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The Meridian Society, an auxiliary organization of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Foundation that promotes women’s leadership, granted more than $16,000 in awards at their annual reception in April. The philanthropic group awarded four SIUE projects in the Department of Music, SIUE School of Education, Health & Human Behavior, School of Pharmacy and Access Office.

This year’s award recipients were honored at the Meridian Award Reception on Wednesday, April 3 in Birger Hall. The ceremony began with opening remarks from Ethel Shanklin, EdD, president, welcoming members and guests. Awards were presented by Marian Smithson, awards chair, who expressed her gratitude towards new and existing Society members. On behalf of the Awards Committee, Smithson expressed delight for this year’s endeavors awarded by the Meridian Society.

“We are delighted with the four meaningful projects receiving a total of $16,450 this year as they will support important initiatives in accessibility and research,” Smithson said.

Smithson briefly described the scope of each project.

“One of our awards will support a one-day conference for area high school students to introduce them to the many facets of teaching as their future vocation. Another project will fund a summer program for Deaf youth that will encourage them to consider attending a university campus like SIUE. An award was also given to a teacher-training course for elementary and secondary music educators, particularly those in rural schools. Lastly, we are funding a research project that may identify a way of limiting Streptococcus infection.”

The Meridian Awards Committee was comprised of nine members: Marian Smithson, Elizabeth Edwards, Deborah Hunt, Jan Johnson, Carol Keene, PhD, Diana McCracken, Andrea Tolden, Ethel Shanklin, EdD, and Meg Solon. Julie Babington served as staff liaison.

The first award, totaling $5000, was awarded to the SIUE Department of Music and Heart of Illinois Orff Chapter. Accepting the award was Alicia Canterbury, PhD, assistant professor of music education.

"This summer we will providing SIUE Summer Orff Institute at the end of June,” said Canterbury. “These funds are provided so that our levels are significantly less expensive for teachers to pay. We are hoping particularly with a lessened registration fee that our rural teachers and teachers in areas where there is not a lot of funding, these particular teachers will have better tools in their classrooms.”

The next award was for $5000 to fund the Future Teacher Conference for the School of Education, Health and Human Behavior and partner organization, the Madison County Career & Technical System. The conference is expected to welcome 300 area students from Madison and St. Clair County career and technical education programs to SIUE.

“We’re so fortunate to have the support of not only the SIU community but also outside the SIU community to make this event a success,” said Angie White, director of field placements. “We have a ton of volunteers that help. We want to thank the Meridian Society for this wonderful opportunity to have this $5000 so that we can definitely invite those students to join us next year.”

Following White’s remarks was speaker Miranda Wilhelm, PharmD, clinical professor in the School of Pharmacy, and pharmacist for SIUE Health Services. She accepted an award of $1,450 that will also provide an educational opportunity for her pharmacy students. Wilhelm encounters many patients who test positive for strep throat. She postulated some student-patients who came in for strep treatment could, by reusing their toothbrush, reinfect themselves. After researching the topic on her own merit, she found that the research and literature on reinfection via toothbrush was not only lacking but also divisive.

“That could be more money, more medicine, and more time for students to be sick and not get back to class,” Wilhelm said. “We would do a definitive study of college students to see if their toothbrush could reinfect them. We’re hoping to test 100 toothbrushes for strep throat. The point of this study would be that we can change our policy at health services.

The final award of the evening went to the SIUE ACCESS Office, who partnered with the Chicago Hearing Society to fund Camp Launch, a summer camp designed specifically for deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind students. Camp Launch is a collaborative effort of community organizations to create an equitable opportunity for Deaf students to achieve success after high school. Campers will engage in activities specifically designed for Deaf students to help them determine a career path and increase their self-confidence. This will include a tour of SIUE and stay in University Housing to reduce their fear of being on campus. Upon completion of the camp, students will complete a survey regarding their comfort level of being on campus and then continue the online portion of the curriculum during the school year. Not only will the camp equip future deaf students for success, it will also provide valuable data on how to improve upon existing accommodations at SIUE.

Amy Miller, sign language interpreter for ACCESS, accepted the $5000 award. Miller began the first part of her acceptance speech, about 10 seconds, in American Sign Language.

“Just for a second, how did that make you feel?” Miller asked the audience. “Maybe a little left out?” The audience nodded humbly. “Yep, so that’s how a Deaf or Hard of Hearing kid may feel every day in the classroom…a lot of them have social isolation. They don’t have peers that they can hang out with. The only friend they have is their sign language interpreter sometimes, and that’s weird. They can’t really interact with their peers. So we’re going to try and bridge that gap and change the narrative for those kiddos. Our camp will partner with a company called 360 Degree Academy out of Washington DC, a liberal arts university for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. They are going to bring their curriculum here so students will have role models who are deaf and have someone to look up to and say, ‘I can do that!’”

After a final round of gratitude expressions, the programmed section of the reception finalized with applause. Meridian Society members visited with one another, took photographs and spoke highly of the award recipients, who were all unanimously approved by the Awards Committee.

Originally conceived as a women’s giving circle, the Meridian Society has grown significantly since its inception in 2003. Including an endowment, the philanthropic organization has awarded north of $430,000 to more than 150 SIUE community supported projects. To inquire about membership or to learn more, visit the Meridian Society website.

PHOTOS: 1: John Korak, DMA, Alicia Canterbury, PhD, 2: Robin Hughes, PhD, dean of the School of Education, Health and Human Behavior, Alison Reeves, PhD, Angie White, 3: School of Pharmacy Miranda Wilhelm, PharmD, Mark Luer, PhD, dean of the School of Pharmacy, 4: Dominic Dorsey and Amy Milller from ACCESS