Alma receives national community service recognition

For the third straight year, Alma College has received national recognition for its commitment to community service.

The Corporation for National and Community Service has named Alma College to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service learning and civic engagement.

“Because service is integrated within the Alma College experience, Alma students serve generously in a wide variety of capacities,” says Anne Ritz, the college’s service-learning coordinator. “This national recognition validates the great work that Alma students, faculty and staff are doing on campus, in the surrounding communities and throughout the world.”

Service opportunities abound for Alma students, from participating in alternative break service trips, to volunteering at the Masonic Pathways senior living facility, to helping with local organizations such as Special Olympics and Big Brothers Big Sisters. They also mentor children in area schools, partnering with the Pine River Superfund Site Citizen Task Force, and perform service overseas, such as working at an orphanage in Ukraine as part of the Forgotten Children of Eastern Europe organization.

Alma data reflects that 93 percent of the 2009 graduating seniors participated in academic service-learning during their time at Alma, with service-learning enrollment during 2008-09 topping 855, says Ritz. Many students not enrolled in service-learning classes also participate in community service and civic engagement activities.

College students make a significant contribution to the volunteer sector, with 3.16 million students performing more than 300 million hours of service, according to a study released by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Honorees for the Community Service Honor Roll were chosen based on a series of selection factors including 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. Alma College was among 621 colleges and universities across the nation selected for inclusion on the Honor Roll.