Position Hours: 100 hours over course of Academic Year

Intern Stipend:­­ $1,000

Organization: Baltimore College Peace Network

Description and Duties of Position:  The BCPN intern will provide support to BCPN Coordinator in the growth and development of the Baltimore College Peace Network.  The intern will meet in person or by phone once a week with the BCPN Coordinator to maintain close communication about the day to day work of the position. The BCPN Coordinator will provide the necessary guidance and training that will make the internship successful.  Below are the tasks and objectives of the internship, which may be modified or expanded by the BCPN Coordinator as needed.

Organize and assist undergraduate students in developing peace and justice clubs on each campus

Organize and assist students in the development of academic programming, special events and campus discussions focused on peace, justice and sustainability as a way to encourage reflective action on each campus.

Organize logistics for and participate in trainings that include the development of analysis, strategy and organizing skills for members of area college and university communities.

 Identify and engage student leaders to participate in the BCPN steering committee.

Learning and Leadership Objectives:  In addition to the logistical and tangible objectives listed above, this internship is also designed to provide the Intern with skills, contacts and experience useful in future employment, community organizing and peace building.  Over the course of the internship period, the BCPN Intern will:

Work closely with an experienced community organizer and nonviolence trainer (i.e., BCPN Coordinator).

Play an integral role in expanding the visibility, effectiveness and work of a grassroots peace-building organization.

Develop community organizing, peace building, and leadership skills.

Understand the historical role and importance of peace and justice activism in academic communities, and the potential for partnership and engagement between college campuses and their larger communities.

Develop understanding of and experience in reflective action and its potential to transform communities within which students learn and empower those students as they enter the larger world.  

TO APPLY:  Please send your resume and a letter detailing your interest in the internship and qualifications to Gary Gillespie, BCPN Coordinator.

Gary Gillespie, Coordinator, BCPN

garygillespie@collegepeace.org

ATTENTION:  Want someone to review your resume and cover letter before sending it, please feel free to e-mail both documents for review to Christine Routzahn, Director of Internships at The Shriver Center at:

routzahn@umbc.edu

This has been a busy year for the STARS Program and with back-to-school efforts in full-force, I wanted to take a moment to share some updates from the STARS Team. This summer, AASHE welcomed two new staff to support the STARS Program. Chris Pelton, STARS Program Assistant, will coordinate details for Technical Advisor Work Group meetings, manage improvements to the STARS Reporting Tool, and support research efforts for STARS credit improvements. Monika Urbanski, STARS Program Analyst, will be researching specific ways to improve the STARS credits and analyzing the data that has been submitted thus far. Monika will also play an important role in developing the STARS Annual Review.

The timing of our new staff joining couldn’t be better since AASHE now has over 125 STARS Reports submitted. This represents a lot of valuable information about campus sustainability happenings. Monika will be digging through this data and identifying trends, best practices, and areas for improvement that Chris and the STARS Technical Advisors will work to address. Stay tuned for future blog posts on some of these findings and areas for improvement.

We’re all looking forward to the AASHE 2011 Conference this October in Pittsburgh, PA. AASHE will be hosting two STARS Workshops and there is still spots left so register today! The STARS Introductory Workshop will be geared towards those that are new to STARS, and the STARS Advanced Workshop is for those that have been using the system. In addition, there will be several sessions addressing STARS throughout the conference including a STARS 101 session and a Town Hall meeting that will be very participatory and aims to collect feedback on the program. Stay tuned to the conference website for more information regarding conference details and don’t forget to visit the STARS Team at the AASHE networking area in the exhibit hall if you are attending the conference.

• Meghan Fay Zahniser, STARS Program Manager

Patrick Macatangga is a Senior majoring in Computer Engineering. Currently, he is working on an interdisciplinary research project that combines the areas of chemistry, biology, and electrical engineering. To learn more about Patrick's research pursuits, read his research profile.

This video shows an interesting approach to keeping peace in the Philippines. What do you think about this strategy?

Matthew 9:9-12 (NIV 2011)

9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Reflection:

This is the parallel passage to Luke 5:27-33. While there is much similarity in the facts of the event, Matthew brings up the aspect of “mercy, not sacrifice” to describe the event of Jesus reaching the outcast, lost, sick, the sinners. Jesus equates the Pharisees with their externally focused, superficial religiosity to a mere “sacrifice”, while true ministry is the ministry of mercy.

How does this help us? While sacrifice is human’s activity directed towards God, mercy is God’s act of forgiveness directed toward human beings, who are in need of redemption. More than just “activity”, mercy is rooted in God’s love and begins by “receiving” and “responding”.

Response:

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” It is often easier to offer a sacrifice in the form of religious acts than to receive and extend mercy. But rather than external actions, God desires for our hearts to be changed by His overwhelming mercy for us. Let’s receive the freedom that God gives us from an empty life of religious acts and thank Him for the mercy He continues to offer us. Let’s pray and ask that we would continually experience the ongoing transformation His mercy brings, and that it would overflow out of our hearts so we may sincerely extend it to others.