April 16, 2008

Ohio Wesleyan Student Honored For Community Service Efforts

Beth Griffith ’08

She was walking out of a Washington, D.C., church last summer following the opening session of the Sojourners for Justice national seminar. Hundreds of participants had just finished discussing the growing problem of homelessness and what they could do to help.

On the steps of the church, several homeless men lay resting and sleeping. Nearly all of the seminar participants moved past with little more than a second glance. But not Griffith, student leader of the OWU delegation.

“People put their blinders on and kept walking,” says Griffith, who stopped to speak with and listen to the forgotten men. “There’s such a stigma with homelessness. People don’t want to look. … I think that was a really important moment for me.”

The moment helped to solidify the future plans of the graduating senior from Cincinnati, Ohio. A sociology major, Griffith has decided to pursue graduate studies in sociology at either the University of Louisville or the University of Cincinnati. Her long-term goal is to run a nonprofit organization dedicated to grassroots social justice, including helping the homeless.

Griffith’s future wasn’t always as clear. She chose Ohio Wesleyan for its strong science program, anticipating a career in microbiology. But during her first year, she began to have second thoughts.

“Then I signed up for cultural anthropology in my sophomore year,” Griffith says, “and I met Professor Mary Howard. She changed my life. She showed me all the ways you can bring justice into the world.”

The experience planted a seed in Griffith that has since grown into a lifestyle of service.

Today, Griffith is vice president of ProgressOWU, a service organization that makes weekly trips to the Columbus Open Shelter to help prepare and serve meals. She also is co-president of STAND, formerly known as “Students Taking Action Now: Darfur,” which shares information about genocide and human injustices in the western Sudan region and elsewhere. She also has participated in mission trips to aid the homeless in Chicago and help build homes for the needy in rural West Virginia.

For her outstanding commitment to community service, Griffith has been named a 2007-2008 recipient of the prestigious Charles J. Ping Student Award. The awards are presented by the Ohio Campus Compact, a Granville, Ohio-based nonprofit coalition of 49 Ohio colleges and universities. This marks the fourth consecutive year that OWU students have earned Ping Awards. Griffith’s award includes a $500 honorarium to be given to the charity or community partner of her choice.

Griffith will give her funds to Maine-based WISE, Women’s Initiatives that Strengthen and Empower. She also will accompany WISE volunteers this summer on a three-week mission to Zambia. While in the African republic, Griffith will spend time at an orphanage, a children’s school, and a women’s resource center.

“The center helps women to learn trades to help them become independent, such as sewing and weaving.” Griffith says.

And as for the children? “We will be giving them loving care and attention,” Griffith promises.

Before beginning graduate school, Griffith also will return to Washington, D.C., with University Chaplain Jon Powers and a group of 14 OWU students who will spend a week and a half living and working in the nation’s largest homeless shelter. The group also will work to educate lawmakers about homelessness and lobby for more resources to address the issue.

Griffith says she is looking forward to the additional experience. “The Chicago trip taught me about urban poverty, but this will take things a step further,” she says of living in the D.C. shelter. “There will be no escaping it. … This time will be my time to shine, hopefully.”

And, Griffith believes, the harsh environment will only strengthen the passion for community service and social justice that she developed at Ohio Wesleyan.

“I want to make it a way of life,” she says of helping others. “It just seems right.”

– Cole Hatcher