Sullivan Medallions Honor Commitment to Service

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 16, 2013) — The University of Kentucky recognized three individuals with the Algernon Sydney Sullivan medallion for outstanding community service at the Honors and Recognition Awards Program, hosted by the Office of Student Involvement, Monday, April 15.

The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, presented to both a male and a female graduating senior, and to a nonstudent, recognizes individuals whose commitment to community service evinces a spirit of love for and helpfulness to other men and women. The awards are presented annually in the spring.

This year’s recipients are a College of Nursing graduate who has dedicated herself to providing aid to those in need, both at home and abroad; a College of Agriculture graduate who has made it his mission to promote and protect healthy, sustainable environmental systems; and a UK alumna who has carried forward the wishes of her beloved son, to bring joy to children battling cancer.

Andrea J. Kohlman, a December 2012 graduate of the College of Nursing, is involved in "Serve the City," through Southland Christian Church, which ministers to lower-income families. The mission helps provide basic needs for these families, including food, home necessities and support. Kohlman has worked on teams adopting neighborhoods in downtown Lexington and the Woodhill area. She has also volunteered with the church's "Bruised Reed" ministry.

Kohlman and her husband travel to Haiti at least twice a year to serve the mission "Waves of Mercy," which provides a school, a church, and a nutrition program that feeds 165 children five days per week. During one visit, she recruited two additional nurses and a nurse practitioner to provide a medical clinic. They were able to treat about 150 people in one day. Kohlman's long-term goal is to establish a medical clinic in the city of Port-de-Paix.

To support the nutrition program in Haiti, Kohlman and her husband started a furniture repurposing business called "Repurposed Soul." They collect furniture and refurbish pieces for resale. All profits from the sales go directly to support the mission.

Patrick B. Johnson, a December 2012 graduate of the Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences program in the UK College of Agriculture, first became involved with the Office of Sustainability within weeks of arriving on campus in the fall of 2010. In spring of 2011, he was elected to leadership in the UK Environmental Club and began serving as a representative on the Student Sustainability Council.

Johnson was a key participant in the Clinton Global Initiative University competition. The UK team collaborated with the Owsley County Board of Education to form the "Homegrown Kentucky" initiative, which prepared and planted 1.5 acres. This initiative provided produce for the entire school system and also a hands-on learning lab for the students.

Johnson devoted the summer of 2012 to working with the Sonoran Institute on issues related to water resources in the American Southwest. As a result of this work, Patrick was selected as one of three student delegates from the United States to attend the 2012 Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Hyderabad, India.

Johnson also served as program coordinator for the UK Office for Sustainability and a co-president of Greenthumb, a campus organization dedicated to addressing environmental concerns.

Jennifer Wagner Mynear personifies the strength of character and spirit of charity that the Sullivan Award recognizes. Even when her son, Jarrett, was a patient at Kentucky Children's Hospital, Mynear worked tirelessly to bring joy to the other patients there and to their families. Jarrett battled cancer from age 2 until his death at age 13. Mynear, along with her husband, Doug, and her daughter, Claire, endured a long journey, supporting Jarrett every minute of his short but full life.

Mynear was instrumental in helping Jarrett realize his dream of creating "Jarrett's Joy Cart," offering toys and gifts to children in the Kentucky Children's Hospital every week. It began when Jarrett was 9, and it has continued each and every week since then, because of Mynear's efforts and dedication.

In 2006, Mynear led a group of students at the University of Kentucky to start the DanceBlue Marathon to support the Golden Matrix Fund and the DanceBlue Kentucky Children's Hospital Pediatric Oncology Clinic. That year, DanceBlue broke all fundraising records for a first-year dance marathon event. In the seven years since then, it has become the most successful student-run philanthropy event in UK's history and has continued to grow over the years. This year's DanceBlue event set a new record, raising more than $1.1 million dollars "for the kids."

The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award was established by the New York Southern Society in 1925 in memory of Algernon Sydney Sullivan, a southerner who became a prominent lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist in New York in the late 19th century. The University of Kentucky is one of many southern universities that present the Sullivan award which is sponsored by the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation.