SMWC was founded in 1840 by Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, a woman well ahead of her time who impacted countless lives. An entrepreneurial leader who was dedicated to serving all people, regardless of race, religion or background, Guerin was passionate about educating women and preparing them to become leaders.

To recognize students who embody the principles by which Mother Theodore Guerin lived and served, SMWC created the Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Scholarship Competition. The College will award 10 renewable Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Scholarships ranging in value from $13,000 to $20,000 to students nationwide who have used their unique experiences, aptitudes and abilities to make a difference in their local communities and beyond.

Any female student enrolled in grade 12 in a public, private or parochial school in is eligible, and female students in grade 12 who are homeschooled are also encouraged to apply. To be considered for the competition, students must submit a completed application form, a high school transcript, SAT or ACT scores, two recommendation forms accompanied by letters of recommendation (one from a school official and one from a community member), and a written essay. The application can be submitted online at www.smwc.edu, and the additional application materials can be submitted via US mail or in person. All application materials must be postmarked by January 15, 2009, to be considered for the competition.

Finalists will be invited to the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College campus for the Scholarship Competition Weekend, which will be held on Feb. 7, 2009. Finalists will participate in an interactive, all-day program, which will be followed by a dinner for all participants and their families.

Based on the submitted application materials and the final competition interviews, the College will award 10 renewable Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Scholarships. Eight students will be awarded up to $13,000 renewable SMWC scholarships, and two students will be awarded $20,000 renewable SMWC scholarships.

Founded in 1840 by Saint Mother Theodore Guerin and the Sisters of Providence, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is the oldest Catholic liberal arts college for women in the United States. Today, SMWC thrives by offering a rich liberal arts education, scholarships and financial aid opportunities to make college affordable, individual attention, a value-centered education in a Catholic tradition, and a wide variety of student leadership activities. In fact, both Princeton Review and U.S.News & World Report rank SMWC as one of the Best Baccalaureate Colleges in the Midwest.

The College is committed to making private higher education affordable. Approximately 95% of campus-based undergraduate students at SMWC receive academic or need-based financial aid, and, this year, the College will grant approximately $3 million in institutional aid.

For more information about the Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Scholarship Competition or Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, contact the SMWC Office of Admission by email at smwcadms@smwc.edu or by phone at 812-535-5106 or 1-800-926-SMWC.

The Top Ten on 10 Scholarship Competition, sponsored by Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and WTHI-TV, is open to any female student enrolled in grade 12 in a public, private or parochial school in the WTHI viewing area. Female students in grade 12 who are homeschooled are also encouraged to apply. 

From October to February, 10 students are chosen to receive a $13,000 renewable SMWC scholarship. Two winners are chosen each month based on academic records, leadership and community service roles, high school/community references and a written essay. From the 10 winners, two students are chosen to receive $20,000 renewable SMWC scholarships. 

To be considered for the competition, students must submit a completed application, a high school transcript, SAT or ACT scores, two recommendation forms accompanied by letters of recommendation (one from a school official and one from a community member), and a written essay. The application can be submitted online at www.smwc.edu, and the additional application materials can be submitted via US mail or in person. 

Deadline for receipt of all application materials is 4:30 p.m. on the first Friday of every month. Materials received after the deadline will be considered for the following month’s competition. Once a student has applied for the award, she does not need to reapply. If she is not named a scholarship recipient during the month in which she applies, her application will be considered for the award during the following months.

Founded in 1840 by Saint Mother Theodore Guerin and the Sisters of Providence, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is the oldest Catholic liberal arts college for women in the United States. Today, SMWC thrives by offering a rich liberal arts education, scholarships and financial aid opportunities to make college affordable, individual attention, a value-centered education in a Catholic tradition, and a wide variety of student leadership activities. In fact, both Princeton Review and U.S.News & World Report rank SMWC as one of the Best Baccalaureate Colleges in the Midwest.

The College is committed to making private higher education affordable. Approximately 95% of campus-based undergraduate students at SMWC receive academic or need-based financial aid, and, this year, the College will grant approximately $3 million in institutional aid.

For more information about the Top Ten on 10 Scholarship Competition or Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, contact the SMWC Office of Admission by email at smwcadms@smwc.edu or by phone at 812-535-5106 or 1-800-926-SMWC.

SMWC’s accelerated Master of Education (M.Ed.) program incorporates a hybrid delivery model that blends Internet and classroom study. With the hybrid course format of the M.Ed., students are required to engage in classroom study for one weekend every eight weeks, or six times total, throughout the one-year program. For the convenience of prospective students in the Chicago area, Guerin College Preparatory High School will host all of the face-to-face components of the program. The Chicago-area cohort will have its first set of classes Feb. 21-22, 2009.

The M.Ed. program is designed for practicing teachers with at least two years of teaching experience. The program’s curriculum focuses on the development of leadership skills and excellent teaching, empowering teachers to integrate collaborative technology tools and other pedagogical resources to address diverse student needs and circumstances. The program is designed to be completed in one year, but a two-year option is also available.

In addition to the 20 percent discount being offered to students who enroll in this first Chicago cohort, all students who enroll in the M.Ed. program at SMWC are eligible to apply for scholarships and financial aid. Each year, SMWC awards 12 need-based scholarships to students who are admitted to the College’s graduate programs. Six $6,000 scholarships and six $3,000 scholarships are awarded to graduate students who demonstrate financial need as assessed by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) results.

To qualify for the need-based awards, students must be admitted to one of the College’s graduate programs, they must complete the FAFSA, and their FAFSA results must be sent to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. The Graduate Student Need-Based Scholarships will be awarded to those students who have the greatest financial need.

In addition to the M.Ed. program, SMWC offers five graduate programs in art therapy, earth literacy, leadership development, music therapy and pastoral theology. All of the graduate programs at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College are open to women and men, and they are delivered through distance education, which means that students spend minimal time on campus.

To receive more information about the Master of Education program or graduate studies at SMWC, contact the Office of Distance & Graduate Admission by phone at 800-499-0373 or by e-mail at gradadms@smwc.edu.

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is also a sponsor for the 2009 Opening Minds Conference, which is coordinated by Chicago Metropolitan Association for the Education of Young Children. Information about the M.Ed. program and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College will be at booth number 609 during the Conference, which will be held Jan. 22-24 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, 2233 S. Martin Luther King Drive, Chicago, Ill. More information about the Conference can be found online at www.chicagometroaeyc.org/opening-minds/.

Richardson conducted a two-hour workshop entitled “I Write the Songs: Songwriting in/as Music Therapy.” This workshop focused on helping music therapists become more confident with the use of songwriting as a clinical tool in music therapy sessions. Richardson attended the Great Lakes Region executive board meetings as President-elect of the Great Lakes Region of the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA).

Boyle co-presented with other music therapy educators from the University of Dayton and Eastern Michigan University in a roundtable entitled, “Teaching Undergraduate-Level Clinical Improvisation.” The presentation focused on three different models for teaching clinical improvisation in the undergraduate setting. Boyle also attended the Great Lakes Region executive board meetings as the state representative from Indiana.

The following undergraduate music therapy students also attended the conference: Amber Finch, a senior music therapy major from Fox River Grove, Ill., who is currently doing an internship at Park Nicollett Hospital in Minneapolis, Minn.; Julia Lopez-Kaley, a junior music therapy major from Quincy, Ill.; Morgan May, a junior music therapy major from Terre Haute, Ind.; and Jennifer Pinson a junior music therapy and psychology major from Mooresville, Ind.

Several MAMT students and graduates attended the conference. Current MAMT students who attended include Rachel Maurer from Evansville, Ind., Debbie Gombert from Ann Arbor, Mich., Julie Edgell from Fort Wayne, Ind., Bethany Koch from Waterloo, Ill., Bridget Landers from Chicago, Ill., and Rachelle Norman from Overland Park, Kan.

Graduates of the music therapy programs at SMWC are active and involved in the American Music Therapy Association as presenters, Assembly Delegates, and committee members. Graduates of the MAMT program who served as presenters at the organization’s annual conference include Larisa McHugh from Dayton, Ohio, Peter Meyer, from Minneapolis, Minn., Annette Whitehead-Pleaux from Worcester, Mass., and Jody Montgomery fro Duluth, Minn.

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College offers a baccalaureate degree in music therapy for women enrolled in the campus-based undergraduate program. For more information, contact Boyle at sboyle@smwc.edu. The College also offers a graduate program in music therapy to both women and men in a flexible distance-learning format. For more information, contact Richardson at trichard@smwc.edu.

“In these challenging economic times, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College remains committed to making private higher education affordable,” said SMWC President David G. Behrs, Ph.D. “We are proud to offer these scholarships to the graduates of Saint Theodore Guerin High School , a school that not only carries the name of our College’s foundress, Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, but a school that also shares our mission of serving students from diverse backgrounds and preparing them to be tomorrow's leaders.”

The new Saint Theodore Guerin Scholarships are valued at $11,000 a year and will be applied towards the cost of attendance for female graduates of Saint Theodore Guerin High School who are admitted and enroll in the campus-based program at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. The scholarships, which are academically renewable for four years, can be combined with federal need-based financial aid.

A second scholarship, the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and Saint Theodore Guerin High School President’s Scholarship, is a $20,000 scholarship that will be awarded to a female graduate from Saint Theodore Guerin High School who exemplifies the character and academic achievement of the ideal student who would support the mission of both Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and Saint Theodore Guerin High School and the life work of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin. Students interested in applying for this scholarship must submit a President’s Scholarship Application and a 500-word essay by Feb. 1.

Founded in 2004, Saint Theodore Guerin High School, has twice been named by Catholic High School Honor Roll as one of the nation's Top 50 Catholic High Schools. A four-year college preparatory school, Guerin Catholic focuses its curriculum and teaching methods on holiness, honor, servant leadership and excellence.

The Most Rev. William L. Higi, Bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette, Ind., has said that he chose Saint Mother Theodore Guerin as the school's namesake in part to spread her story and her significant role in the establishment of a Catholic community in the state. The school does its part in making Guerin more known to its students as well. In its first few years of existence, it has already made a tradition of taking each freshman class to the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods campus so they can walk the grounds and hear more about the life and works of Guerin, who founded the Sisters of Providence and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and in 1840.

Today, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, the oldest Catholic liberal arts college for women in the United States, thrives by offering a rich liberal arts education, scholarships and financial aid opportunities to make college affordable, individual attention, a value-centered education in a Catholic tradition, and a wide variety of student leadership activities. In fact, both Princeton Review and U.S.News & World Report rank SMWC as one of the Best Baccalaureate Colleges in the Midwest.

For more information about the new Saint Theodore Guerin High School Scholarships, contact the SMWC Office of Admission by email at smwcadms@smwc.edu or by phone at 812-535-5106 or 1-800-926-SMWC. More information about Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College can be found online at www.smwc.edu. More information about Saint Theodore Guerin High School can be found at www.guerincatholic.org.

Christy Wessel Powell thought she would find a job easily once she graduated from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) in 2003. She studied abroad. She did multiple internships. Yet, when she graduated, she wasn’t getting much response to her resume.

She shared her experience and what lead to a life-changing experience working two years for Teach For America on Dec. 1 at SMWC’s Rooney Library. Teach For America (TFA) aims to end educational inequity. Through TFA, recent college graduates commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools.

About 25 students, faculty and staff attended Wessel Powell’s noon presentation at Jazzman’s Café in the Mary and Andrew Rooney Library at SMWC.

Wessel Powell was always interested in education. She took classes at SMWC that were geared toward teaching and her senior thesis was based around education, she said during her presentation. She graduated in 2003 with a degree in international studies and humanities.

“I had maybe four internships while I was here. I studied abroad in Ireland. Studied abroad in Costa Rica. I thought I was so marketable,” she said. “But … for some reason, I went out there … and I wasn’t getting responses back.”

She started researching how to get into independent schools and teach. Then she ran across the web site for Teach For America. She served as a first/second grade teacher at Pope Elementary School in Chicago while serving in the in Teach for America program. TFA is sometimes described as a domestic version of the Peace Corps. Those who serve receive a teacher’s salary equivalent to a beginning teacher’s salary as well as assistance pursuing a master’s degree.

“What I liked about the program was it melded several interests I had while here at SMWC. I was interested in teaching and was really into social justice issues and being civically engaged,” she said. The social justice piece was present in TFA because it places undergraduates in any discipline into high needs areas in public schools where they can’t staff the schools.

“So, those kids are falling way behind. The achievement gap between urban, inner city schools and suburban schools that have more affluence in the community is significant,” she said. “Kids are dropping out and not going to college. It perpetuates the cycle of poverty.”

A big piece of fixing that is through education and giving kids a leg up to an equal playing field.

Teach for America melded two things she was passionate about: teaching and social justice. But still, the biggest piece of all was that she didn’t have a job. “And this was a job. You are a teacher,” she said about finding TFA.

The first year was a struggle. But, the second year Wessel Powell said she was able to get better results with the kids. Rosemary Nudd, associate professor of English at SMWC who was in the audience at the library, asked Wessel Powell if her liberal arts background helped her. Wessel Powell explained that her liberal arts background helped her be flexible, thanking her adviser at SMWC, Patrick Harkins, retired professor of English, who was in the audience.

“I am an advocate for the liberal arts. If you can be a flexible thinker, you need to be a flexible thinker when you are thrown into teaching,” she said. “I feel like I can think on my feet and … make things happen and do the kids a service. Using your critical thinking skills, and all of those great things you’ve developed here,  to effect actual change that you can see happen right there.”

“Jump out there and try something you’ve never done before,” she encouraged the students in the audience. “You really can turn a liberal arts degree into anything,” she said.

Some benefits of the TFA program are receiving state certification, a master’s degree, and effecting social change. She also said there are graduate school partnerships, which can be a full-ride or a deferment.

Wessel Powell also helped found a charter school in East Chicago with one of her previous bosses who went on to become a principal.

TFA is great for anyone interested in education and social issues. “I’d consider Teach For America a jumping off point because you are seeing it from the ground level,” she said. Recent graduates who speak fluent Spanish are in demand, as well as graduates with degrees in science and math.

A member of the audience asked if students majoring in human services would be welcomed in TFA.

“Yes. People who can work that complicated web of services people need. It’s great if you have some knowledge of what’s going on with the social services side … because half the kids’ problem is they need to go to the doctor or they don’t have a safe place to live or they are not getting food regularly. All the baggage they bring into the classroom is why they can’t get ahead.”

For more information about Wessel Powell’s presentation at SMWC, email the SMWC Career Development Center at career@smwc.edu or call 812-535-5188. You can also visit the WTWO website to see a story about the presentation. More information about Teach For America can be found online at www.teachforamerica.org.

In 1984, 13-year-old Ryan White became infected through a tainted hemophilia treatment. His story gained national exposure after being expelled from school because of his infection. Throughout a lengthy legal battle with the school board, Ryan quickly became a national spokesperson for AIDS research and education, and in the process, he opened the hearts and minds of millions of people. He was, as Ted Koppel described him on Nightline, “an extraordinary young man; brave, tolerant, and wise beyond his years.”

Although Ryan lost his fight to the disease in 1990, his memory lives on through a major piece of legislation known as the Ryan White CARE Act, the largest federally funded program for people living with HIV/AIDS. His mom, Jeanne, continues to dedicate herself to Ryan’s dream of easing the stigma and discrimination faced by so many people with HIV/AIDS, speaking to a vast array of audiences about her family’s experience and the role that Ryan played in opening so many hearts and minds.

For more information about Jeanne White-Ginder’s speech at SMWC or upcoming events in the College’s Four-Star Series, contact Jeff Malloy, director of campus life, at 812-535-5219 or jmalloy@smwc.edu. More information about Ryan White can be found online at www.ryanwhite.com.

Lynch, who is originally from Greenfield, Ind., but now lives in Chula Vista, Calif., is a member of an international online artist community called deviantART, and she received a news notice on her account that the community was holding a card drive.

The purpose of the deviantART Holiday Card Project is to create holiday cards for people who are hospitalized during the holiday season. The idea behind the project is to simply try and bring a little cheer to those who are undergoing hospital stay.

“I wanted to get involved in this project because I think that the winter holidays are a unique time of year,” Lynch said. “They can be warm, loving, and bring out the best in some people. They can also be sad and hard for those who have lost loved ones and are ill. I like to spread holiday cheer and make arts and crafts, so this is really the perfect event for me.”

The work that Lynch is doing for the deviantART Holiday Card Project will count towards the service learning hours that are required in her Introduction to Theology class at SMWC. Service learning is an experiential method of teaching and learning by which designated course goals are achieved through significant community service and subsequent reflection thus developing in participants an ethic of service.

At SMWC students may choose from several courses that incorporate service learning, such as English, education or theology. The College has several reasons for incorporating service learning into its classes. Not only does service learning allow students to combine action and theory into authentic learning, but the College's mission and its motto – Virtue (strength) and knowledge united – also support and enhance the value of service learning.

For her service learning project, Lynch approached the SMWC community to make and donate cards, and she has hosted several card-making sessions, sharing construction paper, cardboard, markers, crayons, colored pencils, and ribbon with those who want to make cards but do not have their own materials. So far, Lynch has received about 50 cards.

The cards will be sent to deviantART who will then distribute the cards to both U.S. and international hospitals. The patients who receive the cards age in range from children to seniors and have illness or injuries that vary from mild to terminal.

To submit cards for the deviantART, contact Andrea Lynch at amlynch@smwc.edu by Dec. 6, or cards can be mailed to deviantART, Inc., Holiday Card Project, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #788, Hollywood, CA 90028. Deadline for receipt of cards is Dec. 15. More information about the deviantART Holiday Card Project can be found online at http://news.deviantart.com/article/61965/. You can also visit the WTWO website to see a story about SMWC's contributions to the deviantART Holiday Card Project.