Southeastern named to President's Honor Roll for Community Service for second consecutive year
Contact: Rene Abadie
3/23/12
HAMMOND – For the second consecutive year, Southeastern Louisiana University has been named
to the President’s Higher Education Honor Roll for Community Service.
The honor cites the work of more than 2,600 Southeastern students who provided
nearly 98,500 service hours worth an estimated $2.1 million to help meet various needs
throughout the region.
The President’s Honor Roll recognizes institutions that “reflect the values of
exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities,”
according to the Corporation for National and Community Service, which sponsors the
program.
“Service is an official element in Southeastern’s institutional values and basic
mission,” said President John L. Crain. ‘We’re proud to see our students honored nationally
for the thousands of hours of volunteer work they perform for area non-profit agencies
and in our communities. We know the impact of their work is significant and valued.”
“Service is evident in all aspects of Southeastern’s culture,” said Tena Golding,
director of the Center for Faculty Excellence, which oversees service-learning projects
at the university. “Service at Southeastern is very diverse. It may involve marketing
students organizing and working in fundraising events for an area animal humane society,
the work of ‘playologists’ at the Louisiana Children’s Discovery Center, or groups
and organizations working together in the ‘Big Event’ to provide a wide range of services
to meet community needs.”
The university was recognized for both its community service activities and its
service-learning projects.
Golding explained that community service activities are different than service-learning
projects, which are integrated with academic courses and strongly tied to course objectives.
Through service-learning, the academic theories and principles of the classroom are
used in real world applications. Examples, she said, include teacher candidates tutoring
area children as part of their field experiences, environmental awareness and biological
sciences students assisting in placement of recycled Christmas trees to strengthen
area wetland shorelines, and nursing students participating in health fairs and educational
events.
“Both forms of service are highly valuable and commendable,” she said. “Both
contribute to helping students become empowered, motivated and experienced leaders
and citizens, well-rounded individuals that our society needs.”
According to Southeastern’s report, in 2010-11, service-learning activities were incorporated
into 38 academic course sections with nearly 800 students logging more than 15,600
hours of service.
Community service activities involved even greater numbers, Golding said. More
than 1,800students were involved in community service activities, totaling nearly
83,000 service hours.
She cited the Children of the Gulf initiative conducted by the 2010 Lions football
team to raise funds for children of Plaquemines Parish impacted by the BP oil spill.
The team sold t-shirts depicting the pastimes affected by the disaster and raised
more than $8,000 for Plaquemines Parish recreation activities.
“Greek organizations alone documented approximately 7,900 service hours and raised
more than $55,000 for non-profit agencies.”
The report also noted contributions of Southeastern faculty and staff members
who logged close to 12,000 hours of service, and participated in campus-wide fundraising
campaigns for the United Way, the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association.
