Vermont?s Ogletree Honored With CFES Service Award - AmericaEast.com
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - America East Conference Commissioner Amy Huchthausen presented University of Vermont senior Elyse Ogletree with the 2012 America East/CFES Service Award at the conference’s annual meeting in Annapolis, Md. this evening. In the second year of the award, the honor recognizes leadership within the America East/College for Every Student (CFES) mentoring partnership and dedication to service throughout the year.
As Vermont’s only student co-coordinator of the Catamounts’ partnership with the Integrated Arts Academy in Burlington, Ogletree’s passion for the program was outstanding from day one of the mentorship. Without being asked, she took on the role of coordinator and initiated all of the plans, activities and scheduling, and spent countless hours working on the program while juggling the demands of being a track and field athlete, her academics and membership in Vermont’s Honors College.
Ogletree brainstormed the newest addition to the mentorship program, involving the elementary-aged CFES mentees in the Student-Athlete Advisory Council’s (SAAC) talent show to raise money for Special Olympics-Vermont. She coordinated the open to the talent show which featured the mentees and their University of Vermont mentors singing “Wavin’ the Flag” from the Soccer World Cup Games and tied the event into the Academy’s music and art curriculum. To prepare for this event, Ogletree organized a campus visit with the Vermont student music majors as the group’s choir teachers and included programming to help the mentees experience the University’s music programming.
Ogletree also used her leadership role to organize an Earth Day campus visit as part of the America East Student Service Month in April, giving the mentees a tour of a campus green building and concluding the tour with an Earth Day activity and hike. She put together all the programming and planning on her own and did so thoroughly, including scheduling back-up weather plans and gathering the appropriate gear for that possibility.
Despite graduating this spring, the senior has been actively involved in strategizing for next year’s mentorship program and has helped in crafting future CFES events. In her four-year career, Ogletree was a member of SAAC, participating in various fundraising events and giving back to the community through storm-relief efforts, celebrity server events to raise money for flood victims and volunteered her time for Special Olympics-Vermont.
Ogletree was a member of the track and field team competing in the pole vault and the javelin. The native of Wayland, Mass. received her bacherlor’s degree last month in psychology with a minor in business. She was a three-year member of the UVM Honors College which requires a minimum GPA of 3.4.
UMBC junior Shioma Obemeata and Boston University senior Tewado Latty were the other nominees for the America East/CFES Award.
The America East Conference/CFES partnership was launched in the fall of 2010. Collegiate student-athletes serve as mentors for CFES scholars at partnership school. The college-student activities include tutoring sessions, joint community service projects and campus tours that often involve watching a collegiate athletic event. The America East/CFES partnership is the first ever between an NCAA conference and the organization.
About CFES
College For Every Student (www.collegefes.org) is a non-profit organization that has created college-access partnerships with more than 500 schools across the country serving more than 100,000 students. CFES partners K-12 schools with colleges to implement three primary core practices: Pathways to College-- college visits, and partnerships with colleges and college students; Peer Mentoring-mentee/mentor relationships; and Leadership Through Service-leadership development workshops and community service. For more information, please visit www.collegefes.org, or call 518-963-4500.
About America East Conference
Into its third decade of operation, America East (www.AmericaEast.com) has evolved into one of the most comprehensive NCAA Division I conferences with a commitment to broad-based, competitive athletics programs, complementing the academic integrity and missions of the member institutions. Progressive in its approach to its more than 3,400 student-athletes, America East recognizes champions in each of its 20 sports and also conducts the nation’s most comprehensive academic recognition program for student-athletes. With a geographic footprint covering the Mid-Atlantic to Northeast regions of the United States, America East strives to develop champions in academics, athletics and leadership at its nine member institutions: University at Albany, Binghamton University, Boston University, University of Hartford, University of Maine, UMBC, University of New Hampshire, Stony Brook University and University of Vermont.