Gettysburg College's Center for Public Service (CPS) received a national honor in recognition of programs ranging from supporting community activism in Nicaragua to tutoring migrant Latino high school students in Gettysburg.

CPS was named to the 2007 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.

"This distinction from the highest levels of government recognizes your institution's leadership in helping to build a culture of service and civic engagement on campuses and in our nation," said Amy Cohen, director of Learn and Serve America for the Corporation for National and Community Service.

"This honor really recognizes the involvement and energy of the campus with the community and the community's willingness to educate our students about the realities of community work and the importance of collective work for social change," said CPS Director Gretchen Natter.

Some 1,450 Gettysburg College students provided approximately 22,800 hours of community service during the the 2006-07 academic year, including 350 students whose service learning was a component of the academic coursework.

Projects included:

Communities in Action, in which students partnered with community development organizations in Nicaragua and the Gettysburg area during summer break.

Tryin' to Find a Way Back Home, a seminar in which first-year students studied the literature of homelessness and took part in service learning in Gettysburg and Washington, D.C.

Circles of Support, in which students enrolled in the Introduction to Peace and Justice Studies course partnered with a local agency that works with local families to overcome the barriers of economic class.

Leadership in Action, in which members of a senior seminar in management analyzed training and development needs of a coalition of community health organizations.

Learning and Servicing in the Local Mexican Community, a Latin American Studies course in which students helped families learn English and acclimatize to U.S. culture

Migrant Education High School Tutoring, which matched Gettysburg College students with migrant Latino students for homework help.

A Leadership Conference that brought 48 high school students involved in the migrant education program to campus for an overnight stay on campus.

Spanish Language Tutoring at El Centro, which benefited 65 children at a local community center who speak Spanish at home but have not studied how to read or write it.

In congratulating the winners, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said, "Americans rely on our higher education system to prepare students for citizenship and the workforce. We look to institutions like these to provide leadership in partnering with local schools to shape the civic, democratic and economic future of our country."

 "There is no question that the universities and colleges who have made an effort to participate and win the Honor Roll award are themselves being rewarded," said American Council on Education President David Ward.  "Earning this distinction is not easy.  But now each of these schools will be able to wear this award like a badge of honor."

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 innovativeness 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.

The Honor Roll is jointly sponsored by the Corporation, through its Learn and Serve America program, and the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps, and the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation.

Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences. With a student body of approximately 2,600, it is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. The college was founded in 1832. 

Posted March 4, 2008

By Jim Hale