Clarion University has been named to the 2014 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. The President’s Honor Roll is the highest federal recognition an institution of higher education can receive for its community service work.
The 2014 honor roll reflects service completed between July 1, 2013, and June 30,
2014. Clarion reported that 3,250 students were engaged in community service, logging
a total of 408,924 service hours in the one-year time span.
In applying for the recognition, Kelly Ryan, assistant director of Clarion's Center for Leadership and Involvement, cited three project areas: Speech and Language Pathology and Development, Stand for Children and Reading for the Cure.
"Students in Clarion University's speech pathology program participate in a wide variety of community service programs, in and out of the classroom," Ryan said. "In addition, our students run an on-campus clinic that, in the 2012-13 academic year, served more than 400 clients of all races and ages that were struggling with a wide variety of communication disorders."
Ryan noted the "Stand for Children" advocacy project, a requirement for education majors, challenges students to look at the world through other lenses. Service activities have included assisting with story time at Clarion Free Library, teaching pre-kindergarten students about the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle, and a spring carnival.
"There were 31 students ... who worked a total of 398 hours to impact the lives of 865 children who otherwise would not have had these opportunities," Ryan said.
Reading for the Cure is an annual event held every October at the university. It is an evening of informal readings of prose and poetry by people from the university and the community, as well as by alumni.
"The event promotes breast cancer awareness and education," Ryan said. "A recent visit to the Komen office in Pittsburgh ended with the staff pointing out to me that our event is the longest running breast cancer event after the actual Race for the Cure."
Ryan said Clarion's strategic plan puts forth that the university will expand our engagement with society and align knowledge and resources with community partners' needs.
"The university is very aware of its role as a resource and provider of knowledge and service to the community through its students, staff and programs," Ryan said. "As a part of the reassessment of what we stand for, the university adopted civic engagement as one of its seven core values."