Defiance College’s Lindsay Kasmer receives state service award from Ohio Campus Compact

April 23, 2015

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College student Lindsay Kasmer, Medina, Ohio, is a 2014-15 recipient of the Charles J. Ping Student Service Award from Ohio Campus Compact. Kasmer, a senior majoring in social work and psychology, is one of only 14 college and university students in Ohio to receive the honor.

The Ping Award is designed to recognize and honor undergraduate students at an Ohio Campus Compact member institution for their outstanding leadership and contributions to community service or service-learning on their campus and within their community.

Kasmer’s extensive service and leadership during her years at Defiance College have extended from the campus to the local community to the global community. DC President Mark Gordon lauded Kasmer for her efforts. “Lindsay’s positive attitude and ability to take what she learns in the classroom and apply it to the community, whether locally or globally, has been an inspiration to those around her,” he said.

She has dedicated much of her time to Project 701, Defiance College’s student-run nonprofit organization, as project manager of the Defiance Cares Free Clinic. Working closely with Defiance ProMedica and Defiance Mercy Hospital, she has successfully managed a team of 50 DC students working to provide free health care to Defiance community members in need. To date this group has served approximately 315 clients.

As a member of the Carolyn M. Small Honors Program, she has made great strides in helping the community of Defiance. Through her work in the Honors Program, she organized a “Hunger Games” event to raise awareness of world hunger and to support the Honors Program’s affiliation with Universities Fighting World Hunger. Gaining college student interest, Kasmer developed several competitive games centralized around the issue of hunger, ending with a donation of 100 food items to the PATH Center, Defiance’s local food bank and soup kitchen. Her collaborative effort with Sodexo, the College’s dining service, also allowed for DC students to donate meals from their meal plans in an effort to “Swipe Out Hunger.” Those donated meals translated into dollars to purchase additional food items given to the PATH Center.

In addition to the work she has done on campus and in the surrounding community, Kasmer is also driven to help those in the global community. As a McMaster Scholar to Cambodia in 2012-13 and 2013-14, she developed training sessions for professionals from a variety of organizations on how to work effectively with individuals who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Defiance College, chartered in 1850, is an independent, liberal arts institution in Northwest Ohio offering more than 40 undergraduate programs of study as well as graduate programs in education and business. Defiance College has received national recognition for its educational experience of service and engagement. The college website is www.defiance.edu.