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Westminster College Receives President's Honor Roll Award for Distinguished Community Service

Posted on Wednesday, February 20, 2008

The Corporation for National and Community Service named Westminster College to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts and service to disadvantaged youth.

"Supporting community service and integrating service into academic courses is a major focus of the work of Westminster's Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning," said Dr. Virginia Tomlinson, Westminster associate professor of sociology and director of the Drinko Center. "Students and faculty are interested in and committed to these endeavors."

Launched in 2006, the Community Service Honor Roll is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service learning and civic engagement. Honorees for the award were chosen based on a series of selection factors: scope and innovativeness of service projects; percentage of student participation in service activities; incentives for service; and the extent to which the school offers academic service learning courses.

"College students like those at Westminster College are tackling the toughest problems in America, demonstrating their compassion, commitment, and creativity by serving as mentors, tutors, health workers, and even engineers," said David Eisner, chief executive officer of the Corporation. "They represent a renewed spirit of civic engagement fostered by outstanding leadership on caring campuses."

A sample of recent projects involving Westminster students include:

Walker House in New Castle provides a safe environment for 91 children. Westminster student tutors volunteer weekday afternoons for two hours each day. The Walker House students know every tutor by name and admire every one of them. The Westminster students are not simply tutors, they are mentors as well.

Make a Difference Day, a national day of service, was a new project for Westminster this year. Over 130 students volunteered 360 hours of service on nine projects, including highway clean-up, leaf-raking in the community, maintenance at a local women's shelter, and several donation drives.

Bright Futures Early Intervention Program, a collaborative program between Westminster College and the Campbell (Ohio) City Schools, marked its second year. Westminster students served as tutors, residential counselors, teaching assistants, and performing arts assistants.

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. The Corporation administers Senior Corps; AmeriCorps; and Learn and Serve America, a program that supports service learning in schools, institutions of higher education, and community-based organizations.

The Honor Roll is jointly sponsored by the Corporation and the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps, and the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation.

Visit www.nationalservice.gov/honorroll for more information about the Honor Roll.

Contact Tomlinson at (724) 946-6033 or e-mail tomlinvm@westminster.edu for additional information. Visit www.westminster.edu/drinko for more information about Westminster's Drinko Center.