Alumni
Gerard Franks
|
Gerard's desire for community involvement and public service stems from his early involvement in service projects during his high school career. He volunteered at various hospitals and community organizations such as the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and Make Promises Happen, a special needs camp. His volunteer opportunities along with life experiences have created a devotion to volunteerism that he continued at Vanderbilt.
During his freshman year at Vanderbilt, Gerard wanted to further explore his interest in different cultures through volunteerism. He joined the on-campus, community service organization, Project Bridges, where he visited a Burmese refugee family once a week to help them in acclimating with American culture along with learning about various topics in health. He conducted his volunteer sessions in a unique manner, taking on both instructing and learning roles. He would spend half of the time teaching the family about various health related topics, such as food borne illnesses and scheduling doctor's appointments. The remaining half of the sessions would consist of learning about the culture and hardships that caused them to flee their home country. He believes that service is an exchange of helping others along with allowing himself to grow as well.
During his sophomore year at Vanderbilt, Gerard became a member of Money Think, an on-campus organization that teaches lessons on financial literacy to students at local schools in the Nashville area. He enjoyed teaching financial literacy lessons to the students at Martin Luther King, Jr. Magnet School while learning more about how this topic is relevant in their every day lives. Gerard believes that all citizens need a strong knowledge of financial literacy to be active members in society. Gerard enjoyed working with the students through Money Think and was eager to learn more about financial literacy that he decided to focus his area of interest for his summer project in financial literacy.
For his summer project, he collaborated alongside the Oklahoma Council on Economic Education, a non-profit educational organization that promotes economic and financial literacy in his home state of Oklahoma. The organization trains teachers, through workshops and resources, to teach economic concepts and financial management for students in grades K-12. His role with the organization was to create summaries of the Better Money Habits Videos, Financial Fitness for Life lessons, and supplemental lessons. Many teachers do not have the resources or time to teach these lessons, so the summaries will assist them in better teaching the lessons and videos by making it more efficient. He then cross-referenced the summaries with the 14 Passport to Financial Literacy Standards to determine the corresponding standards to each lesson or video. These deliverables will be distributed to teachers across the state of Oklahoma where they will utilize them as a part of their lesson plans and resources.
During his junior year at Vanderbilt, Gerard sought to further engage students with Nashville's refugee community. He assisted in planning two cultural events on campus that allowed for relationships to be fostered between Vanderbilt's community and the local refugee community. The first event, a Cultural Potluck Exchange, encouraged students to learn more about refugees living in Nashville through the cultural lens of food. Both groups shared traditional foods and spoke about their experiences. The second event, Refugee Awareness Week, was Vanderbilt's first community wide event sponsoring refugee awareness. There were numerous events throughout the week, such as interfaith discussions, vigils, and a refugee discussion dinner.
Gerard is grateful to be given the opportunity to be a part of the Ingram Scholarship Program. He hopes to further explore his interest in cultural exchange, financial literacy, and long-term sustainability through his final year in the Ingram Scholarship Program. He is also thrilled to learn about the passions of current Scholars in a way that will allow them both to challenge and engage each other for the better.