Blinn Service Learning Wins Award
Program receives national honor for fourth consecutive year
The Blinn College Service Learning program has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the fourth consecutive year. 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 are chosen based on factors including scope and innovation of projects, percentage of student participation, incentives for service, and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.
“The recognition in part is due to the level of commitment, the amount of student participation, and the multitude of projects that Blinn’s Service Learning program provides,” Service Learning Director Dr. Greg Phillips said.” At the end of the Fall semester we had documented in excess of 129,000 hours of service our students have given back to our communities, which translates into $2.6 million dollars.”
Students on all four Blinn campuses have the opportunity to choose service learning projects as part of their regular curriculum. Approximately 50 classes contain a service learning component. To date, more than 8,000 students have participated with the cooperation of 63 community partners in 18 different communities.
Blinn offers service learning options designed to promote active learning, to enable students to see the relevance of the academic subject to the real world, to increase student interactions in the community, and to develop civic responsibility.
“Blinn faculty members encourage their students to be a positive force; to think and grow. They develop incredible opportunities for their students to interact with the community while teaching them the principles of their individual disciplines,” Phillips said.
