Four Seniors Receive Service Fellowship

The Stride Rite Community Service Program awarded its prestigious post-graduate fellowships to four seniors in a reception at the Market Theater last night.

The fellowship recipients were Joshua E. Cogswell ’02, Kate Johnsen ’02, Michael J. Schultz ’02 and Zayed M. Yasin ’02.

The fellowships, one for $15,000 and three for $25,000, are awarded in conjunction with the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) each spring to graduating Harvard seniors to fund a year-long public service project.

The focus of recipients’ projects range from trans-religious interaction to Pakistani public health.

Maria J. Dominguez, deputy director of PBHA and the director of the Harvard Stride Rite program, stressed the importance of recognizing students for their hard work to improve the community.

The awards “help [the recipients] recognize that this is part of their life, not just an extracurricular activity,” Dominguez said.

Schultz, who will work with two Jewish Orthodox day schools in Philadelphia to develop their community service programs, seeks to improve relations between Jews and those of other faiths.

“The fellowship allows me to not have to worry about fundraising for the coming year,” he said. “It will free up lots of my time so I can focus on the project.”

Cogswell will spend the next year helping to establish a youth football league in Boston’s South End and lower Roxbury.

“Since it’s a new league, it’s going to be kind of tough to get off of the ground,” he said. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without [the fellowship].”

Yasin will use his fellowship to devise ways that technology can help solve public health problems in rural Pakistan.

He said he hopes to address the mistrust that exists between those in Pakistan and in the United States.

“By interacting with people from both cultures, I hope to mend the gap between these societies,” he said.

Johnsen plans to design and run a program that will provide career and college counseling and leadership training for teenagers in South Boston.

“Graduating, I can’t think of anything else I wanted to do besides this,” she said at the reception.

A committee of representatives from PBHA, the Stride Rite Foundation and surrounding community organizations, along with faculty and past fellowship recipients selected the winners of the grants.

Those seeking the fellowships had to submit an application with a project proposal, a budget and letters of recommendation.

The selection committee took into account how the project expands upon the applicants’ previous work and continued and long-term investment to service.

In addition to the four winners of the post-graduate fellowships, 10 seniors received awards of up to $2,000 for their four years of service with the PBHA, and 36 other undergraduates received work-study scholarships to facilitate their continued volunteer work.

The Stride Rite Community Service Program began its work with PBHA in 1983.

“They’re a foundation with an awesome conscience,” Dominguez said.

—Staff writer Alexander J. Blenkinsopp can be reached at blenkins@fas.harvard.edu.