July 30,
2007
City becomes a classroom for area Urban
Fellows
Pictured from left: Nicole Foster, CCM youth director; President Seligman; Matt Burns, associate dean of students in the College; Hetchkop; Leah Kraus ’09; Danchi Nguyen ’08; DeAndra Dunn, an Urban Fellow from Bennett College; Steven Schwab, deputy chief of staff for the City of Rochester; and Kathy Pearce, CCM executive director.
On the second day of summer camp, Samantha
Hetchkop ’08 is convinced she has the best assignment of all
the 15 Rochester Urban Fellows. There are lunches to serve, games
to organize, and dozens of free tickets to use for trips that her
campers can’t usually afford.
“I feel lucky that I was placed
here,” says Hetchkop about her work at Cameron Community
Ministries (CCM) on the city’s west side. “I knew
Rochester had its problems, but I didn’t know what went on. I
really want to help and bring about change.”
Four days a week, she and the other Urban
Fellows are given projects among local nonprofit agencies, arts and
education organizations, or government offices where they learn
firsthand about urban issues and how to be engaged in a community.
The participants are all college students who either attend school
in the area or who grew up in Rochester.
For the sixth year, those chosen as fellows
receive a stipend and get housing at the University for 10 weeks. They
share experiences and take a day each week to attend seminars with
University faculty and to meet civic leaders. The program is run by
Leadership Rochester, a leadership development program administered
through the College and funded by the Rochester Area Community
Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundation, and City Hall.
While the daily agenda at Hetchkop’s
host agency is fairly straightforward, the program’s mission
is bold: “Every neighbor and child fed, every child nurtured
after school, every family clothed in dignity.” With 29,000
free lunches served each year, the kitchen operation chugs
earnestly each morning with the aim to prepare high-quality
meals.
On a July 6 visit by President Seligman, Dean
of the College Richard Feldman, Associate College Dean of Students
Matthew Burns, and others, Hetchkop and her supervisors showed off
the basement storeroom of food staples, the shop the offers
gently-used clothing, and the large space where 40 elementary-aged
children can learn, get creative, and have fun at the weekday camp.
Hetchkop said she noticed the challenges
after her first days at CCM. “One on one, the children are
really great, but in a group atmosphere they get a little
rambunctious,” she says. She wonders if they don’t
listen close enough or if they simply forget to follow directions
because they’re not expected to do that at home. She’s
ready to learn more.
When Seligman asks Hetchkop, a psychology and
religion major from Rockville, Md., about her future plans, she
hedges a bit. “I want to work with kids somewhere and this
experience will definitely influence what I do.”
Sharon Dickman is the University
spokeswoman.
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