Mikaileigh Baker Begins Post Grad Year of Service Project at Alvernia

2017 Sep 15

Mikaileigh Baker of Covington, Pa., has begun a new Post Graduate Year of Service project this fall at Alvernia University. Coordinated by the university's Holleran Center for Community and Global Engagement, Baker's project will focus on environmental education in the City of Reading.

The Alvernia Post-Graduate Service Program is designed to provide an opportunity for a motivated graduate to engage with the community, focusing on the delivery of educational programming related to science and sustainability to children from disadvantaged backgrounds in the community.

Before earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication this past May, Baker served as a regular volunteer on a number of Holleran Center projects, including the South Reading Youth Initiative, Alternative Breaks, and the Bog Turtle Creek Farm. In addition, she was a member of the Alvernian student newspaper staff, the campus Lions Club, and had work published in Berks County Living Magazine.

Baker will spend one academic year focusing on sustainability education for her Reading Environmental Education Project.

"In my college career, I was heavily involved with the student-led project, Bog Turtle Creek Farm. The experience helped me to evolve and learn about the myriad of topics connected to sustainability and water," said Baker, who hopes to gain valuable knowledge, skills and connections though implementation of the project - and set up a framework to achieve future goals in advocating for agriculture.

"In the first year of the two-year project, I hope to strengthen environmental literacy and promote environmental stewardship within the diverse community of Reading, Pa.," said Baker.

ALVERNIA is a thriving university that empowers students through real-world learning to discover their passion for life, while providing the education to turn what they love into lifetimes of career success and personal fulfillment, helping them make the world a better place. Situated on a scenic 121-acre suburban campus in historic Berks County, Pa., the university of more than 3,000 students offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and minors and a range of graduate programs at the master's and doctoral levels.