Campion Award Winners Honored

Students Catherine Distelrath, Jillian Dunn, and Jeffrey Hatgas have been honored with the George B. Sweeney Endowed Campion Award for Service this year. The award recognizes students who are committed to becoming leaders in social action through the lens of faith. All three winners were recently honored at halftime of the February 3, 2011, men’s basketball game. Established in 1996 by George B. Sweeney, this fund honors John Carroll University students who have made significant contributions to the community, both on campus and in our larger community. The award involves a one-year, $1,000 award to educate promising student leaders in social policy analysis in a faith perspective; the Center for Service and Social Action also administers up to $500 in additional funds to each Campion Award recipient for an approved campus-based service project proposal. Distelrath, a junior, has been involved with tutoring local elementary and middle school students at various schools, has tutored adult students in the GED program at the Thea Bowman Center, and has worked extensively at the Heights Emergency Food Center, where she now sits on the Executive Board. Distelrath is a student leader for the Center for Service and Social Action, is a member of the women's club basketball team, and also coaches girls' basketball at Beachwood Middle School. She is majoring in psychology and sociology, and plans to do a year of service after college, eventually pursuing a master's degree in social work. Dunn, a sophomore, is from Erie, Pennsylvania. As an Arrupe Scholar, she entered John Carroll University dedicated to her academics and the Jesuit mission being "a woman for others." Dunn is an editor for the Carroll News newspaper, President of the Labre Project that feeds Cleveland's homeless on a weekly basis, an honor's student, and a member of the Student Speaker's Bureau. She participated and is currently leading the New Orleans Immersion Experience, is involved in liturgical ministries, and has been on the Dean's List twice. Dunn also works as an intern for the Arrupe Scholars program, and is a student leader for the Center for Service and Social Action. Dunn is majoring in religious studies, with minors in Catholic studies and communication, and plans to continue her education at JCU to earn a master's degree in religious studies. Hatgas, a junior and Arrupe Scholar, has participated in the Chicago Immersion Experience and has also served as a mentor with the Seeds of Hope program. For the past two years, he has worked with a team of students to create and lead the Cleveland Urban Plunge, focusing on issues of poverty and homelessness. Hatgas is in the Honor's Program and is majoring in psychology.