Lara Andree

Presidential Award for Community Service

Presented by Sarah C. Mangelsdorf, President, G. Robert Witmer, Jr. University Professor

The University of Rochester Office of the President presents the 2020 Presidential Award for Community Service to Lara Andree, Class of 2020 from Dallas, Texas. Lara’s passion for teaching and service emerged during the worst year of her life: In the midst of homelessness and poor mental health, her high school teachers provided a type of advocacy that made a profound and lasting impression. The residual effects of their encouragement have taken her all over the world—from interning at a kindergarten in Rome to leading her very own campus-wide program in partnership with the Rochester City School District.

Lara has honored and continued this legacy by tutoring a group of second graders through the University’s early-childhood literacy tutoring program, LEAP, and by volunteering at School 19 in Rochester. After deciding she wanted specifically to address the inequities many students face in inner-city schools, she was elected as the Secretary of Community Engagement in the Students Association. This opportunity gave Lara the platform and resources to create the East Pen Pal Program in partnership with a literacy teacher from the East Lower School. In the last three years, the program has engaged 163 eighth graders that have exchanged emails weekly with almost 100 undergraduate students. These correspondences are now officially incorporated into the literacy curriculum at East. Each semester, Lara has organized a Pen Pal Day, which allows the Pen Pal partners to meet one another on the University campus and at East to informally “break the bubble” that can sometimes separate our campus from the community. This experience in particular has taught her the importance of leaning in to local communities, especially a city like Rochester that has a rich history of community activism and art.

Lara’s passion to help others does not stop there. This January, Lara organized the Students’ Association Community Engagement Fair in partnership with the Center for Community Engagement and the Burgett Intercultural Center. The day served the dual purpose of inviting the student body to learn more and become involved with the 12 off-campus and 16 on-campus service organizations that volunteered their time, all while students compiled the 100 hygiene packs that were donated to the Samaritan House to support Rochesterians trying to overcome homelessness. All of Lara’s community service efforts have empowered her to honor her past and to work to change the systems she felt abandoned her as a youth.

In recommending Lara, Anne-Marie Algier wrote, “Lara truly cares about those who might need a helping hand and works to provide services in a respectful and engaging way. I can only think of a handful of students over more than 20 years of service to the University who could have accomplished all she has done. She is very deserving of this prestigious recognition.” Lara’s passion,dedication, diligence, patience, and care for those she is serving that makes her stand out amongst her peers.

Congratulations, Lara. The University is grateful for your powerful and liberating example of community service. You have helped to advance this important priority of the University, and you have embodied the University’s Meliora values.

About the Award

Established by the dean of students in 1990 to recognize University students who are committed to community service, the Presidential Award for Community Service is given to a senior for outstanding participation and leadership in service to the community beyond the campus, this award recognizes a student who has worked selflessly and effectively in addressing social causes. Areas of focus include improving literacy, reducing hunger and hopelessness, providing legal or medical assistance to the needy, and serving as a mentor.