FVCC Named to Presidential Honor Roll for Community Service
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has named Flathead Valley Community College to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for its support of volunteering, service learning and civic engagement.
“We are extremely honored to have received this prestigious recognition,” said FVCC President Jane Karas. “We are very proud of our students and their commitment to serving our community and to helping those in need.”
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 innovation 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. FVCC is one of two postsecondary institutions in Montana and among 641 colleges and universities in the nation recognized with the honor.
During the 2009-2010 academic year, 457 FVCC students provided more than 10,144 volunteer community service hours, and 10 service team members volunteered over 8,000 hours of service. Activities included Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, CASA for Kids toy drive, Feeding the Flathead, Violence Free Crisis Line/Abbie Shelter toy and food drive, Habitat for Humanity, One Warm Coat Campaign, Haiti fundraiser, Project Homeless Connect, Rake the Flathead, Donate Life campaign, Senior Institute, Seussville University and The Great Giveaway. In addition, 106 Campus Corps members provided 42,668 hours or service through their clinical hours, internships, externships and student teaching.
“As members of the class of 2011 cross the stage to pick up their diplomas, more and more will be going into the world with a commitment to public service and the knowledge that they can make a difference in their communities and their own lives through service to others, thanks to the leadership of these institutions” said Patrick A. Corvington, chief executive officer of CNCS.
This honor follows another recent national honor for FVCC nursing transfer student Katherine Emerson who was one of 135 students in the nation who received the Newman Civic Fellows Award from Campus Compact. The award recognizes inspiring college student leaders who have demonstrated an investment in finding solutions for challenges facing communities throughout the country through service, research and advocacy. Emerson is a spokesperson for the fight against cancer and advocate for affordable healthcare. A longtime supporter of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, she chaired the annual event in Columbia Falls for four years after her oldest son was diagnosed with leukemia at age 12 and later lung lymphoma. She also volunteers at Shepherd’s Hand Free Clinic in Whitefish and works at North Valley Hospital on the medical/surgical floor on the evenings.
Emerson was presented the award by National Campus Compact President Maureen Curley during the college’s spring commencement exercise May 13.
For more information, contact the FVCC Service Learning Office at 756-3908. To view the complete 2010 Honor Roll list, visit www.learnandserve.gov/pdf/11_0512_lsa_honorroll_fulllist.pdf.