Student paper inspires service partnership

Most students would probably rather forget about the papers they wrote for their freshmen writing seminars. For Flora Wu '08, that won't be so easy: her essay formed the basis for an ongoing partnership between Mathey College and a local community group that focuses on sex education for teenagers.

In the seminar, "Community-Building and Social Change," Wu outlined a detailed proposal for collaboration between residential colleges and local nonprofits in a general sense. Then she brought the plan to Mathey College administrators.

"I didn't think that things would happen so quickly," Wu said.

Now Princeton-based HiTOPS, the Health-Interested Teens' Own Program on Sexuality, may see an influx of University students as volunteers and interns.

"HiTOPS is a major asset to the Princeton community and anyone who becomes familiar with their work immediately understands its importance," Mathey-HiTOPS Project Manager Yared Hailemichael '07 said.

HiTOPS is a nonprofit organization based in Princeton whose mission is to promote adolescent health and wellbeing and help teens with issues such as sexual orientation, pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and sexual health.

Wu's paper followed up on the recommendations of the University's Civic Values Task Force during the 2003-2004 academic year.

The task force recommended exploring ways to improve Princeton's role as a leader in civic education through "longterm mutually beneficial partnerships between residential colleges and local nonprofits," Wu said. "My paper further explored their recommendation and outlined the logistics of how to implement the report that the task force had come up with."

Official approval from residential college administrators was the next step.

"Flora brought her proposal to our attention, and we were impressed," Mathey College Director of Studies Kathleen Crown said.

After the green light from Mathey administrators, a committee of students drafted a detailed proposal which outlined criteria for selecting a partner organization.

In the end, they chose HiTOPS in collaboration with the administration.

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Those involved in the Mathey-HiTOPS partnership said they hope University students will decide to volunteer or intern with the organization. Students from any residential college and upperclassmen are eligible to participate.

"HiTOPS needs volunteers in each of its three departments: educational programs, development and marketing and clinical services," Crown said.