Springfield College Celebrates 1,000 Volunteers
February 19, 2003SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Feb. 19, 2003 -- Area not-for-profit organizations will recruit Springfield College students for jobs and volunteer help at a forum where the college will honor students and members of its faculty and staff who are already performing community service on Thursday, February 20, 2003, at noon, in Fuller Arts Center.
Members of the campus community will file past an honor roll of names of more than 1,000 their Springfield College friends and colleagues and exhibits from 15 organizations including the American Cancer Society, North End Community Center, Massachusetts Career Development Institute, Springfield Park & Recreation Center, Habitat for Humanity, AmeriCorps, and more.
Springfield College President Richard B. Flynn will recognize representatives attending the event from some of the more than 40 organizations where Springfield College people are involved. Students volunteer, serve internships, and also perform services related to courses of study as part of their learning programs. They serve in area schools as tutors, mentors, and student teachers, and conduct recreational, sports, drug education and other programs. They also serve in community organizations and public agencies.
Barbara Caynes, of the Massachusetts Campus Compact (MACC), will open the program, which is timed to coincide with National Civic Engagement Week involving more than 100,000 students at 600 colleges and universities across the nation. Campus Compact is a national coalition of more than 850 college and university presidents. This week, its "Raise Your Voice--A Week of Action, includes events designed to increase student participation in all realms of civic life-- from voting to volunteering in the community. In Massachusetts, the State Senate proclaimed February 16--22 Civic Engagement Week--A Week of Action.
At the Springfield College civic engagement forum, several students who are active in community service will describe their work and the benefits that they and those who they serve derive from it, and will encourage others to participate. Among them will be Becca Jackman, chairperson of the Springfield Community Outreach Committee, and Kelli Desroches, a member of the college’s AmeriCorps program in Springfield’s SAGE School.
Daniel Zukergood, Springfield College assistant professor of education, will describe the mutual benefits to students and the community of service learning, by which he involves his students in community service that is related to their courses of study. Kevin McCaskill, principal at William N. DeBerry Elementary School, and Dora Robinson, executive director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, will describe the mutual benefits of the range of services that Springfield College students perform at the school and center.
The civic engagement forum will launch a campaign at Springfield College to increase participation in community service. The college will distribute its new brochure, "Impact," describing its many service and collaborative programs with community organizations. It will also introduce a new civic engagement poster.
