Nearly 700 students contributed 48,000 hours of community service in 2007-08 to earn Lynchburg College a place on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for 2008.
LC, which was also on the honor roll in 2006, was one of only 12 colleges and universities in Virginia to make the list.
LC was recognized for its service to the Greater Lynchburg community and beyond. General community service projects included: disaster relief by two Bonner Leader students, a service partnership with Lynchburg Grows, Community and Economic Development (academic service learning with political science classes under Dr. Tim Meinke), Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week events, and the construction of wheelchair ramps by the men's lacrosse team.
Special focus area projects included: St. Lucia International Service Learning Initiative, Boys and Girls Club Bonners Video Project, Respite Care for Youth with Disabilities, Read and Tutor Program at Perrymont Elementary, Early Learning and Special Need Programming at Head Start, Laurel School, and Elizabeth's Early Learning Center.
The Honor Roll, launched in 2006, recognizes colleges and universities nationwide that support innovative and effective community service and service-learning programs. The Honor Roll's Presidential Award, given each year to only a handful of institutions, is the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement.
Recent studies have underlined the importance of service-learning and volunteering to college students. In 2006, 2.8 million college students gave more than 297 million hours of volunteer service, according to the Corporation's Volunteering in America 2007 study. Using Independent Sector's estimates of the value of volunteer time, college student volunteering was worth more than $5.6 billion last year.
For a complete list of colleges and universities named to the third annual honor roll, visit http://www.learnandserve.gov/about/programs/higher_ed_honorroll.asp.