On Friday, February 7th, 2014, William & Mary celebrated Charter Day, including honoring Laura Godwin ’14 with the James Monroe Prize in Civic Leadership. Laura serves on the executive board of Project Phoenix and is a fixture in the Office of Community Engagement, bringing her joy and commitment to our office and the tutor/mentor program. That’s why no one was surprised when Laura sent out this incredibly sweet and genuine email to Project Phoenix. It was too good not to share:
Hello!!
I just wanted to send out this email, and tell each of you how grateful I am for you. On Friday, I stood on stage in front of way too many people and received an award that was half the size of me (no joke)…but I sincerely wished that each of you could have been on that stage with me. While Project Phoenix is just one piece of my involvement in the community, it is the one that has allowed me to work closely with other W&M students whom I love dearly. You all embody the heart and soul of what it means to serve a community, and I am in awe of each of you. We all dedicate a significant amount of time to working with our middle schoolers, and I would bet that none of us do it for the recognition; I know I don’t, and I never expected to be recognized for my work, but that would not have been possible without y’all.
I know that sometimes it seems like this program wears us out and stresses us out and drives us crazy. But at the end of the day we all stick with it because we care. I care about our middle schoolers, their well being, and their future. I care about each of you and making sure that y’all feel like you have a purpose and that we are all supporting each other inside and outside of this program. For those of you who were at the first info session we had, I went off on a little tangent about how much I enjoy working with my peers. I am not kidding when I say that I have met some of the best people while working with ProPho. Especially the executive board. I consider each of you a friend, and I am so blessed each time I get to be around y’all. Y’all inspire and encourage me and remind why we do what we do. So thank you. For absolutely everything. Y’all rock!
-Laura
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