As colleges across the country honor their graduates this commencement season, the Corporation for National and Community Service honored Kentucky State University as a leader among institutions of higher education for its support of volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement. KSU was admitted to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for engaging its students, faculty and staff in meaningful service that achieves measurable results in the community.
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.
“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. “Congratulations to Kentucky State University and its students for their dedication to service and commitment to improving their local communities. We salute all the Honor Roll awardees for embracing their civic mission and providing opportunities for their students to tackle tough national challenges through service.”
“Enter to Learn, Go out to Serve” is one of Kentucky State University’s mottos and is boldly imprinted at the entrance to Carver Hall on campus. As Kentucky’s only historically black, 1890 Land Grant institution, KSU is committed to utilizing resources to partner with more than 52 organizations and more than 27 public schools to assist with the community’s most pressing social, civic, economic and moral problems, said Irma Johnson, KSU’s service learning coordinator.
From 2010, the Office of Regional Stewardship and Public Works, along with the Office of Educational Outreach in the Land Grant program, supported community service projects involving more than 1,180 college students who volunteered more than 14,400 hours. The projects included mentoring/tutoring in more than 12 local and regional public schools, presenting a financial literacy program (Budgetball) and a lock-in activity for seven middle schools, holding a financial literacy dinner for the community, hosting ten informational community forums, mentoring children of incarcerated parents, working with fifth graders to plant community gardens and native flower beds, repairing homes for the elderly and writing letters of support and mailing 200 care packages to soldiers in Afghanistan. During the summer months, KSU hosts more than 350 children, ages 10 to 18, in more than nine different residential summer camps at no cost to the participant.
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