A Denison University senior, Rachel Voelkle, from Marilla, N.Y., has been awarded the Charles J. Ping Award by the Ohio Campus Compact.

Voelkle, a sociology/anthropology major, has been a member of the Denison Community Association for four years. She has participated in “Breakaway” programs, which provide service to underserved communities across the nation. She also has worked with the Garden of Hope, which is a program for teenage girls involved with the Licking County (Ohio) Juvenile Court and the Knitting Cooperative.

“It is an honor to receive this award as a representative of Denison,” Voelkle says. “Receiving the Legacy Honorarium specifically was an amazing honor, and I am glad to know that the funds going toward the Garden of Hope will help to continue efforts to work in young girls’ lives and to help transform the Newark community in a more positive way.”

President of Denison Dale T. Knobel said of Voelkle, “Rachel has been an example of Denison volunteerism throughout her academic career, but she has pressed far beyond most of her peers in both the breadth and depth of her commitments.”

The Charles J. Ping Award is designed to recognize and honor undergraduate students’ outstanding leadership and contributions to community service on their campus and within their community. In order to win the award, candidates must show evidence of exemplary community service, especially those efforts that connect service with academic study or programs with long-term community support.

The Ohio Campus Compact is a nonprofit membership organization of 47 Ohio colleges and universities with strong community service, service-learning, and civic engagement programs on their campuses.

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