by Jon Vander Lugt
While attending the nearby Chestnut Hill College, Becca Scheetz’s ’15 commitments were numerous and varied.
“I was looking for my niche and where I could fit in,” Becca said. “CHC is a big athlete school, so I tried to find something I liked doing.”
“I’ve always liked to give back, so the campus ministry was how I got started,” she went on. “Then I got involved as an orientation leader, and as a student ambassador.”
She did all of this while also working part-time at The Hill, which helped her win the Dorothea E. Fenton Memorial Award in 2015, which is given annually to a senior who “exemplifies the ‘Dear Neighbor’ outlook” of the College.
Three years later, in her role as the social accountability co-chair, Becca was helping Nicole Bennett search for a new community partner. She knew that Chestnut Hill College would be a perfect fit.
“I’ve built a good network of volunteers with the College, so it was easy to reach out to them and make them a partner,” she said.
“Their whole mission and culture is about serving and giving back,” she went on. “In my opinion, that’s how The Hill works too. I think it’s a perfect partnership.”
So far, she’s worked with Chestnut Hill College to assist their night school program with administrative tasks, to send resident volunteers to proctor exams for undergraduate students with learning accommodations, to arrange a music recital by students, and to bring a handful of residents to a special community classical music concert held on campus.
“We have a really positive two-way relationship with the College,” Becca said. “They help us, and we help them.”
One of Becca’s primary goals for the rest of 2019 is to expand The Hill’s involvement with CHC.
“Hopefully we can get more people to go over for test proctoring, and Nicole and I are trying to get involved with their Witches and Wizards Festival for employees to volunteer in,” she went on. “There’s such a wide range of things that we can do.”
“I think it’s awesome,” she said, “and the possibilities are endless.”
* This article, reprinted with permission, originally appeared in The Hill at Whitemarsh’s 2018-19 Social Accountability Report.
