Westminster College to Participate in Global Youth Service Day

Westminster College will participate in Global Youth Service Day April 24-26 with a variety of community service projects.

As of April 17, the following groups have pledged or completed projects:
- Student volunteers - Walker Neighborhood House after-school program
- Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity - American Cancer Society Relay for Life
- Panhellenic Council - Easter Egg hunt for community children
- Habitat for Humanity - working with Mahoning County (Ohio) chapter and spring break work trip to Biloxi, Miss.
- Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) - money management discussion with students at Ben Franklin Junior High School in New Castle
- Public Relations research - Cascade Park renovations in New Castle
- Social Inequality class - working with at-risk children in Head Start classrooms
- Westminster's Greek community - Greek Week activities to benefit individual philanthropies

The event is coordinated at Westminster by Bethany South, a 2008 Westminster graduate who serves as PACC*VISTA, through Westminster's Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

Global Youth Service Day is an annual event that highlights and celebrates the contributions of youth to the communities through volunteer service. Each April, millions of young people participate in and lead service projects, working with their families, schools, community organizations, faith-based communities, and businesses to improve the communities by addressing issues of global climate change; education and literacy; poverty; health; hunger; and homelessness.

The goals of the program are to: mobilize youth as leaders to identify and address community needs through service and learning; support youth on a lifelong path of service and civic engagement; and educate the public, the media, and policymakers about the year-round contributions of young people as community leaders.

The Corporation for National and Community Service honored Westminster College with a place on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts and service to America's communities. This is the third consecutive year Westminster has earned the recognition.

Nearly 80% of Westminster students volunteered last year, three times the national average (26.4% of the U.S. population) and nearly twice the national average for college students (43%).

Contact South at (724) 946-6194 or e-mail southba@westminster.edu for additional information.

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