Messiah College earns recognition on President’s Honor Roll for Community Service
February 10th, 2009
GRANTHAM, Pa. (Feb. 10, 2009) — The Corporation for National and Community Service named Messiah College to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll in recognition of the college’s exemplary service efforts to America’s communities.
Almost 92% of Messiah College’s student body participates in some form of local community service while they are enrolled at Messiah, according to the College’s Agape Center for Service and Learning. Yearly, students log more than 124,000 volunteer hours.
“A culture and ethic of service and community engagement exists at Messiah College,” says President Kim S. Phipps about Messiah’s placement on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. “This recognition highlights the impact of the College’s mission to “prepare students for lives of service, leadership, and reconciliation.’” More than 400 students participate in local community service programs that occur each week.
Launched in 2006, the Community Service Honor Roll is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement. Honorees for the award 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.
Within the first 48 hours of their arrival on Messiah’s campus, all first-year students are oriented to the college’s mission of service through “Into the Streets” and encouraged to continue serving throughout the semester by serving in various programs like urban farming, tutoring, mentoring, after school programming , creative arts teams and special needs outreach Additionally, students have the opportunity to serve their local neighbors alongside faculty and staff during special days like Dr. King Community Engagement Day and Service Day. Through these experiences, many students are inspired to continue their service and learning and partner longer term with one of nearly 40 partnering organizations.
The Honor Roll is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service in collaboration with the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.
In congratulating the winners, Molly Corbett Broad, American Council on Education president, said, “I offer heartfelt congratulations to those institutions named to the 2008 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. College and university students across the country are making a difference in the lives of others every day – as are the institutions that encourage their students to serve others.”
Overall, the Community Service Honor Roll awarded six schools with Presidential Awards. In addition, 83 were named Honor Roll with Distinction members and 546 schools as Honor Roll members. In total, 635 schools were recognized. A full list is available at www.nationalservice.gov/honorroll.
Messiah College, a private Christian college of the liberal and applied arts and sciences, enrolls 2,800 undergraduate students in more than 60 majors. Established in 1909, the primary campus is located in Grantham, Pa., near the state capital of Harrisburg. A satellite campus affiliated with Temple University is located in Philadelphia.