2008 Sycamore Community Leadership
INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana State University and the Indiana Lieutenant Governor’s Office recognized six high schools around the state today for their community service work.
Crawfordsville High School and students in Helen Hudson’s Honors English class were named inaugural recipients of the Sycamore Community Leadership Award, a new program to recognize high schools that demonstrate a commitment to community engagement.
Indiana State University President Lloyd W. Benjamin III said the award represents the commitment to service found on the university’s campus.
“At Indiana State, we believe that community engagement and service to others is a critical component of our students' education, one that will stay with them throughout their lives,” Benjamin said. “The students we are recognizing with this award are already making a difference in our world."
In 2005, Hudson’s students initiated a project to renovate the Crawfordsville Amtrak Station, a facility dubbed by passengers as Amtrak’s “Worst Stop of 2003.” During its first year, more than 40 students cleaned the station, removed more than 50 bags of trash, and started renovations. But that was only the beginning.
In April 2006, a small group of students spoke at the National Association of Rail Passengers conference, lobbied the Indiana Congressional delegation while in Washington D.C., and spoke to officials from the Department of the Interior, Federal Railroad Administration, and Department of Transportation.
During the 2006-07 school year, with the station refurbished, the students decided to turn their efforts to the state level. The students appeared before the Crawfordsville Board of Public Works to ask for more lighting for the station, attended legislative breakfasts, continued physical improvement of the station, met with Purdue University engineers, train officials and Lafayette city officials and presented their work at the Governor’s Conference on Service Learning and Volunteerism.
Photos by Tony Campbell
Read MoreCrawfordsville High School and students in Helen Hudson’s Honors English class were named inaugural recipients of the Sycamore Community Leadership Award, a new program to recognize high schools that demonstrate a commitment to community engagement.
Indiana State University President Lloyd W. Benjamin III said the award represents the commitment to service found on the university’s campus.
“At Indiana State, we believe that community engagement and service to others is a critical component of our students' education, one that will stay with them throughout their lives,” Benjamin said. “The students we are recognizing with this award are already making a difference in our world."
In 2005, Hudson’s students initiated a project to renovate the Crawfordsville Amtrak Station, a facility dubbed by passengers as Amtrak’s “Worst Stop of 2003.” During its first year, more than 40 students cleaned the station, removed more than 50 bags of trash, and started renovations. But that was only the beginning.
In April 2006, a small group of students spoke at the National Association of Rail Passengers conference, lobbied the Indiana Congressional delegation while in Washington D.C., and spoke to officials from the Department of the Interior, Federal Railroad Administration, and Department of Transportation.
During the 2006-07 school year, with the station refurbished, the students decided to turn their efforts to the state level. The students appeared before the Crawfordsville Board of Public Works to ask for more lighting for the station, attended legislative breakfasts, continued physical improvement of the station, met with Purdue University engineers, train officials and Lafayette city officials and presented their work at the Governor’s Conference on Service Learning and Volunteerism.
Photos by Tony Campbell
