Anna Langer

Simeon Cheatham Award

Presented by Glenn C. Cerosaletti, assistant dean of students and director of the Center for Community Engagement

As assistant dean of students and director of the Center for Community Engagement, I oversee programs that connect students with the broader community in ways that deepen learning and help them to develop as active and engaged members of their communities. I have the honor of presenting the 2020 recipient of the Simeon Cheatham Award, Ms. Anna Langer. Anna is a junior from Potomac, Maryland, who is majoring in psychology with minors in Hebrew and environmental studies. She plans a career working with youth, which is why she has a keen interest in child psychology. As she notes in her application, “Children are quite literally our future, and I want to spend my life supporting them so I can leave the world in caring, capable hands.”

Anna has demonstrated this abiding interest through varied and progressively responsible experiences working with youth. Every summer since 2014 she was a camp counselor for a day camp especially working on outdoor activities for physical wellness as well as fun. She has also worked with children and families exposed to abuse through an internship with the Tree House Child Advocacy Center in Maryland.

In Rochester, Anna has worked as a Hebrew teacher for children ages 4-13 in an inclusive classroom in the Limmud program at Temple Beth El. She has discovered first hand the joy of discovery in helping a child on the autism spectrum learn how to read. On campus, she has served as a tutor for children in kindergarten through fourth grade through Learning and Exploring at Play (LEAP), a play-based, early-childhood literacy program run through the Center for Community Engagement. The partner children in LEAP are opportunity youth who predominantly attend under-resourced schools in Rochester. These children are survivors of trauma and present multiple needs. Anna’s recommender, Mary Beth Spinelli, notes, “I have witnessed Anna’s amazing ability to stay calm amid conflict between the children, direct them in using conflict resolution skills and get back to the task at hand. Anna blends patience with responsiveness and understanding so that the children can be productive.” Anna’s excellence as a tutor gained her a promotion to the role of team leader this year, in which she oversees the planning and implementation of weekly tutoring sessions for a group of 14 tutors and partner children.

I fully expect Anna to continue her servant leadership in her remaining time at the University, and with her focus on youth development, we can all take assurance that our future is in good hands. Thank you, Anna, for your dedicated service to the growth and development of children. You are a most deserving recipient of the Simeon Cheatham award. Congratulations!

About the Award

Established in the 1970s by the Office of the Dean of Students, the Simeon Cheatham Award is given to a student who has outstanding qualities in devotion to community service, and to the growth and development of children.