Alum Jeff Small's Commitment to Help Others Cited in Newspaper Article
November 8, 2001
November 8, 2001, Greencastle, Ind. - Jeff Small, a 2001 graduate of DePauw University, is spending his first year out of college helping youngsters learn. He's a volunteer in AmeriCorps, the domestic version of the Peace Corps, and his work in tutoring fourth graders at the Peace Learning Center in Indianapolis provides the backdrop for a story in today's Indianapolis Star.
United States Senators Evan Bayh of Indiana and John McCain of Arizona are pushing their colleagues to expand AmeriCorps, a program that Small tells Star writers Marcella Fleming and Maureen Groppe is teaching him as much, if not more, than he's passing on to his young students. "It's much more in-your-face," Small tells the paper, which notes his DePauw degree. "Sure, we talked about this stuff in classes. But it's from a different 
perspective. Some of these kids are real 'city kids' -- they think the reservoir is the ocean, and they're afraid to go into the woods because they think there are bears."
Currently, 50,000 recent college graduates are AmeriCorps volunteers, serving in community programs around the nation. Senators Bayh and McCain want to increase that five-fold by 2010. Indiana's total AmeriCorps budget is $4.2 million in federal money, he said. In addition, $312,000 in state taxes finances overhead and administration.
The article cites growing interest in the program since the events of September, noting "Small, 23, of Greencastle, knows people want to help. Within days of the attack on the World Trade Center, one of Small's college friends called him from New York. From her office, she'd seen the second plane hit, prompting her to question her priorities. 'She was definitely interested in (AmeriCorps),' Small said."
You can read the Star story in its entirety by clicking here.
The commitment of DePauw graduates to serve others is also noted in a recent article on Teach for America. Seven spring graduates of DePauw University, or more than 1% of the Class of 2001, are beginning their careers with a two-year commitment to improve the lives of America's most disadvantaged students through that program. You can read more by clicking here.