Saving the Planet: One Project at a Time
SFCC student cleans up the neighborhood
by Olga Butkevich

She journeys across the United States, leads team members in various community service projects, tutors disabled adults in math and English, and still has time to cook dinner at home! For 29-year-old Kathryn Yulee Ward, nothing stands in her way.

This Santa Fe Community College sophomore’s passion for making her community a better place has led to her membership in Americorps. Americorps is a national organization that meets critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment. After hearing about Americorps from a friend who'd served a few years on the San Diego campus, Ward jumped at the opportunity and applied. “I was excited about the prospect of serving with Americorps,” Ward said. “I had long entertained thoughts of serving with Peace Corps but lacked the four-year degree necessary for admission.” By the time Ward began her freshman year in fall 2001, she had worked on 11 different community service projects throughout the southeastern United States, with sponsors as diverse as Habitat for Humanity, National Youth Sports Program, The Nature Conservancy, and Easter Seals. “Service to others is an important part of my work,” Ward said.

As a member and team leader of a 10- to 15-member group, Ward had successfully guided a seven-week project in Gainesville, Fla., recovering recyclable building material from dismantled dormitories. “As a team leader, she was charged with responsibility for 10 young persons of varying life experience,” said Brad Guy, associate director of the Powell Center for Construction and the Environment at the University of Florida.

Ward has also worked on two projects with UF’s Center for Construction and the Environment. Her team salvaged products from historic homes throughout Alachua County, which have been used in the construction of a model “green” home—a center for studying various forms of plants. “The opportunity to live, work, and travel with 10 to 12 individuals from all over the U.S., each with a unique background, was a wonderful lesson in cooperation, team dynamics, and diversity,” Ward said.

In addition to her Americorps leadership position, Ward is known for bringing her community service skills into SFCC’s classrooms. As an English major and an active member in the Corps, Ward had worked as a counselor for campers with disabilities. When she was offered a position with the Disabilities Resource Area as a disabilities specialist assistant, Ward “accepted without hesitation.” For more than a year, she has worked directly with students, tutoring them one on one, assisting in daily classroom activities, and creating lesson plans. Ward has worked with a variety of children including a 20-year-old wheelchair-bound man with muscular dystrophy. Ward built a positive relationship with this student that changed his routine of spending hours alone surfing the net in a corner of the lab.  She helped him to successfully complete academic assignments, interact with other students in small group activities, and enroll in a computer literacy class. “The student’s courage and tenacity helps not only me, but everyone on our department,” Ward said.

With a 3.89 GPA, Ward has had the opportunity to serve as an ambassador at SFCC, giving campus tours and speaking at recruitment events. She also assisted her psychology professor as a supplemental instructor by tutoring and leading group discussions. She has gone to great lengths to get where she is today and continues to strive in helping more people. In the future, Ward hopes to become a freelance writer, covering issues in human rights and social justice. “My commitment to serving others began long before I was a college student and will continue long after I have graduated,” Ward said.

Contact Ward at kward6@hotmail.com

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