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Senior wins 2008 Higher Education Community Service Award

Sandro Aguilar ´08 at the 2008 Higher Education Community Service Awards Ceremony, where he was recognized for his passionate engagement in youth development and community service.

May 06, 2008

Sandro Aguilar ´08 has received a 2008 Higher Education Community Service Award from the Connecticut Department of Higher Education for his passionate engagement in youth development and community service.

The awards are presented annually to two individual students and two groups of students with outstanding records in community service and to a faculty or staff member who is recognized as a leader in community service for personal contributions and institutional commitment. This year, 23 Connecticut colleges submitted 66 nominations for the three categories.

Connecticut College nominated Aguilar; senior Jesse Meadow; the student volunteers with Project KBA (Kids, Books, Athletics), which promotes reading and physical fitness with elementary and middle school students in New London; and Misha Johnson ´08, Tyler Dunham ´09, Michael Seager ´09, Benjamin Pedley ´09 and Leia Crosby ´08, who developed a campus composting system Aguilar was specifically recognized for his work with New London´s Drop-In Learning Center, where he created his own after-school program for the youth of New London.

"During my adolescent years, people taught me the value and importance of education and I want to continue to pass this on to the next generation," Aguilar said. "It is truly a privilege and an honor to have been recognized for all my hard work by the state of Connecticut."

Aguilar, a Psychology-based Human Relations major from Houston, Texas, has volunteered in New London through Connecticut College´s Office of Volunteers for Community Service (OVCS) since his freshman year. In four years, Aguilar has served as a mentor, tutor and summer camp counselor for children and adolescents in the New London community, and during the summer of 2007, he worked as a mentor and prevention specialist at a local family center in his home state of Texas.

This year, Aguilar created a mentoring program at Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School for Latino boys. Working under the guidance of School Psychologist Megan Downey, Aguilar implemented a comprehensive program curriculum that focuses on reading, writing and critical thinking activities aimed at encouraging self esteem, career exploration and positive life choices.

"I know where they are coming from - wanting to do well in school but not really knowing how to get there and facing the challenge of having to fit into a culture that they don´t really know much about," Aguilar said. "Recognizing that drew me in and I wanted to do as much as I could."

Although he will graduate May 18, Aguilar´s work is far from finished. For the next two years, he will serve as a middle school English teacher with "Teach for America," a national corps of teachers working in urban and rural schools, at his alma mater, the YES Prep School in Houston. Eventually, he hopes to open his own school in the underprivileged neighborhood where he grew up.

"I strongly believe that everybody, no matter their race or where they live, can achieve success academically if given the right opportunities," Aguilar said. "I am a living example."

- By Erin Burdett ´08

For more information contact: Amy Sullivan (860) 439-2526; amy.sullivan@conncoll.edu