Community service activist awarded humanitarian honor
Monetary award to fund La Escuela de La Raza program
By Kimberly Mackesy
UCLA senior Michelle Di Pilla spent many hours working for free
for various community service organizations, but her efforts are
finally paying off. Di Pilla was presented with $1,500, though not
with an ordinary paycheck. The money will be used to further her
goal of helping the community.
Di Pilla is one of five students nationwide selected to receive
the Howard Swearer Humanitarian Award, honoring outstanding public
service activities. The award includes a $1,500 stipend to be
donated to each of the winners’ chosen community service
programs.
Di Pilla will donate the money to La Escuela de la Raza, a
program which focuses on providing free English tutoring to adults
in the Pico-Union district. With the money the program will be able
to improve the site of La Escuela and implement another branch at
UCLA, Di Pilla said.
"I’ve always wanted to be involved," Di Pilla said of her
numerous service activities. "I think everyone deserves respect.
It’s about empowering people and helping the community on a broader
scale."
Di Pilla already has an impressive string of community service
accomplishments to her credit.
After a year as an English as a Second Language tutor, Di Pilla
was elected director of La Escuela de la Raza. She interned with
the Institute of International Education in 1994.
She is also helping to organize the first annual Latina/o Adult
Conference, to be held May 27. The conference will be geared toward
educating the community on the legal and medical resources
available in Los Angeles, Di Pilla said.
"We’re hoping to further integrate the university and the
community," she said. "Students should get out and help the
community, and people should also become familiar with UCLA. We
want to make the university a resource for people who aren’t
exposed to it."
Di Pilla got an early start in community service activities when
she was a high school student in San Francisco.
"The programs I liked most were ones dedicated to immigrant
issues," she said. When she came to UCLA, she became involved in La
Escuela de La Raza.
Di Pilla said she is excited with the direction La Escuela is
headed, adding that she is particularly enthusiastic about a new
collaboration between La Escuela and the Puente Program, which will
aim to educate as many adults as possible.
"The Puente Program has a waiting list of 60 people now for
tutoring. In cooperation with the Puente Program, our tutors will
be involved in teaching more students. Also, this will be the first
time La Escuela has access to computers for teaching English," she
said.
Di Pilla, a political science student, is planning to attend law
school and later pursue a career that deals with immigrant and
human rights issues.
The award, named after the late president of Brown University,
was presented in Washington, D.C. on March 22.