Mary Jo Tellin is the Director of Volunteerism for the City of Grapevine, Texas Parks and Recreation Department and coordinates the Keep Grapevine Beautiful affiliate of Keep America Beautiful. Ms. Tellin loves the outdoors and is passionate about the community where she lives and these things have inspired her to research and learn, lead and serve; her work in the Grapevine community truly exemplifies Honors in Action. The flooding that took place in the summer of 2007 provides a case study.
Ms. Tellin had long served as a volunteer in Grapevine, but had not seen the need so great as during and after the flood in 2007. Her efforts to learn about how the flooding had affected Lake Grapevine and the area surrounding it and to prioritize the needs and lead the volunteers so that the flood recovery service they provided was well-coordinated are remarkable. She and her volunteers tracked the impact and closely monitored results and new needs as they emerged. In the months following the flooding, nearly 2,000 volunteers removed almost 50,000 pounds of trash. The City of Grapevine Parks and Recreation Department was able to achieve so much more with these well-coordinated volunteers, and at a “cost avoidance” figure of over $60,000. The City has created a new position, Director of Volunteerism, the position that Mary Jo Tellin now holds. In 2008, the state of Texas recognized Grapevine with a Governor’s Community Achievement Award.
The community is still recovering from the severe flooding in a number of areas, and Ms. Tellin is coordinating a historic, first Honors in Action project for Phi Theta Kappans attending the Honors in Action Academy pre-conference preceding the 91st International Convention.
[Monika Byrd, February 2009]
Honors in Action Profiles describe the work of real people who exemplify the Honors in Action approach in their lives, integrating scholarly research and learning with service and leadership and educating others as well as seeking others to work with them. Their lives illustrate the philosophy expressed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 that “Scholarship is of worth chiefly when it is productive, when the scholar not merely receives or acquires, but gives.”
Honors in Action Profiles are part of the Honors Program resources provided by Phi Theta Kappa’s Honors Program Committee. For more information on the Honors Program, contact Susan Edwards, Dean of Academic Affairs and the Honors Program, Monika Byrd, Dean of Leadership Development, or Jennifer Stanford, Dean of Service Learning.
