Exemplary Service Provided!
Jordan Feld and Martha Anne Kutteh Chosen
Homecoming King and Queen at La Salle University

La Salle University seniors Jordan Feld and Martha Anne Kutteh were selected as Homecoming King and Queen for 2007.

Feld, from Haddon Heights, N.J. is a major in Marketing with a minor in Risk Management and Insurance. He decided to be very involved at school and with volunteer work because, “I have four years here, I want to make the most of it.”

Kutteh from Statesville N.C., has a triple major in Elementary and Special Education and American Studies.  "I have always liked to stay busy by being committed to service,” she said. “I can not say I picked this up on my own. My parents always and continue to model the philosophy of doing for others."

The announcement of the pair being selected king and queen was made during halftime at a La Salle football game. Kutteh knew she had been nominated for the title, but was participating in an education practicum and got to the stadium with one minute and 28 seconds to go before halftime.

“It was a great surprise,” said Kutteh. "Being nominated in itself was an honor."

“I was there (at halftime) to support the school during Homecoming,” said Feld. “Winning was a bonus. I was definitely surprised. It was nice to be recognized for the work I’ve done.”

About 100 La Salle seniors are nominated each year for Homecoming King and Queen, and the winners are chosen for their involvement in the community.

A member of La Salle’s women’s tennis team, Kutteh has been a constant volunteer in her four years at the University:  as a coordinator for both an Aids Outreach program and the Police Athletic League of Philadelphia, as a tutor for foster children, and for working with the homeless. She was also inducted into La Salle’s Alpha Epsilon Honors Society, which recognizes high academic achievement with service to the University and community.

This semester Kutteh has been student teaching for a third grade class. Next semester, she will teach in an eight grade special education classroom.

One reason Kutteh chose to attend La Salle was that she has family in Philadelphia, and she said she also liked the sense of community at the University. "There are lots of opportunities to do great things on campus and in the community. Plus, here your ideas of helping others are supported.”

“I’m more aware now of how global things are,” she said. (She is a minor in La Salle’s Leadership and Global Understanding program, which requires a community service project.) “I’ve seen how things locally can have a global impact.”

She has traveled to Mexico to work at schools in Mexican communities. Kutteh has also visited Berlin and Guatemala through La Salle’s Leadership and Global Understanding program.  She will visit Tanzania in May after graduation with the Service group Project Mapendo

Although she is unsure of exactly what next year will bring, she hopes to always follow the motto of the Christian Brother's motto, the order that founded La Salle:  "Enter to learn, depart to serve."

Feld likes to stay busy. “I get bored if I don’t have ten meetings a day,” he joked. “I do my best work under pressure,” he said.

Feld has worked with the Students’ Government Association (SGA) for all four years and was Vice President of the student body last year. He also worked with the annual basketball marathon SGA operates to benefit the American Cancer Society. He works with the La Salle Ambassadors who volunteer at Building Blocks Day Care Center, located on La Salle’s campus, and took the children trick-or-treating this past Halloween. He has also played Santa Claus for the past two years at the center.

This year, Feld is coordinator of Project Appalachia, a service trip in which students go to Kentucky during spring break to build houses in rural areas. Feld also works with the South Camden Theater Company, new theater troupe working to bring life back to the city of Camden through art.

Like Kutteh, Feld was inducted into La Salle’s Alpha Epsilon Society.

Feld’s older brother also went to La Salle. When he visited him, Feld said he took a liking to the people and the “beautiful campus.” He decided to enroll at La Salle after taking a tour of the University.

 “There’s a sense of community you feel on campus that you can’t find anywhere else,” he said. “The rewards of being involved have been immeasurable.”

-- Bernadette McPherson and Kristine Witko