Fall 2012-Spring 2013

Davies Coordinator : Katherine Bowser (left)


Name: Adrienne Nelson
Hometown: Cleveland, OH
Class of 2013
Major/Minor: Environmental Studies/Art and the Environment
Davies Site: The Market House

The Davies Program helped me to have a point of entry into Meadville. I joined because I was curious about the city and where my place within the city would be, as a student but also as someone who calls Meadville home (for the moment). I work with Project O.N.E. – Offering Nutrition for Everyone. It is a program to strengthen the food web in Meadville through education about healthful eating. Currently, Project O.N.E. provides cooking classes taught by community members that promote cooking with produce and dry goods from the Market House.


Name: Aileen Holmes
Hometown: Avondale, PA
Class of 2013 Major/Minor: English (emphasis in Fiction Writing)/Psychology
Davies Site: Wesbury

I joined Davies because I was always taught that community service is the best way to get involved in your community. I’ve worked in Meadville my whole time at Allegheny, but I wanted to be a part of a more organized, vigorous project, and the Davies Program seemed like a great way to do that. I’m honored that I was chosen to represent Allegheny in such a positive light. For my Davies project I’m helping out Wesbury’s Activity Coordinator Greg Brink with projects he’s working on. I’m also teaching a Creative Writing class as well as a Line Dancing class.


Name: Alexander Neal
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Class of 2015
Major/Minor: Economics Major/English Minor?
Davies Site: Crawford Heritage Community Foundation

I joined the Davies program in an effort to contribute to the partnership between Allegheny College and the city of Meadville. As a student, I feel like this relationship has room for further development and I wanted to be a part of the group bridging the gap between the College and the City. At my site I have been working at the Crawford County Courthouse to find property owners in the county who are benefitting from Oil and Natural Gas Leases. I will then compose a letter asking them to donate to the Crawford Heritage Community Foundation in an effort to keep the funds with in the county and benefit many different non-profit organizations.


Name: Aman Biswas
Hometown: Bangkok, Thailan
Class of 2013
Major/Minor: Environmental Studies/Religious Studies
Davies Site: Meadville City Hall

I joined the Davies program to focus more on Meadville as well as apply my experience and interest in environmental policy. Through my project I will mainly be working on public relations as well as business proposals for various environmental policy related projects.


Name: Becca Gallup
Hometown: Rochester, NY
Class of 2015
Major/Minor: German/History (probably-not positive)
Davies Site: Meadville Council on the Arts

I joined the Davies program to actively participate in Meadville and work with locals to establish a better relationship between Allegheny students and Meadville citizens. My project includes teaching arts courses, assisting theater courses and holding office hours.


Name: Diana Loll
Hometown: Beaver, PA
Class of 2016
Major/Minor: Undeclared (probably Econ and French)
Davies Site: Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau

I chose to be a Davies Leader because to me there’s nothing more important than community and the service we do really connects us with the area we now call home. Working with the Visitors Bureau has given me the opportunity to not only become more engaged with Crawford county, but to create a closer connection between the community and the college. The project I am working on is meant to do just that by encouraging students to explore, not only Meadville but, the entire county using Instagram in a large scale scavenger hunt.


Name: Jenna Smith
Hometown: Staten Island, NY, NY
Class of 2014
Major/Minor: Environment Studies/Communication Arts
Davies Site: French Creek Valley Conservancy

I Joined Davies because I wanted to become more involved with my school and it’s community. It is important to feel attached to the area that you live in and Meadville is not just where my school is located, It is my hometown. Service has also been a great passion of mine and the Davies Program offers amazing opportunities for students to do some great work. My task is to produce a Water Trail brochure for the French Creek Watershed. The Brochure will provide safety tips and interesting facts to boaters interested in French Creek and its surrounding towns. I will also organize a Sojourn, or a kayak and canoe event for people interested in a group boating experience.


Name: John Rooney
Hometown: Red Lion, PA Class of 2014
Major/Minor: Political Science/Philosophy
Davies Site: Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center

I joined Davies because I wanted to give back to the community in a more continuous, sustained nature than occasional volunteering, especially through involvement with local non-profits, and build relationships with those in the community that I work and live with. This year I’m undertaking a number of maintenance jobs that the center doesn’t have staffing or time for. A sample includes readying the center for its annual Open House (which included overseeing a MADD project there), repairing several outside aviaries (which has so far included overseeing a Service Saturday project there), and generally assisting with the educative and medical work of the center.


Name: Kara Cusimano
Hometown: Binghamton, NY Class of 2013 Major/Minor Managerial Economics/ VESA Davies Site: Meadville-Western Crawford County Chamber of Commerce

I joined Davies because I really enjoy doing service within the community. My project is creating events that bring the Chamber’s members and the Allegheny community together to create mutually benefiting relationships.


Name: Makenzie O’Connor
Hometown: McKean, PA
Class of 2016
Majors: Biology and Global Health
Davies Site: Active Aging

My project involves working on raising awareness and attendance of the health programs available for seniors and making sure the health/exercise programs meet the governments standards. I also am writing various policy and procedure manuals. I am a very service oriented person and, as a freshmen, I was looking for volunteer opportunities but also considering getting a job. I found that a position as a Davies leader was a job, but that it was very service oriented and after learning more about Lew Davies and his organization I immediately wanted to help with it.


Name: Megan Earley
Hometown: Fenelton, PA
Class of 2014
Major/Minor: Psychology and English double major
Davies Site: YMCA

I joined the Davies program to have a more meaningful college experience through giving my time to a worthwhile organization and truly becoming a member of the Meadville community. I have been planning and coordinating events for the YMCA, such as the Halloween party in October and Healthy Kids Day in the Spring.


Name: Sarah Bottini
Hometown: Basking Ridge, NJ
Class of 2013
Major/Minor: Physics and Chemistry/ Chinese Language
Davies Site: Historic Society

I joined Davies sophomore year because I was interested in creating a positive change in the world. My thought in creating a positive change was to start where I could see the effects, locally! Meadville is a great place and has a lot to offer. My project will be writing about the bicentennial!


Name: Sarah Puzzo
Hometown: Avon, Connecticut
Class of 2013
Major/Minor: English – Writing – poetry/VESA
Davies Site: United Way of Western Crawford County

I joined the Davies Program because it affords me the opportunity to immerse myself in Meadville as an engaged citizen; after all, Meadville is, has been, and will always be the home of every Gator! Last semester I was charged with organizing a database of all of the social and human service agencies that exist in Crawford County; this semester, so far, I’ve been working on uploading that database to the United Way’s website so that it’s available to the public.