DATE: February 21, 2008
CONTACT:
Jennifer Shurley, (864) 656-0243
jshurle@clemson.edu
WRITER:
Angela Nixon, (864) 656-0382
anixon@clemson.edu
Clemson named to President’s Honor Roll for community service
CLEMSON – The Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency, has named Clemson University to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll With Distinction for exemplary service efforts and service to disadvantaged youth.
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.
Clemson was selected because of programs such as the MLK Day of Service, in which hundreds of volunteers perform community service on the MLK holiday; the Sharp Supplies for Sharp Minds project, which collected school supplies through donations at summer orientation; the Solid Green anti-litter and sustainability campaign; the Partnering with a Purpose program, which is a partnership with the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice to create programs to help at-risk youth; the Call Me MISTER program’s Project Middle Passage, which pairs African-American middle-school students with mentors in the Call Me MISTER program; and Building Dreams, a project of Clemson’s Institute of Family and Neighborhood Life that reaches out to children who have parents in prison.
“Community service is a way of life at Clemson,” said Jennifer Shurley, associate director for community service. “We get students thinking about it at their freshman orientation and offer them many opportunities for civic engagement during their time here. It is wonderful to be recognized for the work our students are doing to help others.”
The Honor Roll is jointly sponsored by the Corporation, through its Learn and Serve America program, the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.
Clemson was one of 127 schools named to the Honor Roll With Distinction. A full list of all schools recognized is available at www.nationalservice.gov/honorroll.
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that improves lives, strengthens communities and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. The corporation administers Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America, a program that supports service-learning in schools, institutions of higher education and community-based organizations. For more information, go to www.nationalservice.gov.