The Alma College Barrister Society took the 2005 Ronald O. Kapp Honors Day Prize with their proposal to do good deeds.
This year’s task promoted by the Honors Day Committee in the annual cross-curriculum, collaborative project was titled “Raise Your Voice: Simple, Inexpensive Ways to Improve the Quality of Life at Alma College.”
The Barrister Society won the 2005 Kapp Honors Day Prize.
The Barrister Society, a group of pre-law students, proposed “Pay It Forward — A Commitment to the Liberal Arts” modeled after the movie Pay It Forward in which a young boy does good deeds with the stipulation that recipients pay forward the kindness to three other people.
Sophomores Sarah Ellsworth of Lansing and Mollie Smith of Grand Haven and junior Mark Monto of Bay City formally presented the proposal. Juniors Sol Cortez of Detroit and Jim Templin of Brownstown, sophomore Chris Adamec of Goodrich, and first-year students Rachel Dotson of Chelsea, Jennifer LaMay of Yale, Kelly Schwartzkopf of Rochester and Ellsworth and Monto prepared the presentation.
Recognizing a morale problem on campus among faculty and staff, the barristers are calling for students and campus organizations to unite to perform “a good deed for another with the stipulation that in return a good deed must be done for some other person or group,” according to their proposal.
“Now is the time to show that students truly want to make a commitment to the liberal arts. Our proposal presents solutions to the decline in morale and would create a sense of ‘community wellness,’ by advocating (that if) it only takes one person to make a difference, as illustrated in the movie, then imagine what an entire campus could do. All aspects of the plan are designed to improve the overall quality of life on campus, not only for students but also for the faculty, staff, community members, and student organizations,” the proposal states.
Ideas include a mentoring program for first-year students with the result of connecting alumni to the College; stepping out of the “Alma Bubble” to embrace the community as a whole; and Friday speakers sharing their knowledge to help the Alma community.
“You have left a lasting legacy which will benefit future students. Pay it Forward — A Commitment to the Liberal Arts will celebrate a legacy of individual students, faculty, administration, organizations, and friends, the influence they have on who we are as a higher institution of learning, how far we have come, and the legacy we leave behind. It rejuvenates the bond that students have with their alma mater and their peers,” the proposal states.
–Skip Traynor
