Hello Pledge Organizers and Friends:

 

·         First, thanks for your donations towards hiring a full time co-coordinator (with me staying part time). We are grateful, but we still have a ways to go to make that important step a reality. So if you haven’t, please help--even a little (and get a free book for your donation! See details below.). And we are happy to report that we just found out that we received a grant for a full-time person to help for two months over the summer!! Now if we can make that happen for the long haul…

 

·         Consider increasing your influence this year by going beyond your campus to raise consciousness. We'll send a generic press release in the next update, but consider now a paragraph or two to add to localize it, and contact your PR office to reach local papers/TV/radio.

 

·         Please start to keep a record of the info listed below, as we'll gather that later via a new and easier to use web-site input system (we hope!). To build a database, please also collect as best you can a list of pledge signers willing to give their most permanent email address. We hope that will help us better serve them in the future. You can help them yourself by providing them with information from the web site (www.graduationpledge.org, section III. Information For Pledge Signers on Carrying Out the Pledge) and by getting your Career Services and Alumni Offices on board (http://www.graduationpledge.org/Basic%20Information/involved.html). Try to get your Alumni Office to cover the Pledge in publications, homecoming events, and alumni events. Such contacts serve as Pledge commitment reminders.

 

            So here is the info we will seek:

 

   1. Your school's pledge contact(s) for next year (even if it's still you, please let us know, as a lack of a response indicates to us that you are gone permanently, making it difficult and time consuming to reach the new contact next year, if one exists). Of course, as we always say, we hope that the contact person is the representative of a committee running the project, within some permanent organization/department/program, so that the effort will continue year to year.

 

    2. A report on what will happen or happened at your school. We realize folks are at different stages regarding the Pledge—from full institutionalization of the project on campus to barely beginning work on it. The more info you provide, the better: what Pledge activities you did this year, how many signed the pledge and what % of students that represents, what materials were given to pledge signer (cards/ribbons/certificates), what will happen on graduation day, what media--on and off campus--covered the pledge or were contacted.

 

·         Here's a little more on planning for next year: I can’t emphasize too much that your year-end activity should include making sure that the Pledge continues (and grows) next year. Better to drop a particular activity this year if doing so provides time/resources for a stronger effort in the future! If you can establish a procedure/committee/mandate so that the Pledge is “built in” at your school, it is much more likely to happen again. Some on-going Pledge programs have ended because they were not institutionalized. Consider joining with other groups/programs/centers/departments to gain stability.

 

·         Finally, check out below the academic program at one school which incorporates the Pledge into a wider overall experience. It could be a model your school might adopt.

 

Enough of planning…now make it happen!

 

Thanks,

 

Neil [If you need any help with your effort, please contact me NJWollman@manchester.edu, 260-982-5346; or Jake Reid (JJReid@Manchester.edu) if you have been in contact with him.]

 

Neil Wollman

National Coordinator

MC Box 135

Manchester College

North Manchester, IN  46962

260-982-5346

njwollman@manchester.edu

 

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The Bentley (College) Civic Leadership Program

The Bentley Civic Leadership Program (BCLP), which serves as Bentley’s chapter of the Graduation Pledge Alliance, is intended to assist students in becoming socially responsible and civically engaged leaders. The program is developed and run by students for students, in close collaboration with Bentley’s Alliance for Ethics and Social Responsibility, the Bentley Service-Learning Center, and the Office of Student Life.

The BCLP builds on and modifies the Graduation Pledge to fit the orientation and ideals of a national leader in business education. The Bentley program is focused on three main areas: (1) Campus Involvement, designed to help students understand the importance of getting involved in their immediate community; (2) Civic Engagement, intended to facilitate student appreciation of the importance of the greater community, which includes aspects of political participation, cultural awareness, and service with an emphasis on experiences that lie outside of Bentley; and (3) Ethical and Socially Responsible Behavior, designed for students to realize the importance of ethics and social responsibility in their lives, striving for exemplary behavior, being a role model, and being active and responsible individuals. Graduating seniors who have taken part in the program take the following pledge: "I _____ pledge to continue my role as a civic leader by carrying on the Bentley tradition of ethics, service and social responsibility as an active member of the organizations in which I work and the communities in which I live." (www.bentley.edu/alliance/bclp)

View the Benttley program’s lapel pin:

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Fundraising for Volunteer Position

 

We have a good shot for the immediate future at securing a full-time person through the Brethren Volunteer Service, a program that puts young folks in one-year placements with peace and justice organizations. For that to happen, we need to raise approximately $9,000 dollars (to cover housing, health insurance, and a small stipend)—a real bargain for what we will be getting. If each participating school donates $100, we can make this happen—but please chip in whatever you can. A contribution of $65 or more gets you a free copy of Melissa Everett's indispensable book, Making a Living While Making a Difference: The Expanded Guide to Creating Careers with a Conscience. Tax deductible checks should be made out to "Manchester College," noting it is for "GPA volunteer"—mail to Neil Wollman, MC Box 135, Manchester College, North Manchester, IN  46962.