this vehicle across the United States; from North Carolina to California while raising money for the third goal. The third goal is to purchase and install 230 watts of solar panels and batteries for three schools in Sri Lanka to support their energy needs.
Rebecca Berube
Project: Foundation for Sustainable Development Internship (FSD)
The FSD is an organization which partners with over 300 local organizations throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America to support sustainable development and change. They place a heavy emphasis on understanding local cultural values, as well as empowering local leaders. The internship would be a seven week program in Argentina where Rebecca would successfully complete a project such as community mapping and grant writing, as well as cultural training and general country information briefings.
Anthony Rizzuto
Project: Conducting research on reducing Carbon Dioxide
Anthony wrote, “I will initially work to complete my current studies on homogeneous catalysts in the binary mixtures. From there I will move on to studying heterogeneous catalysts in the pure melt because one main goal of this project is to promote catalysis of CO2 in the absence of anything that could be harmful to one’s health. I will then study the effects of using heterogeneous catalysts in the binary mixtures in order to determine if there is a significant increase in CO2 catalysis. I will write an extensive research paper expressing my findings and submit my work for publication”
Jana Murdock
Project: Ancient Treatment of the Environment and How it applies to us: Using the Ancient Maya Collapse to produce an argument for timely action in today’s environmental crisis
Jana’s project involves background research, both about the Mayan culture and about the work already completed at the site of Dos Hombres. It will also involve field research through the excavating of a drainage ditch near the main site and scholarly research to draw parallels between her field research and current culture. “The main purpose of my research is to determine how the relationship the ancient Maya had with the environment led to its degradation and how significant that degradation was in the Maya collapse.”
