RobinsonÌýis majoring in theater at Augsburg. HerÌýartistic background includes the Penumbra Theatre’s Summer Institute and the St. Paul Central High School’s Central Touring Theatre. When she was attending Central, RobinsonÌýwrote a poem highlighting racial inequalities within the school system. She then went on to perform the poem, with others, for groups of teachers and administration in the St. Paul Public Schools.

Robinson has served as editor of The Echo newspaper, a student publicationÌýat Augsburg College. She also has performed her original spoken word as part of the College’sÌýDr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation celebration.

The post Atlese Robinson ’15 awarded Hawkinson Foundation Scholarship appeared first on News and Media.

Fardosa Hassan ’12

Fardosa Hassan was born in Somalia and graduated from Washburn High School in Minneapolis. She is now a senior at Augsburg majoring in sociology and international relations with a minor in religion.

Her leadership was key to the Nobel Peace Prize Forum held at Augsburg. She worked to prepared the interfaith dialogue that occurred between former Prime Minister of Norway, Kjell Magne Bondevik; Rev. Mitri Raheb of Palestine; USAID leader Zeenat Rahman; and U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison.

Fardosa served as an intern in the Kenya Parliament. Here her experience with Kenyan culture and politics led her to change her major. Fardosa’s firm belief in the importance of basic human rights was strengthened by her experience in Kenya. It was there that she came to the realization that what she cares about most is women’s rights: equal pay for equal work, and much more. Fardosa also completed an internship with Lutheran Social Services, where she had the opportunity to work on immigration and refugee issues.

A founding member of Augsburg’s Interfaith Scholar cohort, Fardosa was recognized by President Barack Obama and invited to the White House to take part in the Interfaith Campus Challenge. This further strengthened her strong belief of the importance of protecting basic human rights here and around the world.

Marie Braun

Marie Braun has spent nearly six decades, starting when she was twenty-something, working on behalf of peace and justice. She marched with Martin Luther King to Selma, and was further motivated by King’s 1967 speech against the Vietnam War. Her effort has been constant, and her focus has been in helping those who need it most.

Marie co-founded the Counseling Clinic in Brooklyn Center, which provided outpatient chemical dependency and mental health treatment to those who might otherwise not have been served. Marie, on behalf of the victims of war, has been to jail, traveled to Iraq, and demonstrated at Alliant Tech and in the offices of our elected officials. She has repeatedly risked arrest. Her primary purpose is peace, and in this, she strives to make a difference for women who always bear a disproportionate share of the ravages of war.

Marie works relentlessly and with courage to bring constant attention to the immorality of war and the weapons of war, and to say, “You may not fund or carry out these wars in my name—not in my name.”

The post Women's Resource Center honors courageous women appeared first on News and Media.

The Newman Civic Fellow Award recognizes students on college campuses who are doing civic engagement work and trying to better their community through service.

Bergren has been involved with the Bonner program for the last three years, working with organizations including Project Footsteps and the Redeemer Center for Life.

As a sophomore, Bergren and two other Bonner Leaders spearheaded an initiative to gather information on people and organizations that could share their assets or resources with young people. “The idea was that no young person should be left behind with all the resources we have,” Bergren says.

She met with people in neighborhoods throughout Minneapolis. “I learned that everyone has something to offer, whether it’s guitar lessons or food or transportation.”

This project guided Bergren in her second Bonner placement with Redeemer Center for Life in the Harrison neighborhood of North Minneapolis. She did asset mapping, talking with people about the assets they viewed as valuable in their community. Her report included economic development on Glenwood Avenue, positive youth hangouts and gathering spots, and childhood or educational services. “I think we helped to dispel some of the misconceptions about neighborhoods and show people that there was value in their neighborhood,” she says.

For the last semester, Bergren has been working at Hope Community on Franklin Avenue as the program coordinator for a Saturday morning tutoring and mentoring program called Learning in Communities.

This summer she will return to the Harrison neighborhood to create and implement a youth leadership program. The plan is to gather 15-20 young people and meet with them weekly to help them gain leadership skills.

“We want to do that in unconventional ways,” Bergren says, “like through going to theatre or creating theatre.” She hopes that she can help young people find ways to change or fix issues using events that have happened in their neighborhood that have perpetuated the cycle of oppression or reinforced stereotypes.

“We want to make a program that they can really invest in and by the end be empowered to find a leadership role in their neighborhood or create some kind of social change project,” she adds.

Bergren will have to leave the Harrison project for a short time in June in order to travel to Norway and participate in the Nobel Peace Scholar program. In addition to her involvement as a Bonner Leader and a Peace Scholar, Bergren is also a Sabo Scholar, a volunteer at Cedar Cultural Center, and a student in the Augsburg Honors program.

The post Claire Bergren named Newman Civic Fellow appeared first on News and Media.

During the January “winterim” break, several Augsburg students traveled with Religion professor Bev Stratton to Central America for REL 480: Vocation and the Christian Faith: El Salvador. First-year Katelyn Danelski reflects below on the group’s experiences.

We met with several speakers and visited different places, such as churches, a university, and a rural community, in hopes of learning more about their culture, history, and people. We primarily learned about their civil war (1979-1992) and about the roles faith and identity play in the midst of social injustice, oppression, and conflict.

Upon arriving in the country, we settled in at a guesthouse owned by a woman who fought as a guerrilla during the war. The next day we visited a church where Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated in 1980. Romero was made Archbishop in 1977 in hopes that he wouldn’t do much; the Catholic Church at the time didn’t want involvement with war or with the people, and Romero was the perfect man for their agenda.

Though he was what the Church wanted at first, he became increasingly involved with the people and underwent a personal transformation, becoming a leader and a voice for the people. He once said, “If they kill me I will arise in the Salvadoran people.” And arise he has. Junior Katie Gessell remarked, “For me, this experience finally brought me back to my faith…Seeing how little the Salvadoran people have along with everything they have been through, and then seeing how much faith they still had in God was incredible.”

In addition to learning about Romero, we also heard from speakers who experienced the civil war. One day we visited Suchitoto and took boats to an area where a massacre had taken place. A man who had endured the massacre spoke to us about his experiences as a child during the war, losing his family at age 9 in the massacre; he recalled memories with startling clarity.

Afterward, a woman who had also shared her experiences asked us to stand in a circle. She prayed and then told us to hug one another and say, “No more war.” She began to tear up and the whole experience was profoundly moving. Though there can be no justification for the atrocity these people went through, some redemption may be found in the impact their stories have on others. Junior Hayley Thomas responded, “Their stories were extremely powerful and the passion they had for their country and their work really inspired me to make a difference with my own life.”

Outside of hearing intense personal stories, we also visited places of national interest, such as the U.S. Embassy and the National Assembly building. We heard from deputies from the ARENA and FMLN political parities. It was shocking to learn that the U.S. supplied the corrupt Salvadoran government with $1.5 million per day for 12 years during their civil war, leading to a longer war and many more civilian deaths.

Senior Adam Jacobsen commented on how remarkable it was that the people were so open to us, as Americans, in spite of this. He said, “They really understood that our government’s decisions at the time were not our own.” Most of the people we met were compassionately able to make a distinction between the American government and the American people.

On one of our last nights in the country, in the rural area of Nueva Esperanza (New Hope), a group of young people who call themselves “Mercy” came and performed traditional Central American folk songs. Everyone’s faces lit up with joy, and some children from the community came over to listen, as well as another American group that was visiting the country. The next evening we brought piñatas to the kids and played with them. Music and play brought people together.

These experiences serve as a testimony to what all of us hopefully learned from this trip; people are people, and no matter creed, religion, or race, we are all united by a common thread of humanity. As the Salvadoran poet Roque Dalton once wrote, “…my veins don’t end in me.”

The post Learning about war and peace in El Salvador appeared first on News and Media.

Selected annually by the Minneapolis-based Foundation, the scholarships are aimed at furthering the commitment to peace and justice of the late Rev. Vincent L. Hawkinson, who served as pastor of Grace University Lutheran Church in Minneapolis for 30 years. The scholarship program has awarded more than $100,000 to 87 students since 1988, and 20 students are receiving the 2008 scholarship awards.

The Augsburg scholarship recipients are (l to r) Ulises Ayala-Beltran, Maria Alvillar Hinojosa, Ryan Treptow, and Juventino Meza-Rodriguez.

Ulises Ayala-Beltrán ’11, accounting major, French minor — He has been active in Project Navigate, aimed at increasing the number of immigrant students pursuing higher education in Minnesota. At Augsburg, Ulises is involved with the Spanish Club, Queer and Straight in Unity, and is a member of Allied Latino/a Augsburg Students (ALAS).

Maria Alvillar Hinojosa ’12, biology major with a pre-med emphasis — In 2008, she graduated from Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, where she was president and historian of the National Honor Society and took part in student council and yearbook club. At Augsburg she volunteers twice a week with the Augsburg Reads program.

Ryan Treptow ’08, marketing and business administration major, specializing in international business — He served as a teaching assistant in China. While at Augsburg, he was active in the Augsburg model United Nations Committee, participated in the annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum, and tutored refugee students in local schools.

Juventino Meza-Rodriguez ’11, sociology and justice and peace studies majors — At Augsburg he is active in student government, Diversity Committee, Allied Latina/os Augsburg Students (ALAS) and other organizations, and volunteers at a community center in the Pillsbury Neighborhood (Waite House). He is an intern with Project NAVIGATE to increase the number of immigrant students pursuing higher education and volunteers with organizations like Admission Possible, which helps promising low-income students obtain admission to college.

In addition to scholarships, the Foundation presents a lifetime achievement award to individuals who have made significant contributions to peace and justice. Receiving the 2008 honorary awards is Augsburg alumni Arvid “Bud” Dixen, ’52, an ordained Lutheran pastor who marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr., organized efforts to support farmers during the farm crisis and helped found the Nonviolent Peaceforce.

The honorary award and scholarship recipients will be recognized at the Foundation’s annual program at 4 p.m., November 16, 2008, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 2730 East 31st St, Minneapolis. The event is open to the public.

The post Four Auggies recognized for peace and justice work appeared first on News and Media.