Ringling College of Art and Design

Relief Prints

Relief Print is a t-shirt screen-printing event and fundraising
initiative created by Gabriella Thompson and Sarah Kambara,
students at Ringling college of Art + Design in Sarasota,
Florida. The purpose of Relief Print was to raise funds for
Hurricane Sandy victims on the East Coast.

A college-wide act of volunteerism came together as student
artists submitted designs for Relief Print. Resident Assistants
and their residents volunteered to prepare the screens for
printing, and helped out on the event day, Friday December
7th. A total of seven submitted designs were exhibited for
faculty and students to choose from, to have printed on shirts
in return for a donation. Designs were also available on bags,
buttons, and whatever items people brought to print on.

The result of the event was phenomenal, with a total of
$763.00 raised through Relief Print in the time span of only
eight hours. Gabriella Thompson and Sarah Kambara wish to
continue hosting Relief Print events to raise funds for future
disaster needs not only domestically, but also globally.

THE CHILDREN’S GARDEN

On November 17, 2012 Ringling College of Art and Design’s volunteers spent their day at the 6^th Annual Children’s Reading and Art Day at the Children’s Garden of Sarasota.  The non-profit known as Children’s Garden is a “…two acre whimsical and interactive garden for kids where imagination blossoms and nature play is getting your hands dirty.”  Their annual Children’s Reading and Art Day is a celebration of creativity, literature and nature.  Head of Children’s Garden, Joan Condon, has written a children’s book inspired by her garden (pictured above) which you can learn more about here:  http://www.sarasotachildrensgarden.com/documents/snuffy.html

Students helped the art instructors by supervising the children while they created their masterpieces.  These included: talking sticks, cave paintings, self-portraits, and story illustrations.  Ringling volunteers also helped assist the children in reading and interpretation of stories.

Deep in the garden, student volunteers helped the children paint the Children’s Garden’s “rainforest,’ a patch of colorful PVC pipes staggered amongst bamboo.  These PVC pipes are rigged with misters, to give this section of the garden an authentic “rainforest” feel.

This volunteer opportunity, coordinated by Karen Arango (Student-Coordinator, RVo) was an enormous success in many ways.  The Ringling student volunteers had an absolute blast and the Children’s Reading and Art Day was a huge hit!  Thank you to our gracious hosts, Joan and Robyn, for inviting us to participate in this wonderful event.  A special thank you to our volunteers: Kaitlyn Priestly, Ashley Wang, Alex Sanchez, Lari Alejandro, Josh Woolbert, Sips Magagula, Yilmaz Sazak, and Tyler Keshner!

A Splash of Color at the Fire Department Open House

October 6, 2012:  Every year the Sarasota Fire Department hosts their Fire Department Open House at Station 5. Here the department displays their firefighting skills and educates the community about fire prevention.  The Fire Department also provides food and entertainment, including a children’s section with an obstacle course and face painting.

The Ringling College volunteers boasted their own skills in the children’s section—with an estimated 1,200 visitors, they worked along-side firefighters, EMTS and fire inspectors to tackle the enormous demand for face painting!

A special ‘thank you’ to our volunteers: Ally Sage, Lauren Nus, Chelsea Davis, Susan Saulnier, Karen Arango, and Aixa Rumbaut, and of course our host Captain Susan Pearson!

We are honored and thrilled to be a part of this annual event, and cannot wait for next years Open House!

2012 Freshman Orientation Service Project

Every year Ringling College of Art and Design allows the incoming students to get their foot in the door of volunteerism by setting up various projects during orientation week. This 
year was a success! Ringling partnered up with seven organizations which included:

*Community Haven for Adults and Children with Disabilities

( Students helped out with the Community Haven Open House at game tables, dunk booths and other 
activities. Students also helped to propagate plants in the nursery, and clean up around the 
Community Haven grounds.)

*GWIZ Hands on Science Museum

( Students worked on the GWIZ sidewalk mural, which consists of about 500 feet of images and text. 
This mural is full of science images and facts to give visitors an engaging and educational 
experience as they explore the GWIZ grounds.)

*InStride Equine Therapy

(At this program, students helped clean stables and painted picnic tables with images of horses and other equine-themes.)
*YMCA Sarasota
(Students worked to landscape and beautify a property that is being renovated into a future Y- Youth Shelter. They cut grass, pulled out invasive plants, trimmed trees, raked leaves and mulched 
the grounds.) 

*Orange Blossom Community Garden

*Alligator Creek (Sarasota County Park) (Grounds clean-up and beautification)
*Caspersen Beach (Sarasota County Park) (Grounds clean-up and beautification)

85 percent of Ringling’s incoming students participated in this years activities.

2012 Honor Roll

Ringling College has been named to the 2012 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.The College has been on the list every year since 2006. The College has recently applied to be on the 2013 Honor Roll list.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the annual Honor Roll award, recognized more than 700 colleges and universities for their impact on issues from poverty and homelessness to environmental justice. On campuses across the country, thousands of students joined their faculty to develop innovative programs and projects to meet local needs using the skills gained in their classrooms. Business students served as consultants to budget-strapped nonprofits and businesses, law students volunteered at legal clinics, and dozens of others organized anti-hunger campaigns.   

The Honor Roll includes six colleges and universities that are recognized as Presidential Awardees, with an additional 115 named to the Distinction List and 621 schools named as Honor Roll members. Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors including the scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service, and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses. Click here for a full list of Honor Roll recipients.

College students make a significant contribution to the volunteer sector; in 2009, 3.16 million students performed more than 300 million hours of service, according to the Volunteering in America study released by the Corporation. Each year, the Corporation invests more than $150 million in fostering a culture of service on college campuses through grants awarded by its programs; the education awards that AmeriCorps members receive at the conclusion of their term of service to pay for college; and through support of training, research, recognition, and other initiatives to spur college service. 

The Corporation oversees the Honor Roll in collaboration with the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact and the American Council on Education.