Landscape architecture student wins community service award

Jesse Hunting, a third-year Penn State student in landscape architecture, has been awarded the Distinguished Community Service Award from the City of Harrisburg. In his award letter, Mayor Stephen Reed recognized Jesse for "the excellent work, which [he] organized and undertook, with the help of others, to establish the two lot community parks at 16th and Market Streets in the City of Harrisburg's Allison Hill area." The mayor commended Jesse for catalyzing community efforts to address the pervasive physical disorder in Allison Hill. "[His] neighborhood-based effort not only created a public amenity for all to enjoy but, equally important, served to inspire others,Ó he said. ÒCitizens can take charge of their surroundings and can create their own destiny when like-minded citizens band together in common cause to achieve public good. This is an important example and message to send, especially in Allison Hill."

Hunting first developed the park plan while participating in an interdisciplinary service-learning course, LARCH 497H/453 "Community Assessment, Planning and Design," taught by Dr. Samuel Dennis, assistant professor of landscape architecture at Penn State. Hunting and two third-year landscape architecture students, Luke Sinopoli and Chris McKenna, worked in partnership with community residents and organizations to develop alternatives for several vacant lots in Allison Hill. Hunting continued working with the community during the summer, supported in part through the Department of Landscape Architecture's Milton Berg Memorial Scholarship. He spent the summer living at the St. Martin De Porres Catholic Worker House, eating at the local soup kitchen every day, and working with community residentsÑincluding neighborhood youthÑto develop the park.

Development of the service-learning studio course (LARCH 497H/453) was made possible through a grant from the Fund for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (FELT), which is administered by Penn StateÕs Office of Undergraduate Education's Public Scholarship Associates initiative. The course pairs Penn State students with grassroots community groups in Harrisburg, Pa., to mutually identify community challenges, assets and solutions. These partnerships are facilitated through the Community Action CommissionÑLinda Figueroa, executive directorÑand its ten-year partnership with the South Allison Hill communityÑElaine Burns, neighborhood plan coordinator.

For more information on the Office of Undergraduate Education's Public Scholarship Associates initiative, visit http://www.psu.edu/dept/oue/ps/index.html.