Event: OMIA Golf for Education
E-mail: jgirdwood@omiafoundation.org

History

The OMIA Golf for Education Outing began in 2009 as a fund raising effort for McLaren’s Camp Forget-Me-Not for Grieving Children. The Foundation expects to raise over $2,500 to contribute to this phenomenal camp that educates children on the grieving process allowing them closure after experiencing the loss of a loved one.

Course

The OMIA Foundation gladly hosts the annual Golf for Education Outing at Sugarbush Golf Club in Davison, MI. Click [here] for course details or to book an outing for your non-profit organization.

Why We Golf

• McLaren Camp Forget-Me-Not for Grieving Children
• To support Brian’s House Residential Non-Profit Hospice
• Girdwood, J. (2007). A Strategice Plan to Diversify Public Education Through the Michigan Department of Education. Central Michigan University
• Girdwood, J. (2007). Bringing Outside Music Inside Michigan’s K-12 Classrooms: A Foundation to Increase Diversity. Central Michigan University

Michigan CTF

CTF is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of
child abuse and neglect. CTF works in partnership with its 72 local
councils to serve all of Michigan’s 83 counties. Local councils are
independent, community-based organizations

Michigan

that identify needs and
facilitate collaborative prevention programs for children and families in
their communities. The CTF board is administered through Michigan
Department of Human Services. Since 1982, the fund has raised over $60
million and has provided support to more than six million children and
families.

For more information, please go to www.michigan.gov/ctf

Pamela Jo

would like to congratulate Megan Root as the recipient of the 2008 Down the River Scholarship in memoriam of “Pamela Jo from O-hio!”

The scholarship committee was thrilled to receive Megan’s application and surprised by how aligned her enthusiasm is with Pam’s.  There simply wasn’t a more qualified, accomplished, and promising applicant in the pool.

Hailing from Kenton, Ohio Megan and Pam share the passion to learn through continued education.  Megan now attends Ohio Northern University

ONU logo

with plans to study Pharmacology.  We thank Megan for her application package and appreciate those who cast recommendations for her.

On behalf of the OMIA Foundation, congratulations Megan and keep on learning!

I have always been interested in the psychosocial, social structural and demographic influences on the life course since my undergraduate study at Western Michigan University.  I received advanced education at a young age from my mother who held a master’s degree in early childhood development from Michigan State University.  I excelled at academics between pre-school and eleventh grade when my mother died from cancer.  I did not notice the fact that her nurture was the direct cause of my effortless distinction through early childhood academics until midway through my undergraduate work.  After encountering minor scholastic struggles through undergrad, I witnessed first hand how a support network can influence even the grade point average of a single student in an undeniable manner.  This point was driven home when my academic performance rose exponentially while obtaining my master’s degree in public administration from Central Michigan University.

WHY SOCIOLOGY?

An advanced degree in Sociology from Michigan State University will allow me to perform better at the work I currently do at hospice.  It will also enhance my performance as the volunteer Executive Director of the OMIA Foundation and public benefits application assistant with Michigan’s Coordinated Access to Food for the Elderly (MiCAFE).

Volunteering for MiCAFE, I have contributed great effort toward determining how to maintain the health and effective functioning of people in middle and later life, which is the central issue of sociology of aging.  I have examined how (mental) health and aging have become increasingly intertwined as I determined that the major cause of failing to apply for food stamps by the elderly was not because of a full stomach.  The biggest hurdle to overcome to influence a senior citizen to apply for welfare is between the ears.

MY FIELD OF INTEREST: RESEARCH EXPERIENCE & CREATIVE OUTPUT

I established the OMIA Foundation during my graduate work at Central Michigan University so that I could apply my new knowledge of non-profit management as practicum while simultaneously expounding my interest in alternative early childhood education.  As a result of the Foundation’s chosen age group, my research during the incorporation involved analyzing K-12 schooling, tracking, and teenage intelligence.  I focused on diversity in the classroom and synthesized my research with the groundwork that formed the function of the Foundation.

MiCAFE allows me to work intimately with the elderly whereas my volunteerism with the OMIA Foundation is directly with K-12 children.  At McLaren Visiting Nurse and Hospice, our volunteers consist of those whose ages range between sixteen and eighty five years.  Because of the uniqueness of Hospice Volunteerism, I am able to witness interpersonal and spiritual connections among bereaved older adults.  Religion and emotional compensation, either as a result of widowhood or other factor, is also prevalent at hospice. This occurs amongst volunteers, between employees of the company, and sometimes involves hospice patients and their families.

Hospice is diverse.  Our patients’ ages have included those measured in months and those greater than one century.  I have always optimized diversity when I have encountered it.  My research in graduate school included an examination of the benefits of diversity in K-12 classrooms.  A simple paper titled “Music in Classrooms Increases Diversity” put an original slant on a run of the mill assignment.  I proved how music, when used as a mechanism, can diversify scholastic subjects, classroom ethnicities, and curriculum bases.

In my research involving K-12 education, music was a tool to create diversity.  Throughout my graduate work, I have implemented devices that enable growth and development of knowledge.  My extracurricular project, The OMIA Foundation, was formed by the research contained in my paper titled “How Leadership Applied to the Formation, Planning, and Initial Operative Stages of the OMIA Foundation.”  I understand the importance of establishing solid theories behind creative endeavors.

I also recognize the value of applicability.  As an employee of Michigan’s Coordinated Access to Food for the Elderly, I realized early on that I could enhance my productivity by applying my graduate work directly to the program.  When I wrote “Some Eligible People Actually Are Too Proud To Beg:  Recommendations For Increasing Food Stamp Participation of Eligible Households” I had appositeness at the forefront of my preparation and development.  I made certain that my research was both significant and pertinent to my graduate program and vocational contribution.  I will do the same while at Michigan State University’s Sociology Department.

UNIQUE WORK & VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCES

The blend of sociology through generations is what interests me the most, which is why I am devoted to focusing on the life course.  I see the most intermingling during my time within State government, particularly the State of Michigan House of Representatives.  I carry my view of Michigan’s rapidly aging population, which is garnered through public benefits application interviews, to the Legislature where I witness first hand accounts of social policy creation including income support strategies that influence elderly health.

With the Department of Human Services, the unification occurs when food stamp policies are guided by the principles of healthy eating.  MiCAFE is focused on elderly food stamp enrollment but food stamps are, of course, intergenerational which is why the program was headed toward that center of attention as I left employment there and shifted to solely volunteering.

CONCLUSION

I look forward to studying questions such as whether or not the Supplemental Security Income Program reduces disability in the elderly, which is similar to examining the physical, health, mental, and social benefits to receiving food stamp allotments.  Residential environments and obesity also intrigue me.  I was unable to delve into that during my graduate work at Central Michigan University.  I look forward to completing the study of theories and witnessing how observational studies inform policy interventions.  I have seen it first hand in the House of Representatives.  Now, I would like to examine those interventions from outside the political arena, within the scholastic realm.

Contact: Colleen Steinman (517) 241-5678

August 12, 2008

A long-time early child education advocate has been named the director of
the Head Start State Collaboration Office, the Michigan Department of Human
Services announced today.

Jeremy Reuter will be a liaison for the 39 Head Start grantee agencies in
Michigan with regional and national Head Start offices. He will work with
the Early Childhood Investment Corporation to help coordinate all early
childhood collaborative efforts.

“Jeremy has been a strong advocate for children and worked aggressively to
make sure they have rich learning opportunities and are ready to learn when
they reach the school house door,” said Lisa Brewer Walraven, director of
DHS’ Office of Early Education and Care.

Since 2005, Reuter has served as director of the Teacher Education And
Compensation Helps (T.E.A.C.H.) Early Childhood Michigan program focused on
increasing education and compensation while reducing turnover among
Michigan child care providers. The program is offered by the Michigan 4C
Association, where Reuter has worked since 2001. Prior to joining the
Michigan 4C Association, he held a number of positions with child day care
programs and Michigan State University’s Institute for Children, Youth and
Families.

Reuter holds a bachelor’s degree in family and community services and a
master’s degree in family studies from MSU. He lives in Lansing with his
wife, Stephanie Cluley.

For more information, please go to www.michigan.gov/dhs

Builder Bob is an exciting new approach to engineering and the old “shop class” concept.   This kid-friendly carpenter, plumber, welder and all-around tradesman will come in to your classroom and give the students a lesson on building like they have never seen before. From the traditional birdhouse, to custom made writing utensils, to brand new high tech engineering on alternative hydrogen powered and flex fuel vehicles, Builder Bob will have your students amazed. The OMIA Lessons that Builder Bob brings to students from kindergarten to twelfth grade are:

•  age appropriate
•  thrilling and educational
•  multi-dimensional and span several subjects
•  and fun!

Send an [email] to the OMIA Foundation today if you are interested in welcoming Builder Bob into your classroom.

Original

Builder Bob brings unique lessons to your class.

Fun

Builder Bob enables students to use their imaginations to create projects that they can often take home with them.