Sunday, December 16, 2007
Holiday card project benefits scholarship fund
 For more than 20 years, the USI chapter of Kappa Delta Pi (KDP), the education honor society, has raised money for student scholarships through its holiday card project. USI’s Xi Mu chapter solicits donations from faculty, staff, and friends of USI for the project each fall.Donors are offered the opportunity to exchange holiday greeting with each other, and support a good cause. Two $1,000 scholarships – one designated for an education major, the other for a student in any college – are awarded during Honors Week to students selected by the faculty awards committee. The total of scholarships awarded over the years exceeds $30,000. Dr. Charles Price, professor of science education and KDP faculty advisor, said, “I think it probably is the largest-funded student organization-generated scholarship on campus. The faculty are generous in helping us, but the student organization puts it together.” Donors’ names are printed inside a holiday card, which is mailed to all of the donors. “It’s a way of exchanging holiday greetings,” Price said. For the past 10 years, the cards have featured photographs of wildlife and nature taken on the USI campus and surrounding land owned by Southern Indiana Higher Education. This year’s card depicts Price’s photo of the Bokelman #3 School blanketed in snow during the blizzard of 2004. The project was begun when Dr. Aldo Cardarelli, professor emeritus in education, was faculty advisor for KDP. He served as counselor from the chapter’s origination in 1978 until his retirement in 1995. He died in 2001. The holiday card project was featured in a national KDP publication about 10 years ago. Since that time, chapters at other universities have developed similar programs that support scholarships on their campuses. Price said that anyone interested in being included in next year's card can elect to designate “KDP Scholarship” on a gift to the USI Foundation (or use payroll deduction if an employee) and they will be automatically included in the 2008 card. |
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