For the third consecutive year, Azusa Pacific University was recognized by Learn and Serve America on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exceptional service learning. This distinction recognizes APU’s leadership in cultivating a culture of service and civic engagement on university campuses and in the U.S. APU was 1 of 83 schools on the Honor Roll with Distinction for 2008, out of nearly 700 schools named to the general Honor Roll.
APU submitted 10 service learning programs for nomination:
• Azusa Music Conservatory – Sponsored in part by APU’s School of Music, this program provides instrumental instruction to students of low-income families.
• Azusa Reads – A community-based Federal Work Study-funded program that offers free reading assistance to first through fifth grade students in Azusa.
• Business Service-Learning – APU students help shape city’s economic development by merging their business course work with real-world development projects in the area.
• College Headed and Mighty Proud (C.H.A.M.P.) – Offers fourth-grade students a peek into college and prospective careers, while aiding APU students in social understanding.
• Community Engagement in South Africa – The South Africa Semester includes a four-week service-learning course engaging students in community development.
• Cougar Pals – Students are paired with at-risk students in this mentoring program between social-work classes from APU and Azusa residents.
• Focus International – This missions program sends APU students to more than 20 worldwide locations to serve in public health, AIDS education, and teaching English.
• MAS Tutoring Programs – A variety of programs that include one-on-one mentoring attention to children from elementary to high school age as well as their parents.
• Mexico Outreach – Since 1968, this program has promoted community service trips to Mexico, offering involvement in construction, mentoring, and community counseling.
• TAP/Mini Course – The Teacher Assistant Program gives liberal studies majors a chance to be a teacher’s assistant, while the Mini-Course allows students from any major to engage at-risk students in a unique lesson to augment the class curriculum.
Recent studies have underlined the importance of service-learning and volunteering to college students. In 2006, 2.8 million college students gave more than 297 million hours of volunteer service, according to a Volunteering in America 2007 study conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Corporation, a federal agency, administers Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America, a program that supports service-learning in schools, institutions of higher education, and community-based organizations.
The Honor Roll launched in 2006 to recognize institutions demonstrating innovative and effective community service programs. According to the American Council on Education, “The trust placed in higher education as a leading source of innovation and an investment with significant individual and national return must not be compromised.”
APU’s Center for Service-Learning and Research seeks to build community by developing positive, reciprocal relationships between APU and the local private and public sectors. With more than 50 programs currently in place, each student at APU has the opportunity to serve their community. For more information, visit www.apu.edu/caslr/.
