A Branch Rickey and Meek Community Scholar, Carissa Silet '23 hopes the small living community initiates change among those served and those doing the serving.
Grace Ison '23 and Carissa Silet '23 are dedicated to community service and impacting the world around them. Thanks to generous alumni and friends who established scholarship support through a gift in their estate plan, Grace and Carissa are able to continue their devotion to service at Ohio Wesleyan University.
As first-year students, Grace and Carissa put in a successful bid for a Small Living Unit (SLU). Their concept was the SEAL House—an SLU focusing on Service, Engagement, and Leadership. "I loved that Ohio Wesleyan has a commitment to service," says Grace, a neuroscience major from Pittsburgh. "I was surprised there was no living community for students who shared this passion. With some encouragement from Carissa, we decided to propose SEAL!"
A Schubert Scholar, Grace Ison '23 says she loves that Ohio Wesleyan is committed to service.
Carissa, a pre-professional zoology and botany double major with a minor in chemistry, says the zoology program brought her to Ohio Wesleyan from Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Along with Grace, she hopes to encourage and build upon SEAL house members' passion for community service. "The goal of our house is to encourage community involvement and help initiate change in the lives of those we are trying to serve and also the lives of those who are doing the serving," Carissa says.
"We have both experienced our own personal change and growth through service in amazing ways, and we want others to be able to have those experiences too," says Grace. "Through this service, we also hope to help people gain leadership skills and be aware of the impact they are making on others."
"We are excited to bring change and growth to as many people as we can and have some fun doing it!" Carissa adds.
To learn more about how your planned gift enables students like Grace and Carissa to serve their community and Ohio Wesleyan, please contact the Office of Gift Planning at 740-368-3043 or giftplanning@owu.edu.