Making a Difference

By Sara LaJeunesse

By day, John Constantinide is a bookish graduate student who concentrates on his coursework, developmental-biology research, and teaching responsibilities. But by night, the University of Miami student turns into a champion for the environment, working tirelessly on behalf of the planet. “It’s my civic duty,” he explained.

Among Constantinide’s current efforts as policy outreach chair of the University of Miami’s Society of Scientists is a campaign to persuade legislators to implement conservation measures, use renewable resources, and support a green economy. He is also working to bring a State of Florida climate-change advisory group to campus in order to speak about its activities and engage with students.

Constantinide, who graduated from the University in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, is not new to activism. As an undergraduate he ran a pilot recycling program in Hecht Residential College and then used it as a model for other residential colleges, academic buildings, and the University Center. He also directed the “Get out the Vote” campaign in 2005, which resulted in a 500-percent increase in the number of students who voted in the City of Miami’s election.

This commitment to making the world a better place is shared by thousands of University of Miami undergraduates, 65 percent of whom regularly perform community service. That’s close to 7,000 individuals working to improve labor conditions, alleviate poverty, teach children to read, and clean up the environment. To support these students, the University of Miami created the Butler Center for Volunteer Service and Leadership Development, which serves as a catalyst by teaching and motivating students to cultivate positive change within their communities.

Lessons in Humanity

“It is important for students to volunteer while in college so they can begin their journey toward becoming active, conscientious citizens,” said Keith Fletcher, director of the Butler Center. “The more they volunteer, the more they are empowered to become agents of change.”

Alyssa Cundari ’09, a history and political science double major, is one of those students whose lives have changed as a result of their service work. As a freshman, she joined STAND, or Students Toward a New Democracy. “I heard a worker speak and it pulled on my heartstrings,” she said.”

Now Cundari is a seasoned activist with first-hand knowledge of social and economic justice issues. In 2006, she and fellow STAND members supported the University’s custodial workers in their successful campaign to garner higher wages and health care benefits from their private-sector employer. This year, she is working to raise awareness about south Florida’s affordable-housing crisis and the exploitation of farm-workers’ in the state’s tomato fields.

Megan Fast ’09, a junior majoring in geology and ecosystem science and policy, is president of Earth Alert, and she devotes much of her free time to cleaning up despoiled natural areas and promoting recycling on campus. Each year she organizes a group of some 30 students to pick up trash on Miami’s beaches and in the mangrove fringe along the border of the Kampong, a botanical garden in Coconut Grove. “Not only is it important to remove trash from these areas,” said Fast, “but it’s also an opportunity to educate people about the harm caused by littering.”

Chris Hooton ’08, an international studies major, spent six weeks in the Dominican Republic teaching English to low-income students. He also has volunteered at organic farms in Germany, where his tasks included weeding crops, turning over soil, and making hay. The goal was to help small farms that use environmentally safe practices to prosper.

“I think volunteer work is great because it builds character and gives you the opportunity to help those who may need it,” said Hooton. “When two people who might never have met do work and interact with each other, they take the best of humanity from each other and diffuse it through their own daily lives.”

“Now I know What I can do”

Such diffusion often has an eminently practical side for the students, as many turn their volunteer work into a career once they graduate. Biology major Nisha Viswanathan ’08 is one such student. She always knew that she wanted to be a doctor, but it wasn’t until she volunteered as a doctor’s aide in a rural Indian clinic that Viswanathan realized she wanted to dedicate her life to helping people in her parents’ home country. Last summer, she assisted an ophthalmologist in the southern state of Karnataka. Her work included assisting with eye exams and compiling data on all the HIV/AIDS patients who came to the hospital.

“Now that I’ve been to India and seen the extreme poverty, I realize that making a difference there is what I want to do with my life,” said Viswanathan.

Shreya Agrawal ’09 is another student whose volunteer work has helped shape her career goals. Last summer, the international studies major was one of several undergraduates who accompanied international studies professor Sherri Porcelain on a trip to Ghana to assess rural communities’ needs for wells and latrines.

“In the United States, we take clean water for granted, while in Ghana people walk up to three hours a day just to get water, and often it’s not even clean,” said Agrawal, who organized a group to raise money to build a well and latrine in one of the villages she visited.

In addition to helping people in Ghana, Agrawal also has made a difference in the lives of folks who live closer to home. Six weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, she and a group of 50 University of Miami students traveled to New Orleans to help people with disabilities remove debris from their houses.

These efforts have opened Agrawal’s eyes to a new career possibility. “I was originally premed, but once I started working with Dr. Porcelain I began to realize that I’d rather work in public health and focus on disaster relief and development,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of poverty, and now I know what I can do to make it better.”