Service Week '09: First SALT Scholar honored for going above and beyond

Janel Shoun | 

 

Jessica Ohgren with SALT Director Christin Shatzer
Take a look at Jessica Ohgren’s resume and you may think she majored in volunteerism, rather than business management.
 
The Nashville Rescue Mission, Habitat for Humanity, Youth Life Learning Centers, Project Sunshine and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation all make appearances in her official record.
 
But apparently she does find time to study occasionally, because this May the honor student expects to graduate with her business degree and with the honor of becoming Lipscomb’s first SALT Scholar. She’ll walk the stage with a special tassel and a note on her transcript that she completed all four tiers of the SALT program.
 
“I’ve been blessed with so much, so what is a couple of hours a week,” says Ohgren of her commitment to service. “It’s part of my responsibility to give back. I hope a lot of people will take that away from this university.”
 
So do Lipscomb’s leaders, who established the SALT Program (Serving and Learning Together) this past fall to require every student entering Lipscomb to participate in service learning activities as a graduation requirement. If students wish, they can voluntarily complete additional service learning requirements to become a SALT Scholar.
 
But it isn’t easy, as Ohgren’s service record reveals:
  • Tier One: 3-5 hours of service learning
  • Ohgren coordinated a spring Service Day visit to Ronald McDonald, leading a group of fellow students to hold a carnival for the children at the house.
 
  • Tier Two: Take a service-learning course
  • Ohgren was enrolled in Leanne Smith’s business management course where the class held a life skills seminar for 8th graders at the Youth Life Learning Centers, encouraging the youth to someday go to college.
 
  • Tier Three: Participate in a mission trip, internship or long-term service project
  • Ohgren co-founded Nashville’s first chapter of Project Sunshine, an organization devoted to encouraging hospital patients and their families.
 
  • Tier Four: Capstone Project
  • Ohgren is working with Habitat for Humanity to develop a Web-based volunteer registration system and writing a thesis on the best practices and learning theories for training volunteers.
 
All that work in just two years time deserves a little recognition, so Lipscomb University honored Ohgren at its annual service-focused chapel service on Tuesday.
 
Christin Shatzer, director of the SALT Program, said that Ohgren, and the handful of other students currently working on SALT Scholar requirements, will benefit from the experience not only as people but as future job-hunters as well. The capstone project in particular allows a student to see first-hand how everything they have learned in their major over the past four years can come together to actually make an impact on the community, she said.
 
In addition, the amount of autonomous leadership experience SALT Scholars obtain during their projects gives them a unique distinction about other applicants in the job world. Not to mention the amount of networking and contacts students can collect as they work one-on-one with non-profit leaders throughout Nashville.
 
“A SALT Scholar is student who has become an expert in service learning,” Shatzer told the audience at the special chapel service.
 
Lipscomb University has encouraged service work throughout its history, but the SALT program ties service work to specific learning outcomes and curriculum more closely than ever before. SALT intends to open the eyes of students to the connections between service work and career, personal interests and spiritual development, to show them how selfless service not only enriches the spirit, but also enriches their college career and their professional objectives.
 
For instance, after years of studying business, Ohgren is now leaning towards enrolling in design school and pursuing a career in interior design, but her service learning will still enhance her career, she notes. “I’ve seen a lot of people serve on boards, and having this experience will help me do that someday. People with these experiences can be helpful in areas that others may not be, such as obtaining grants or sponsorships,” she said.
 
Over the course of her college career, Ohgren has served as an intern at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, worked with a volunteer database at the Nashville Rescue Mission, went on the City of Children spring break mission trip, volunteered at Y.E.S. and the Green Street Homeless Ministry and participated in the Phi Kappa Sigma service club as well as her work that counted toward the SALT Scholarship.
 
“I think some students may think it is more work than it really is,” Ohgren said of the SALT Scholar requirements. “It’s not overwhelming and it’s not discouraging. If it’s something I enjoy, something I’m interested in, and something I believe in, then the work is not so bad… and I got to go to Baton Rouge.”
 

Ohgren was selected to present a poster presentation on her capstone SALT project at the Gulf South Summit in Baton Rouge, La. in March. Her presentation showed how her capstone service project tied in with all her business classes over four years.