The Chacivity Award was created in 2004–2005. Its name is composed from “character, civility, and integrity.” This award is designed to recognize students who exhibit behavior(s) uplifting to the Indiana University of Pennsylvania community by displaying courage, civility, leadership, integrity, and initiative.
To date, 167 students have received the award, including the following:
Jacqueline Caddy
Jacqueline (Jackie) went above and beyond while serving as a student employee during the 2010–2011 academic year. She was committed to ensuring all tasks were completed and that visiting prospective students would have a positive experience. Jackie would often volunteer her time to recruitment and admissions functions when needed. Now serving as a campus community assistant and no longer working for the HC, Jackie continues to demonstrate commitment to the HC recruitment program with hosting overnight students, taking the initiative to help with set-up at Open Houses and welcoming visiting students. Jackie is the type of student who might not always be front and center with accolades or awards, but who devotes her time and talents in dedicated and thoughtful ways.
Ryan Formica
For the second year in a row, Ryan has coordinated the IUP Rail Jam: a ski and snowboard competition held at IUP. Largely by himself, Ryan worked with the IUP Ski Team and secured their interest and investment in the event. He solicited sponsorships from Willis Ski Shop, VitaminWater, and a host of other private vendors, coordinating this through the Foundation for IUP. With the help of friends, Ryan built the drop-in ramp for the event, arranged for snow to be brought to campus, coordinated with the Office of Housing, Residential Living, and Dining, University Police, and other offices about the legality and usage of campus space, and secured a DJ for the event. Now in its second year, the Rail Jam has attracted dozens of skiers and boarders from IUP, Pitt, WVU, and elsewhere in western Pennsylvania and has hosted nearly 100 participants either through competing or observing in the event. The event has also raised several hundred dollars each year for the Indiana County Humane Society.
Shelby Frantz
Nominated by Dr. David Myers, Psychologist, Counseling Center
Shelby works at the Counseling Center as a quarter-time graduate assistant. Beyond her clinical and administrative duties, she also acts as the liaison between the Counseling Center and the Veteran’s Office. Her dedication and service to veterans on campus and off goes well beyond her job responsibilities and is noteworthy. Shelby is extraordinarily competent, and it has been Dr. Myers’ pleasure to know and to supervise her.
Denzel Gay
Over the course of the Fall semester, Denzel went above and beyond to build community on the Punxsutawney campus. As a community assistant, he is required to do programming that helps to build community and educate his residents. Denzel continually goes beyond the requirements of his job. His motivation isn’t to impress his supervisors or get recognition, but rather he has a genuine interest in improving the well-being of his residents and the community. The best example of this is his efforts with No Shave November. This program is designed to raise awareness around the topic of testicular cancer by asking men to grow beards in the month of November. Denzel took on the sole responsibility for planning and implementing this program for the entire Punxsutawney campus. He was able to get students, administrators, and staff on the campus to participate in his program. He was even able to convince the dean not to shave for the entire month of November. This is just one example of amount of effort that Denzel puts into his programs. He cares for sake of caring. To me, that shows his dedication and service to the IUP community.
Kelsey Gross
Kelsey is a first-generation college student who has taken on a double major and a double minor and has managed to maintain a 3.8 grade point average in the process! She’s a member of the English honors fraternity, Sigma Tau Delta. What’s even more impressive are the positive contributions she’s made to the Indiana community throughout her college experience. Kelsey represented IUP at the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., where she learned about women’s issues and advocacy. She then took this knowledge and applied it to her own community in Indiana. Kelsey is the co-president of Women’s Studies. This year, her club spent two days registering 50 students to vote and explaining the voting process. She put together a bake sale and raised almost $200 to send holiday care packages to deployed women in the military. She organized a universitywide panel discussion regarding sexual assault in the military, which was held on December 1, 2011. She helped her club collect and donate clothes and goods to a Johnstown women’s shelter. She participated in the organization and execution of the Do Ubunto bracelet campaign that raised money for children in Africa. She is a regular participant in IUP’s Take Back the Night event, and she helped with RAINN Day last year, promoting a safe-sex campaign. As part of the Phi Eta Sigma honors society, Kelsey helped to clean up an Indiana Highway, and she walked dogs for Four-Footed Friends. Kelsey participated in the Hawk Walk to improve town-gown relations in Indiana. She went to Washington, D.C., two more times to participate in Powershift, a conference to train young people to take action against environmental justice and to support Planned Parenthood in their protest against the government cutting their funding. She did a noncredit internship last summer with the YMCA Greater Pittsburgh, where she did grant research to support their housing, leadership, breast cancer awareness, community development, and STEM Education for Girls programs. Kelsey is a fantastic example of Chacivity at IUP!
Alan Lowmaster
Alan James Lowmaster has single-handedly organized a two-part study skills session for Spring and Fall 2011 at IUP Punxsutawney called “The Coffeehouse,” which serves 240 students each semester. He has also involved the entire faculty and trained at least 10 tutors to help run the sessions, which occur on the two Monday nights before Finals Week begins. The coordination of Coffeehouse events also requires Alan to work with the IUP Punxsutawney administration to provide food and beverages, room space, and other requirements for holding this campuswide event. Alan coordinates everything, and his volunteer work has really helped many students do much better on their finals than they would have without his organizational talents, time, and energy. His work makes a big difference to our students and their overall academic success.
Tyler Machovina
Tyler has demonstrated ongoing commitment and dedication to the Cook Honors College community, particularly to the admissions and recruitment program. Tyler’s role in hosting visiting students, giving campus tours, giving students tours of his lab, taking them to lunch or class is all on a volunteer basis. He always responds enthusiastically and provides a great experience for those students. He also serves on the CHC admissions committee and goes above and beyond in helping with other tasks. Tyler read between 40-50 honors college applications, which usually include 2-3 essays and 2-3 letters of recommendation per applicant with other application and supporting material per application and then met with the admissions committee to deliberate on the applications. He provided valued incite on the student experience inside and outside of the classroom and was very professional in his recommendations. In his role as a counselor for the Summer Honors Program, Tyler demonstrated flexibility, enthusiasm and professionalism.
Rachel Mankowski
Since August 2010, Joe has seen Rachel grow so much as a leader and as a person. He has watched her grow through many of the activities that she is involved with, and, as a result, she has become more and more selfless throughout the process. Through her experiences in Orientation, she has had to help so many freshmen transition into college. Rachel has spent two tiring summers working with the orientation program, and, in Joe’s opinion, that shows that she is doing it for the right reasons . . . she truly believes that helping with the transition to higher education is important. Rachel also makes so many positive changes among the Greek community. This is something that she has a great passion for, and she does not do it to receive recognition. She has been collaborating with many Greek leaders to plan a Greek conference in Spring 2012. This is just another example of how she strives to make positive changes to the community in which she is a part that will influence the lives of others around her.
Brianna Minnock
In Spring 2011, Brianna organized a drive to collect used blankets for the homeless. She came up with the idea after a visit to Baltimore, Md., over the winter break, during which she was shocked and saddened by the number of men, women, and children she saw living on the streets, exposed to often-severe winter temperatures. Even after she returned home, memories of the people she’d seen haunted her, and she felt compelled to do something. The blanket drive ran in February and March, after which the blankets were delivered to Baltimore Outreach Services in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Brianna’s selfless efforts are all the more laudable in light of the fact that she juggles her responsibilities as a Political Science major at IUP with those of being a new mother. Brianna hopes to coordinate another used blanket drive early in 2012.
Joe Pullins
Joe serves as a strong advocate for LGBT issues. As the only undergraduate member of the Safe Zone Committee, he coordinates the student panels and has been influential as a liaison with Pride Alliance. He serves as an officer of Pride and Residence Hall Association and beautifully synthesizes all of these rolls to bring students and staff together. He also has the self-appointed role of liaison to the many of the groups to which he belongs and helps increase communication between them that has stimulated joint programming, advocacy, and support. His dedication to our community demonstrates his unwavering commitment to IUP and bettering the environment for all students.
Christina Santiago
Nominated by Dr. Rita Drapkin, Coordinator, Safe Zone
Christina (known to friends as Nina) was the focus of unwanted attention this Fall as a result of a classroom incident. Her initial response was to follow all of the university procedures to file a complaint. Rather than hide her head during this painful situation, she accepted the public role of spokesperson for a marginalized group: lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people. She handled herself exceptionally well with the media, all the while stressing that her concerns were not solely for herself, but also because she did not want others to go through what she had experienced. Despite the ugliness of the situation, she never spoke with hate or bitterness toward others. Many students and employees were very upset about this incident, and I believe that without Nina’s leadership the campus response may well have degenerated into nastiness. Dr. Drapkin knows very few people, regardless of their age or position, who could have handled such a difficult situation with such grace.
Paige Townley
Paige has exhibited behaviors that have been uplifting to the Indiana University of Pennsylvania community. Paige made a commitment to serve as a community assistant (CA) for the Punxsutawney campus for the 2011–2012 academic year. Taking on this position was a big step for Paige and took a bit of courage. In order for Paige to be a community assistant in Punxsutawney, she would need to live in Punxsutawney and fulfill her responsibilities as a community assistant, but still attend her classes in Indiana and any other cocurricular involvement. This was and continues to be a challenging endeavor, but Paige maintains a positive attitude and shares her energy with her peers in Punxsutawney and Indiana.
In the CA role, Paige has made an impact in the lives of the five first-year community assistants she works with in Punxsutawney, the Punxsutawney Advisory Council (similar to the Residence Hall Councils on the Indiana campus), and the Punxsutawney residents. In addition, Paige still serves many roles on the Indiana campus and does an amazing job of connecting efforts in Indiana with those in Punxsutawney. The best part about supervising Paige in this role is that she did not make the decision for personal progress. Paige felt she could provide solid leadership to the community and serve as a role model to the first-year student campus, and she is far exceeding that expectation. It’s not an easy task to commute three days a week between Indiana and Punxsutawney, hold leadership roles in Punxsutawney and in Indiana, and still perform at a top level.
Paige Townley is very deserving of a Chacivity Award. She did not have to serve as a community assistant on the Punxsutawney campus, nor does she need to continue in this role next semester, but still she decides to make personal and professional sacrifices to benefit the Punxsutawney staff and community as a whole.
Bradley Triana
Bradley Triana is a talented, second-year graduate student working in the furniture design area at IUP. He is incredibly generous with his time and willingness to pitch in for the department and for the university as well. When he was working as a graduate assistant for the IUP museum, he designed, donated materials, and built a reception desk for the main gallery. This was something he decided on his own accord. He is always willing to help students, and volunteers regularly for tasks to make the place work better. This is just a small example for Bradley’s enthusiasm and generosity. The most notable example of his efforts is seen in the Modern Advocate website he designed and built with his two brothers. Modern Advocate was conceived and set up to generate funding through apparel sales for needed causes. Twenty-five percent of the purchase price of their handsome products goes towards the rebuilding of a hospital in Nepal. They are currently setting up an alternate funding source at the same website to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association. At the age of 25, this young student is well on his way to an active lifestyle rich in courage, civility, and leadership.
