Dickinson College President, Alumna Recognized for Inspirational Work
Mountz Jewelers co-owners Ron Leitzel and Tonia Leitzel Ulsh present President Margee Ensign (center) with the Inspire 40 Award.
Mountz Jewelers bestows Inspire 40 award on President Margee Ensign, Carrie Perry '94
by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson
Two Dickinsonians are being honored for their inspirational work in Central Pennsylvania this fall. President Margee Ensign and Carrie Perry ’94 are recipients of the Inspire 40 award, bestowed by a family-owned business in honor of individuals who are “a source of inspiration” in the local community.
"We unveiled Inspire 40 to show our gratitude to individuals who are quietly serving others in kindness and love,” said Tonia Leitzel Ulsh, through a statement released by Mountz Jewelers. “People who define grace, generosity, resilience and sacrifice, and who are living with uncommon regard for others are the bedrock of our communities.”
An internationally recognized leader in education and civic and humanitarian work, Ensign is positioning Dickinson as a national model in civic education, using civic engagement to "ignite a spark within a student that sets off his or her passion" and build skills for leadership—work she recently described in an April 2018 Washington Post op-ed. Under her leadership, the college launched the Center for Civic Learning & Action. Ensign also continues to strengthen the college’s ties with the local community in a variety of ways, including through the Dickinson-Carlisle Scholarship, a full-tuition scholarship awarded annually to a college-bound Carlisle resident engaged in community service and leadership, and a new Pathways to College program for students at the Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
”I’m truly honored by this recognition and grateful to our friends at Mountz Jewelers for their commitment to our community through this initiative," Ensign said.
Perry is founder and director of Sam’s Spoons Foundation, a nonprofit created in 2018 to help defray the out-of-pocket expenses incurred by families affected by chronic medical conditions from Lyme disease and co-infections. In partnership with other nonprofit organizations, Sam’s Spoons works to raise awareness, provide educational outreach efforts for youth and their families, instill the importance of prevention, and push important policies around tick bites and Lyme disease in Pennsylvania.
“I am humbled and grateful for the recognition from my dear friends at Mountz Jewelers,” Perry wrote, in a recent Facebook post.
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Published September 9, 2019