Carroll Community College
Spring 2008, No. 35



Contents

College Service-Learning Project Receives National Recognition

President’s Column

Holocaust Survivor, Carroll Instructor Teach New Generations

Area High School Students Participate in Carroll Academic Challenge

College Hosts STEM Competition

Health and Exercise Science Program Prepares Students for Many Career Options

Info

 

College Service-Learning Project Receives National Recognition

The Community College National Center for Community Engagement (CCNCCE) has awarded Carroll Community College its International Service-Learning Collaboration Award. A Service-Learning trip by students, faculty, and staff to Belize in July, 2007 was the winning nomination among submissions from two-year colleges across the nation.

The CCNCCE celebrates outstanding campus-based service learning and civic engagement programs that have developed partnerships outside their institutions. The award recognizes community college service-learning partnerships with social agencies; business and industry; elementary, middle, and high schools; other colleges and universities; and international organizations.

College President Dr. Faye Pappalardo extended her congratulations to Carroll’s Service-Learning area and said, “I am pleased that our students, faculty, and staff are so willing to reach out to others in need, regardless of how far their travels take them or what degree of effort is required.”

Dr. James Ball, Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, said “I am especially proud of the students, faculty, and staff who participated in the Belize project because they took time out of their busy summers to help teach children who are native to Belize how to improve their English language skills. This is a fine contribution to the global community.”

“As a Service-Learning practitioner, I understand that this experience has been the most important work I have done during my ten years in higher education,” said Ms. Dell Rhodes, Coordinator for Service-Learning at Carroll. “The collaboration between our students and the people of Big Falls, Belize leads to layered, contextual knowledge. This is not easily obtained in a classroom,” she said.

“I think about a quote attributed to Albert Einstein: ‘Not everything that can be counted, counts; and not everything that counts, can be counted.’ Never is the quote more relevant for me, as an educator, than when we were boarding the plane to leave Belize,” said Ms. Rhodes. “It is there that I most realized that no one who participates in the Belize Project is ever the same, in a positive, unquantifiable way.”

Criteria for selection of the award recipient included the quality of learning opportunities, the contribution of the institution and its partners, the level of faculty involvement, and the potential for replication.

Program on National Honor Roll
The Center for Service-Learning at Carroll Community College was placed on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. This is the first time the college has received this federal recognition at the U.S. Presidential level.

The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, launched in 2006, recognizes colleges and universities nationwide that support innovative and effective community service and service-learning programs.

The Honor Roll’s Presidential Award is the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement.

The Honor Roll is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and is sponsored by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, the USA Freedom Corps, and the U.S. Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development.

“Only a handful of community colleges were recognized, which underscores what a wonderful testament this is to the work being done by our students, faculty, and staff,” said Ms. Rhodes. “It is also further proof that students at Carroll Community College can expect to find the same caliber of education and experiences that they would at four-year universities.”

“This second national award in as many weeks is a welcome tribute to the comprehensive Service-Learning experience offered at Carroll. The first national award lauded one specific project, while the President’s Honor Roll looks at the composite of our Service-Learning programs,” Ms. Rhodes said.

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