By Marcela Berrios, Hannah Storm Journalism Intern

Each year, the Alumni Association honors three Notre Dame students for their contributions to the community with the Distinguished Student Award, the Distinguished Graduate Student Award and the Mike Russo Award. This year’s recipients are Patrick Reidy ’08, Brenna Casey ’08 M.F.A., and Charlie Gardner ’10, respectively.

The Distinguished Student Award, established in 1982, is presented each year to a senior student who has rendered outstanding service to Notre Dame and the community.

In Patrick Reidy’s case, the community includes more than just Notre Dame and even the U.S. He spent a summer volunteering at a primary school in Uganda and helped rescue it from closing its doors by single-handedly raising $40,000. He later led his residence hall, Sorin College, in raising an additional $110,000 to keep the struggling school in business. And he accomplished this while maintaining a 3.92 GPA and working on his honors thesis on clientelism in Ugandan primary education.

Patrick, from Greenwood Village, Colo., is majoring in political science with a minor in theology.

The Distinguished Graduate Student Award is conferred on a graduate student who has excelled in academics and service and who has demonstrated a high level of leadership while at Notre Dame. This year’s recipient is Brenna Casey, who is pursuing a master’s degree in fine arts.

Brenna earned the praise of her peers and professors when she decided last year to organize and co-teach an introductory creative writing class for about 20 residents of South Bend’s Center for the Homeless. She developed a curriculum for the semester-long course, recruited her fellow classmates to help her teach it and secured funding from the Center for Social Concerns.

Upon completion of the course, Brenna’s students thanked her for helping them put into words their deeply personal experiences and thoughts on dealing with homelessness, substance abuse and even mental illness.

Brenna, from Schenectady, N.Y., earned her undergraduate degree from Boston College in 1995.

The Mike Russo Award is presented annually to a sophomore for his or her year-round commitment to service at Notre Dame. The award is named for Mike Russo, a Notre Dame student who died from injuries sustained in a traffic accident after completing his freshman year in 1990.

This year’s recipient, Charlie Gardner, has displayed exemplary leadership qualities and an unwavering dedication to spirituality and service at Notre Dame. During his first year, Charlie was active in Notre Dame’s Freshman Peer Leaders Group, participating in weekly faith-based discussions and organizing a year-end confirmation retreat for local churches.

As the service commissioner for Knott Hall, Charlie also planned “Christmas on Campus,” an event in which children from the Center for the Homeless and Hope Rescue Missions visited the residence hall and spent the day with its residents. Moreover, Charlie also is a member of a group called Friday Night Activities, which visits the Center for the Homeless each week to play games and work on crafts with the children who live there. He will assume leadership responsibilities for the project next year.

Charlie is from St. Louis.

For more details about the ND Alumni Association student awards and this year’s winners, click here.