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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 23, 2002)
Community program offers students RARE opportunity ■A one-year public planning program gives students valuable experience while allowing them to earn school credit and wages By LaBree Shide for the Emerald The Resource Assistance for Rural Environments program gives graduates the chance to be in volved in community programs across Oregon. The deadline to ap ply for fall departures is June 14. Students will have the chance to gain experience, earn graduate credits and a salary. RARE is a one-year program of fered through the University that allows students to assist in making rural communities in Oregon more sustainable. Rose Armour, field co ordinator for RARE, said she thinks the program offers more to a gradu ate than a typical entry-level job. “This is definitely not an entry level position. You’re going to have an actual project that you're going to do, and you’re going to be re sponsible for a lot of the help in managing,” Armour said. Projects for the RARE program range from community planning to helping develop small businesses. Program Director Megan Smith said RARE works with all majors. News brief BSU vocally celebrates Malcolm X’s birthday He took the name “X” as a sym bol of the stolen identity of African slaves and became a mar tyr for the idea of black power af ter his assassination less than four decades ago. He was a force, a mind and a voice during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s. Today the Black Student Union will make his voice and others echo across campus. In a celebra tion of black history and leader ship, audio tapes of speeches made by Malcolm X and other in fluential black leaders will be played at the EMU Amphitheater from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. An open mic will be available to Leadership continued from page 1 dent administrators thought the intentions of the group never panned out. “The SARO was very unsuccess ful,” EMU Board Chairwoman Christa Shively said. She said the EMU Board saw problems in a lack of output from the group, and in students not be ing actively involvement. “We found students passionate about leadership, but not passion ate about SARO,” she said. “There was a lot of discontent.” She said although the board could have continued to fund SARO and simply moved its office space away from the UO Cultural Forum, they instead opted to start from scratch and sever some asso ciations to the previous program. “For students wanting to get in volved, it’s so important to have that resource,” said Megan Hugh es a student on the committee drafting the center’s mission statement. They hope to fund the leadership center with only some student fees and eventually let the program stand on its own financially.with “The projects can be specific to their interests and career goals,” Smith said. “Someone interested in working with youth might work in a small town that needs to develop a literacy program. On the other end of the spectrum, an individual inter ested in natural resource manage ment could spend the year working with a watershed council.” Program participants are expect ed to live in the communities they are placed in and work for a total of 1,700 hours during 11 or 12 months. Participants will receive a $1,250 monthly living stipend plus medical insurance and are eligible for an educational award of $4,725 from AmeriCorps upon the com pletion of the program. There is also an option to receive up to nine graduate school credits from the University community and region al planning program. Jessica Cagle, a journalism major, is a graduating senior considering applying to the RARE program. “It’s kind of scary. I don't know what I am going to be doing after graduation,” Cagle said. Cagle said her interest in RARE extends from her background in volunteering. “I really like the idea of working in a community and getting to know people,” she said. those who want to make personal statements, but the overall goal of the afternoon is to allow students to listen to the speeches while walking to and from class, BSU Co-Director Haben Woldu said. With his infamous confronta tional personality and his goal to achieve Black Power ideals by “any means necessary,” Malcolm X is not remembered as a pacifist. “People usually considered him too militant or extreme," BSU member Bola Majekobaje said. “We want people to realize he was a strong African-Ameri can leader who only wanted equality and justice.” Majekobaje, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, one of the two black sororities on campus, said the BSU has had several celebra tions and services in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. but none more independent funding. This time around, people in volved want to form a coalition in volving not just student govern ment, but the Residence Hall Association, the Greek system and other student leaders as well. This primarily student group will be run without the help of former SARO coordinator Debra Martin. Her contract runs through Feb. 4, but she will not be working in the new leadership program. Her last day as SARO coordinator is June 30. Right now, organizers are ham mering out the details of what they want — and what they don’t — for students, while getting student sug gestions for the program. Buzbee said the EMU conduct ed a survey in the fall that exam ined what leadership opportuni ties students wanted to see. Students involved with the lead ership program also conducted two brainstorming sessions with other students. In the responses they have re ceived, they have seen an over whelming desire for more venues for leadership. “The most dramatic was every one who responded was interested To apply for the Resource Assistance for Rural Environments Program: Visit http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/ -rare for more information and the application Submit applications via e-mail to rare@darkwing.uoregon.edu Hand-deliver applications to 113 Hendricks or mail application materials to: RARE Opportunities, 1209 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1209 Call 346*2879 with questions If plans beyond graduation are still unclear for a student, Smith said, “RARE is a great opportuni ty to test the career you want to have before making a lifelong commitment.” Armour added, “You get your feet wet doing it and get all the con tacts while you decide if this is where you want to go.” The RARE program sets up stu dents for opportunities besides a job, Armour said, such as graduate school. “This program, coupled with an undergraduate degree, is a great way to sell yourself to a graduate school.” LaBree Shide is a freelance reporter for the Emerald. specifically in honor of Malcolm X. She said she thinks this effort will show the community just how powerful and influential he was as a community leader. “A lot of people feel very pas sionately about him and the little we are doing means so much more,” she said. Born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, Malcolm X emerged in the early 1960s as the foremost advocate of racial unity and black nationalism. He was also an advocate for the Na tion of Islam for a period of his life. During the civil rights move ment, he pointed the way to a new black consciousness that cel ebrated black history, culture, heritage and self-sufficiency. He was assassinated February 21, 1964, during a speech in Harlem. — Caron Alarab in quality leadership in both the ac ademic and practical sense and showed a lot of interest in almost all areas,” Shively said. One of the team’s initial ideas is to create a leadership resource li brary with a network of current leadership opportunities and tips on running meetings and other stu dent activities, Buzbee said. The program is still in the plan ning stage, he said, but the group hopes to have it up and running by the 2003-04 school year. Between now and then, the group will finalize the program’s mission statement and nail down the specifics of where to house the program and how to fund it. They’re asking students to help them get the ball rolling. “This program is fresh and stu dent-driven,” Buzbee said. “We’re hoping to have some real motivat ed people involved on a large scale,” he said. Anyone interested in being in volved with the program can e mail Shively at cshively@glad stone.uoregon.edu, Buzbee at bbuzbee@gladstone.uoregon.edu or call Buzbee at 346-0625. E-mail reporter Robin Weber at robinweber@dailyemerald.com. #US4/CCU018319-02 from the Centers for Disease Control an Prevention. 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