Rollins College has been honored by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) as a leader among institutions of higher education for its support of volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement. Rollins is one of six colleges and universities to receive Presidential Awards in the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to community service.
The Corporation for National and Community Service, which has administered the Honor Roll since 2006, admitted a total of 641 colleges and universities for their impact on issues from literacy and neighborhood revitalization to supporting at-risk youth. Of that total, 511 were named to the Honor Roll, 114 received the recognition of Honor Roll with distinction, 11 were identified as finalists, and six received the Presidential Award.
Rollins students contributed more than 55,700 volunteer hours last year in education, health, and disaster response projects. These included mentoring elementary-school students, teaching at an elementary school, rebuilding homes, creating hand-washing stations for farm workers and providing health screenings in Nepal.
“We are extraordinarily proud of the work of Rollins’ Office of Community Engagement and the dedicated members of the Rollins community who together earned this superlative honor,” said Rollins College President Lewis Duncan.
A total of 851 institutions applied for the 2010 Honor Roll, a nine percent increase over last year, a sign of the growing interest by colleges and universities in highlighting their efforts to engage students in making a difference in the community.
Recipients of the Presidential Awards were honored in three categories:
· General Community Service, which considers the scope and quality of an institution’s community service, service-learning, and civic engagement programs;
· Promise Neighborhoods Model, characterized by coordinated, wrap-around, youth-focused services that work together to support the educational and social needs of children; and
· Summer Learning, which provides a safe, healthy environment for academic enrichment during summer breaks to help students retain what they learned during the academic year.
