Current Media

STLF in the Media

STLF has made it in the Media in several cities and towns in the US, and even an article overseas! Media Releases are sent out for our Pay it Forward Tours, in an effort to expose the world to youth creating positive change in communities.

Although unable to highlight ALL media hits, please be patient as we continue to update this page. Please scroll down for a TV Piece from Riverton, WY, as well as an article from a Newspaper in Malaysia.

In addition, here are two Word documents that have supported STLF's Media endeavors:

• STLF Fact Sheet
• Media Release: College Pay it Forward Tour 2008

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USA TODAY

Internet Spurs Upswing in Volunteerism

March 13, 2008
By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

Youth volunteerism is surging as high school and college students use the Internet to mobilize quickly and nationally.

More than 22,000 non-profit groups have signed up to rally supporters on the teen-and-young-adult site MySpace since it began in 2004, says Jeff Berman, the site's executive vice president for marketing. He says more young people are engaged in activism online and their creativity in using the Internet to do good works is "off the charts."

Groups also have sprung up on Facebook, another social- networking site used by millions of students, to urge youth to fight global warming, help Hurricane Katrina victims, seek world peace or protest events such as charges brought against six black teens for beating a white classmate in Jena, La.

"Activism is at a very high level among college students, probably more than in the last 10 to 20 years," says Robert Rhoads, who teaches a class on the history of student activism at the University of California, Los Angeles. "There's a greater political consciousness among students," he says. "The Internet has played a role in that."

A growing number of college freshmen volunteer in their last year of high school, says John Pryor of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. He found in a survey that 83.3% did so last year, up from 66% in 1989. Some high schools make community service a graduation requirement, but 70% of those who volunteered were not required to do so.

Other youth activism:

•Pay It Forward tours, in which students spend spring break doing community-service projects, were launched in 2003 by four University of Minnesota freshmen. In 2004, 43 students participated; this year, about 700 are doing so.

"Everyone has a spark of idealism in them," says author Catherine Ryan Hyde, whose book Pay It Forward inspired a movie and a student movement. Its premise: Instead of paying someone back for a kindness, encourage benevolence with a kindness for someone else.

Laura Zeiher, 21, a junior at Minnesota State University Moorhead, completed a tour last week. She cleaned parks in San Antonio and helped set up a homeless shelter in Roswell, N.M. "We're working for a common good," she says.


•STAND, a student anti-genocide coalition, begun by Georgetown University students in 2004, has grown to about 800 chapters at high schools and colleges. It holds conferences to educate students and plans a march to the White House on April 13.

"We haven't done many marches," says member Sean Redding, a sophomore at George Washington University. He says the group focuses more on political advocacy. Its members lobbied Congress to pass a bill in December that allows state and local governments to divest themselves of investments in companies with business in Sudan.

Today's student activists are "more sophisticated," relying less on street protests and more on lobbying and volunteering, says Peter Levine, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at the University of Maryland. He says their savvy, abetted by the Internet, has created "a new mold."

Berman adds, "This is all part of the democratization of the world that the Internet offers."

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RIVERTON, WY - College PIF Tour - March 10, 2008
Students from Bemidji State University (BSU) on TV News

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The Star - Malaysia

Empowering women

By TAN SHIOW CHIN
educate@thestar.com.my

Two outstanding female graduates get the opportunity to intern at well-known multinational companies, thanks to Yayasan Tuanku Fauziah.

THE selection criteria is stringent, the process arduous and the judges, intimidating. And, oh yes, only females who are excellent all-rounders need apply.

In fact, Wong Xiao Qing, 22, thought her prospects of getting the inaugural 2006 Yayasan Tuanku Fauziah Award (see sidebar) were so low that she almost didn't apply.

But encouragement from a fellow church member spurred her to write and submit the 800-word essay on What globalisation means to you, which was the first step in the application process.

Said the psychology graduate: “I think what really interested me in the award was that it is aimed at promoting excellence in women.

“I felt it was cool that the award is only for women and emphasises not only academic excellence but also achievements in extra-curricular activities.”

The foundation provides internship opportunities with renowned multinational companies, including a stint abroad at one of the chosen company's branch offices.

Xiao Qing, who graduated from Bemidgi State University in the United States last May, is currently undergoing her internship with General Electric (GE).

“I'm planning to go into organisational psychology. I know GE focuses on individual empowerment, so I told the (foundation's) board that I would like to do my internship there.”

Having spent two months at GE's Kuala Lumpur headquarters, Xiao Qing recently left to continue her internship under the Graduate Leadership Programme at the company's Brussels office.

She shared: “It's really interesting because GE treats interns like employees – I have decision-making power, which is scary, yet empowering at the same time.”

Among her responsibilities are helping with recruitment and benefit packages, as well as working on corporate social responsibility projects and helping out with orientation and interviews for university students doing their industrial training.

“I do lots and lots of presentations because I work with various departments and we have to report to the management. We also have teleconferences with colleagues from other countries.”

Xiao Qing added that working in human resources is different from studying psychology.

“It's kind of a new thing for me; I'm learning a lot of acronyms and terms,” she said, with a laugh. Although the foundation planned to select 10 candidates for the award, only two were chosen due to the exacting demands of the judges.

When asked what she thought made her stand out, Xiao Qing said: “Maybe it was because I was really active in university. I was president of the peer support group at HELP (University College), a member of the university’s student council, coordinator of the World Vision 30-hour Famine, and basically involved in a lot of things.”

Recipients of the Yayasan Tuanku Fauziah Award also join the foundation as Fellows, and are expected to contribute back to society by improving the lives of their fellow citizens.

Xiao Qing already has a community project that she hopes to bring to Malaysia.

“In my final year of university in the United States, I joined the Pay It Forward Tour."

This comprises a busload of college students who follow a set route through the United States and volunteer their services to the community at each stop they make, be it cleaning up community centres or public parks, or anything else that needs to be done.

“The students pay their own way. The philosophy is to do a good deed for someone who does not expect it, and then ask them to pay it forward.”

A learning adventure

For Joanne Oh, 25, the award was an excellent opportunity to realise her dream of going to Europe.

“I had been looking out for opportunities to be in Europe, and I stumbled upon this award just a few weeks before the final papers for my degree. I wanted to do something different, and was looking forward to working instead of pursuing a masters immediately after my bachelors degree,” she said, in an email interview.

Joanne, who found out about the award through the Jobstreetwebsite, was initially hesitant about writing the application essay as she was used to writing only technical reports throughout her four-year degree.

But the chance to go abroad proved too strong an attraction.

“I took about three hours to complete the essay on What globalisation means to you.

“As for the written essay on the day of the interview, I just tried my best to put my thoughts into words,” she shared.

The interview session with the judges was not that stressful as they were interested in getting to know the candidate as a person, said Joanne. The Multimedia University electronics engineering graduate is currently interning at Siemens in Paderborn, Germany, under the Siemens Scholars programme.

“The Yayasan was kind enough to take into consideration my wish to go to Europe and to seek a company that could reward me with opportunities with regards to my technical background in engineering.”

Before going to Germany, Joanne was attached to Siemens Malaysia, training as a consultant for seven months.

“I was exposed to their various business solutions in Business Intelligence, Enterprise Content Management and Radio Frequency Identification. I learnt about project management and gained business knowledge and acumen to complement my technical background.”

She added that she is now with the Optical Interconnection Technology team in Paderborn, which works in the field of short distance optical interconnects for intra system data transfer.

Of her experience so far, Joanne said: “I've learnt so much. My colleagues are very willing to share their knowledge with me.

“I’ve gained business and technical know-how, project implementation and planning skills, a network of colleagues and friends, and the opportunity to experience cultural and personality differences.”

Having been in Germany for almost four months now, Joanne has taken full advantage of her time there to visit places in the country, and the surrounding European nations.

Among the places she has visited are Hanover, Munich and Stuttgart in Germany, as well as Portugal, Spain, France and Belgium.

“I'm enjoying every moment of my internship. I feel like I’ve achieved a balance between work and play. I’ve never lived life like this before, planning for weekend trips so constantly! It's crazy and tiring, but definitely worthwhile!” she said.

“This entire internship has been a great learning adventure.”

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