Volunteer efforts by North Central College students, faculty and staff have earned the College a spot on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) recognizes higher education institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve significant outcomes. North Central College was honored for engaging its students, faculty and staff in meaningful service that achieves measurable results in the community.
Selection to the Honor Roll is recognition from the highest levels of the federal government of the College’s commitment to service and civic engagement on campus and around the nation. North Central College’s community service opportunities are coordinated by the College’s Office of Ministry and Service.
North Central is deeply committed to encouraging and facilitating community service and declared “intellectual, institutional and community engagement” as a top priority in its current strategic plan.
Last year, 993 students, staff and faculty donated more than 26,000 hours of community service. This is in addition to the 1,400 hours logged by students involved in service learning as a component of their academic curriculum. The thousands of service hours were spent gathering food for distribution centers, teaching English as a second language to refugee students finding their way in a new community, tutoring and mentoring at-risk high school students to raise graduation rates, and visiting residents in an assisted living community.
One example of community service at North Central College is the Junior/Senior Scholars program, which directly serves more than 200 K-12 students and indirectly serves an additional 4,000 low-income students at schools in Chicago and Aurora. The Junior/Senior Scholars program provides year-round opportunities that include one-on-one tutoring for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, after-school study groups for students in grades six through 12, and field trips, weekend retreats and summer programs.
North Central College also sponsors a broad array of local and global service clubs and programs, including the Uncommon Life Movement that focuses on community development, International Justice Mission that advocates for human rights, the Break Away alternative spring break trips, Circle K that’s affiliated with the Kiwanis Club, and Cardinals in Action, which encourages students to serve in local projects.
CNCS oversees the Honor Roll in collaboration with the U.S. Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact and the American Council on Education. Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors, including the scope and innovation of service projects, the extent to which service-learning is embedded in the curriculum, the school’s commitment to long-term campus-community partnerships, and measurable community outcomes as a result of the service. Visit NationalService.gov/HonorRoll to learn more.
