Special Interest Articles:

• Letter from Campus Director

• “A Non-boring Gig”

• Community Service & Internships

•  AH Board Member profile

•  “Science IS for Girls!”

Individual Highlights:

•  AH students receive special recognition for their academic and service efforts.

Contact us at:
221 Rackham
Ypsilanti , MI 48197.
Phone:
734-487-1612
Email: humanics@emich.edu

Greetings from the Executive Director

Dear American Humanics Friends and Partners,

Welcome to the second addition of our new newsletter! American Humanics students have been extremely busy this semester. We have had a lot of AH activities going on the past few months with service projects and other events. They are currently doing their best to wrap up the semester with final exams and papers.

Three AH students participated in was the Undergraduate Symposium in March. April Aretz, Noelle Ingabire and Hodan Said made presentations about the changes the student association has undergone and how the nonprofit sector makes an impact on society.

Students also participated in Day at the State Capitol organized by MCC. This event focused on how to tie together civic and philanthropic engagement with college campuses. Students met with State Senators and Representatives, discussing the importance of students being involved in campus issues and making an impact on their campuses through student organizations. This all-day event was a wonderful opportunity for the AH students who attended because they had the chance to talk about issues important to Michigan, like job searching and lack of funding to public colleges and universities.

In April, the American Humanics Program was invited to participate in the Political Science Department's awards ceremony where students were recognized for their academic achievements. The following students received special recognition for their commitment to the AH program:

Sarah Smarch- Certificate of Appreciation for Fundraising Hodan Said- Certificate of Appreciation for Membership
April Aretz- Nonprofit Student of the Years Award
Kelly Cole- Volunteer of the Year Award
Erin Sarbinoff- Leadership Award

In addition to these, several AH students were honored with other awards and nominations. April Aretz was recognized by Pi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honors Fraternity. Eastern Michigan University 's Gold Medallion student nominations went to AH students Steven Tasky, Kelli Dowd and Jenni Onslow. Jenni Onslow was also given the Michigan Campus Compact award for Outstanding Service. At the Lavender Graduation and Role Models & Mentors Celebration, Erin Sarbinoff was recognized by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Resource Center for her volunteer efforts.

We are very proud of the achievements students have accomplished this semester and pleased to say the American Humanics Program has been nominated for EMU's Institutional Values Award by Dr. Kathy Stacey! We look forward to a safe and relaxing spring and summer and wish you the same as well!

Claudia Petrescu

AH Advisory Board:
Melinda Bostwick
Visteon

Caryn Charter
EMU

Char Luttrell
United Way

Cathi Duchon
YMCA

Diane Hockett
Girls Scouts

Dallas Moore
NEW Center

Dr. Chris Wood Foreman
EMU

Susan Rink
EMU Foundation

Amy Smitter
MichiganCC

Laura Schultz
American Red Cross

Peggy Harless
VISION

Robin Lynn Grinnell
MNA

AHSA Officers:
President
April Aretz

Vice President
Nicolet Horrington

Fundraising Chair
Sarah Smarch

Volunteer Chair
Kelly Cole

Treasurer/Membership Chair
Hodan Said

Look forward to an exciting career in Nonprofits!

Washtenaw United Way 's Char Luttrell has this to say:

The World of Nonprofits: “A Non-boring Gig”
WANTED: Dedicated Professionals to work in the Nonprofit World

Salary = Adequate

Benefits = Priceless

College-educated professionals do make a living wage working for nonprofits. Many large, prosperous organizations are nonprofits. Public television and radio stations, sy mp hony orchestras, community theaters, educational foundations, environmental advocacy agencies – all of these are nonprofits and many are quite substantial. National nonprofit organizations often have budgets rivaling similar operations in the for-profit world. (A nonprofit organization can make money, but the money that comes in must be invested in the organization, not given to stockholders as dividends.) Hard-working, highly motivated individuals who commit to professionalism in their field can earn a living that will support them by working for a nonprofit organization.

Having spent most of my working life in the world of human service nonprofit public relations and marketing, I can affirm that the intangible benefits of working to make the world better place, instead of making and selling widgets or whatever, are immeasurably high. Here are a few of them:

Variety – It's not the same old boring job day after day, week after week. Because nonprofits are often financially challenged, nonprofit managers and administrators must use their people creatively. Working for a small nonprofit, you gain experience in fund-raising, grant-writing, marketing, finance, direct service and special events.

Clout – You are working with highly motivated volunteers who care deeply about your cause and about many other good causes. You know the people who make things happen in your town. It is exciting to be in on the “ground floor” of starting a new agency, building a new hospital, or bringing a coalition together to change the way people think about issues such as smoking, drunk driving or land use and urban sprawl.

Travel and Education – Chances are, if you are interested in learning and growing in your specialty, you will have opportunities to attend regional and national conferences in vacation destinations and will: learn from the leaders in your field, hear great speakers, and perhaps even meet celebrities -- with all of the costs paid by your organization.

Purpose-filled Work -- This is the biggie. When a family is saved, a playground is built, a child learns how to read, and you know that your work has made a positive difference in people's lives. You can't put that satisfaction in the paycheck, but it can't be taxed either, inflation can't touch it and -- it's yours to keep forever.

Char Luttrell

Community Service Projects

Community service is a huge focus of the American Humanics Program. This past semester, students participated in different service events planned by our Service Chair Kelly Cole. We had students attend Relay-for-Life and help out with the Locks-of-Love project. Over Spring Break, Kelly had an interesting service experience when she went down to Louisiana to help with the relief effort going on in the areas hit by Hurricane Katrina. Kelly has this to share about her time spent in Louisiana :

“For Alternative Spring Break: Hurricane Relief we experienced 
devastation that is still very real nearly 7 months after the storm. 
The residents/survivors are amazing.  They show the true resiliency of 
the human spirit. The city that we stayed in is located about 6 miles 
from  New Orleans . Chalmette  remains a ghost town; only small percent of 
the 70,000 residents have returned to live in trailers and shacks. 
Volunteers are also living in tents and still working very hard to 
aide in rebuilding the buildings and lives of  Louisiana  residents. 
There is tons of work to be done and I tried my best to help with 
anything from preparing food to unloading trucks of supplies. I feel 
lucky that I was able to experience life after such loss. Alternative 
Spring Break 2006 changed my perspective on life and who I want to be.”

-Kelly Cole, Service Chair

Other activities AH students have worked on are with organizations like The Washtenaw Area Council for Children (WACC) and, once again, AHSA teamed up with VISION at EMU to work on the S.A.H.A.H project.

WACC is an organization that provides information and resources to new families in the county. AH students helped out the WACC by stuffing over 200 folders full of information about safety and concerns of parents . The folders will be given to new parents at area hospitals.

SAHAH and VISION Hunger Banquet located at Holy
Trinity Church . AH helped facilitate activities and serve food.

Iternships:

AH students Steven Tasky, Rukiya Hassan, Noelle Ingabire, Crystallee Crain and Arteria Young will be completing their internship requirement this Spring/Summer at organizations like Make-A-Wish, United Way and St. Joseph's hospital.

Check our website for more information about upcoming internships:

www.americanhumanics.emich.edu.

Kelly in Louisiana

Science IS for Girls! Chemistry Workshop

American Humanics Board Member Profile: Dallas Moore

What sets our American Humanics program apart from other academic programs is our Advisory Board. This group is made up of Michigan nonprofit professionals that connect our students to the nonprofit world. Their purpose is to support the American Humanics Program at Eastern Michigan University in preparing and certifying undergraduate students for careers in the nonprofit sector. They support AH by assisting students to become well-prepared nonprofit professionals, fundraising for the program, promoting the program and participating in the development and maintenance of the AH program. In this newsletter we would like to introduce Dallas Moore, Director of Education at NEW (Nonprofit Enterprise at Work) in Ann Arbor on our team.

NEW is a management support organization for nonprofits. As Director of Education, Dallas is responsible for planning and managing the Managing for Nonprofit Excellence workshop series. She also coordinates the NEW scholarship program, works with training partners, and oversees workshop catalog design, production and distribution.

Prior to joining the NEW Center, Dallas worked in the for-profit sector as, among other things, a law librarian, a corporate librarian, an event coordinator, and a project manager. She has volunteered for the Huron River Watershed Council and Washtenaw Literacy.

Dallas earned a BA in Linguistics from San Diego State University and an MLS from the University of Michigan . She can facilitate access to NEW's resources for AH students. Dallas Moore is willing to work one-on-one with students on communication skills, employability skills and personal attributes.

For more information about the AH Board members check out website:

www.americanhumanics.emich.edu.

Science IS for Girls! April 2006

“Science IS for Girls!” was held on EMU's campus April8, 2006 and it was an exciting day for the 39 girls From Upward Bound and Girl Scouts of the Huron Valley that attended. EMU faculty and friends facilitated 4 workshops that focused on Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry and Computer Technology.

Dr. Debra Hanna from Pfizer. Dr. Hanna spoke about how working in science can be a better payoff than what most people imagine. Studying science in school is hard work, but incredibly satisfying because scientists are doing things that really shape the world. That is why it's so important to have different people from different places and backgrounds involved especially women.

In the Astronomy workshop facilitated by Professor Norbert Vance and Sharon MacKellar of Jackson Community College , girls made spectroscopes and looked through a special telescope to see what the sun looks like during the day. They used computer programs in the Computer Technology workshop conducted by Andrea Sellers to edit their own newsletters and took apart the inside of a computer to see how the different parts worked. In the Chemistry workshop given by Dr. Elizabeth Butch, the girls burned different types of elements used for things like fireworks to see what kinds of colors they gave off and saw the frozen effects of liquid nitrogen on things like flowers, hot dogs and balloons. The girls enjoyed throwing these items again the wall and floor to see how the shattered into millions of pieces! In the Physics workshop facilitated by Brain Kitchen, the girls focused on the subject of Projectile Physics and used a math equation to figure out how far a golf ball would go when it's launched by a catapult.

All of the workshops were important for the girls to attend, especially the Physics workshop because that scientific field has the lowest enrollment of females at the university level. It is the hope of the American Humanics Program, Upward Bound, the Girl Scouts of the Huron Valley and EMU faculty that the girls were inspired and excited about science and what to participate in science classes at school.

American Humanics students helped the day go very smoothly acting as campus guides and playing games with the girls in between workshops. They also helped in the “behind the scenes” activity making name tags and assembling info packets.

Computer Technology Workshop

Workshop facilitators:

Dr. Elizabeth Butch, Professor Norbert Vance, Andrea Sellers and Brain Kitchen

Special thanks to Ms. Sharon MacKellar from Jackson Community College , AH students April Aretz and Heather Nowland.

Physics Workshop

Astronomy Workshop

Upcoming Events:

Upcoming Events:

MNA SuperConference May 2-3

AH students April Aretz, Lindsay Buhagiar, Laura Thomas and Erin Sarbinoff received scholarships from MNA to attend the 2-day conference.