Posted Monday, April 3, 2006, The OG, news

Interested in volunteering in the community but not sure what to expect? Learn the facts from current and recent Uni students Wednesday night when the school presents a forum titled “Learning on the Job: Uni Students Volunteer!”

Organized by the Parent-Teacher Faculty Organization, the program will begin at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Room 1320 of the Digital Computing Lab, 1304 W. Springfield Ave., Urbana. Everyone is welcome to attend. Admission is free.

Both students and parents will learn about the value and growing importance of volunteering for today's young people. How did community involvement help recent Uni alums as they made the transition to college? What do current Uni students get out of their volunteering efforts? What should students look for in a volunteer opportunity?

Stanley R. Levy, retired vice chancellor for student affairs and a former Uni parent, will moderate a panel discussion that will consider these and other questions.

The panel will consist of:

• Helen Miller, Class of 2002, now a senior at the University of Illinois. Miller began volunteering with Habitat for Humanity as a Uni student and continued after she enrolled at the U of I. She has been on the U of I Habitat's board of directors for three years. She is interning with the Habitat County Chapter, where she works with the construction manager.

• Max Beshers, Class of 2005, now in a “gap year” before enrolling at Oberlin College in the fall of 2006. Beshers volunteered with several community organizations while at Uni. This year he has become a regular volunteer at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center's Books-to-Prisoners Project.

• Annie Fehrenbacher, Class of 2006. Despite her busy schedule as a Uni student, Fehrenbacher is a member of the Teen Awareness Group at Planned Parenthood of East Central Illinois. She has also been involved in volunteer activities with the Champaign County Health Care Consumers. For the past two years, she has traveled to Honduras on medical missions with volunteer health care providers from throughout the country.

• Suzanne Linder, English and social advocacy teacher. Linder will discuss Uni's innovative social advocacy program, which serves as a springboard for students interested in community volunteering while providing them with an introduction to contemporary social problems. The program was originated by former social studies executive teacher Barbara Wysocki, now a member of the Champaign County Board, and former English executive teacher Audrey Wells, now a faculty member at the Illinois Math and Science Academy.

— Gargoyle staff