Pepper Prize Nominee Kaitlin Worden © Chuck Zovko / Zovko Photographic llc April 12, 2015

Kaitlin Worden

First Major: Art
Minor: Psychology
Thesis:    Tracing Memory and Loss

300 Word Statement

The wonderful thing about this school is that there is no specific definition of a Lafayette ideal to adhere to.  Instead, Lafayette encourages its students to explore and challenge the process in order to create our own individual ideal and direction.  With the support Lafayette provides, we are able to continue growing academically and personally in order to achieve goals that starting out, we didn’t even realize we had.

When I started at Lafayette, I was in absolute awe of the seniors I worked with who were such strong leaders.  As I assumed greater leadership positions in the Landis Center and my sorority, I compared myself to the effective leaders I had met before.  I never thought that I would be able to accomplish tasks and lead in the way that they had.  This past year, I was promoted to Team Leader in Landis’ MOSAIC Staff, and I was still nervous about my ability to lead a group of people as well as my role models had.  I was then challenged to work with a team of my peers to create an entirely new event – Criminal Justice Week.  Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am extremely passionate about the criminal justice system, and I was excited to bring this important discussion to the campus.  Knowing that there were many students and educators alike on campus who would be interested in this topic, I invited other groups to the conversation, hoping to make it more inclusive and encouraging of intersectionality.  The absence of two major players in the week’s activities caused a few last minute issues for me and my team, but by staying flexible, all of the week’s events ran smoothly.  By the time it was all over, I realized that I did not need to become the role models I compared myself to for so long; instead, over my four years I had designed my own approach to leadership, and I was proud of that.  I feel like my experience is one example of how a student can follow their own path to discovering their Lafayette ideal.

As an art student I have also learned to attempt to look at people and situations from different angles instead of the way I initially perceive them to be.  I think that this insight has helped me in all aspects of my time at Lafayette, especially in trying to break stereotypes.  In addition to my direction of Criminal Justice Week, I was also president of Best Buddies, an organization that encourages friendship between those with and without intellectual disabilities. The elderly are another group of people that I enjoyed getting to know on a broader scale while leading an art program in a dementia ward.  These experiences made me realize that every type of person has something to contribute and deserves opportunities to demonstrate their potential.  Through working with people in the Easton community, I developed strong leadership skills and learned to value alternative perspectives. I hope these and my future collaborations will inspire meaningful change.

 

Academic Activities/Awards – Total Years Involved

  • Excel Scholar program 2
    I have worked for Nestor Gil my junior and senior year, who is officially the sculpture professor for the Studio Art department but he works in all mediums. The first year, we designed a map of Barcelona as it relates to his mother and he used it in a performance piece. We are in the process of creating a website for it as well. Over the summer, I edited all of his photos from his trip to Cuba, and created art by digitally cutting those photos and compiling them This past year, I have been producing books for him with intricate butterfly and apple cutouts.
  • Senior Thesis 1
    My thesis relates to the loss of my grandfather, and dealing with memories or traces of our relationship. By studying memory, I have learned that the brain recreates a memory every time it is remembered until it slowly morphs into something much less accurate than the original memory. I am interested in the idea of the inaccessibility of memories, and how they can never be fully relived again. So I am basically recreating some of the traces from memories I had with grandfather through obsessive repeition of shape.
  • Teaching Assistant 1
    I was a teaching assistant for Nestor Gil in the class Art and Neuroscience my sophomore year. I held studio hours, assisted with critiques and attended most lectures.
  • Rothkopf Scholar 1
    As a junior I applied to be a Rothkopf Scholar, a prestigious award for junior art majors which means that you get to study abroad, all expenses paid, with art history professor Robert Mattison for ten days in a European city studying art. I went to Vienna with him and three other junior art majors this past summer. I studied beforehand and prepared presentations that I gave during the trip at various art museums exploring modern performance art.

Campus Service/Activities and Awards – Total Years Involved

  • Lafayette Family Weekend Committee 1
    My sophomore year I served as the Head of Promotions. I designed the shirts, the promotional campaign in general, and was in charge of sales.

Community Service – Total Years Involved

  • Best Buddies 2
    My freshman year I was a volunteer for Best Buddies, where I had a buddy as well as an officer. My sophomore year I was hired by the Landis Center as its program coordinator. I was responsible for leading bi-monthly events for 60 volunteers and local adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I managed an officer team of 6, and maintained open and prompt communication with volunteers, participants and their families, as well as community partners and the staff of Best Buddies Pennsylvania. I learned to file paperwork and volunteer hours for the Landis Center and International Best Buddies Organization, as well as attended two Best Buddies Leadership Conferences during the summer.
  • Art for the Young at Heart 3
    The first two years I volunteered and drove for the program, and then as a junior I became its program coordinator through MOSAIC Staff. There I designed age-appropriate arts and crafts projects for residents of Easton Health and Rehabilitation Center. When there was an issue with attendance for those in the unit, I worked with my community partner to meet the residents’ needs by relocating program to the Dementia Ward. It was a very successful change.
  • Firth Youth Center 1
    My senior year on MOSAIC Staff, I was inspired by my ASB trip working with children so I requested to be switched to program coordinator for Firth. As coordinator, I was responsible for recruiting and training 15 volunteers to facilitate a weekly afterschool program for local students, grades 2-8. Each week I organize and run group activities to encourage play while promoting inclusion and conflict resolution. I plan and facilitate volunteer orientation, education, and reflection events to ensure that this service makes as great an impact as possible and that my volunteers are good role models for the children we work with.
  • MOSAIC Staff Team Leader 1
    My senior year I was promoted within MOSAIC Staff to lead a team of program coordinators. Besides leading Firth, I now call and lead team meetings for 5 Program Coordinators and the Director of the Landis Center, Amber Zuber. I try to provide guidance and serve as a model of civic engagement to all staff employees as well as volunteers. I try to collaborate with other teams to promote unity and communication by leading retreats and meetings as well. I was most proud of create and organize week-long event to bring awareness to others about the US Criminal Justice System for the first time on this campus. This week consisted of a documentary and led discussion, an art exhibitation and discussion about restorative justice and a luncheon about reentry with students and other people in the community.
  • Alternative Spring Break 2
    My junior year I spent my spring break in Durham, North Carolina working at a school with the non-profit Playworks. There we facilitated recess and promoted the benefits of inclusive play and conflict resolution. My senior year over winter interim I went to Chicago to work with children who are wards of the state – we helped the organization with tasks they needed to be completed and also worked with the children. On both of these trips I held the role of Reflection Officer, meaning that I led daily reflection discussion to connect our experiences to the larger social issues at hand and brainstorm ways we can share what we have learned with our own communities.
  • Philanthropy Chair – Alpha Gamma Delta 1
    As Philanthropy Chair of Alpha Gamma Delta, I ran a Girl Scout Troop at the Boys and Girls Club of Easton, where I designed crafts every week. I also organized Light in the Night, which is an event Alpha Gamma Delta holds that provides a safe environment for local children to go trick-or-treating in the West Ward of Easton. I held AGD’s first Diabete’s Brunch, where we baked diabetes friendly foods to raise money to support our international cause, JDRF. We also supported JDRF by going to Philadelphia to participate in their Diabetes Walk the year that I was Philanthropy Chair. I also was in charge of facilitating the sorority’s participation and support of other organizations’ philanthropic events.

Athletics Activity/Award – Total Years Involved

  • Intramural Floor Hockey 1
    This past semester I have joined Alpha Gamma Delta’s team for floor hockey.