Spring Break
JumpStart program nationally recognizes university for service
Andy Blais
Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: Campus
04/02/08 - This February, the University of Rhode Island was named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, with distinction.
URI is one of only three public universities in New England to be put on the list, the other two being the University of Massachusetts and Keene State College of New Hampshire.
There were 528 colleges and universities named to the list nationwide, but only 127 schools like URI were named to the honor roll with distinction. Four of those schools received special achievement awards and six others received presidential awards.
URI was named to the two-year-old list for the second time because of its exemplary service programs that work with disadvantaged youth, mainly in the form of the university's JumpStart program. In 2006, URI was given the award because of its work in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
Sarah Miller, the coordinator for the Feinstein Center for Service Learning, said that across the campus there was "wide spread commitment to service."
Miller, who has been at the university since last May, said she believes that there is a great culture of service at the university. She referred to the university's URI 101 service component, or the Feinstein Enriching America program, as the introduction of many students to service.
"I have yet to learn of another college that has a required service component," Miller said. Miller also said that despite being a large university, the community service program contributes to URI's small college feel. "It's part of the campus culture," she said.
Miller said that she applied for the award online in October, adding that the toughest part of the application process was capturing the entirety of the community service that URI students do. The award application said that the school did around 40,000 hours of community service, but this is not including service from Greek life, the Mentor/Tutor Internship, the Alternative Spring Break program and Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences, or SMILE.
URI is one of only three public universities in New England to be put on the list, the other two being the University of Massachusetts and Keene State College of New Hampshire.
There were 528 colleges and universities named to the list nationwide, but only 127 schools like URI were named to the honor roll with distinction. Four of those schools received special achievement awards and six others received presidential awards.
URI was named to the two-year-old list for the second time because of its exemplary service programs that work with disadvantaged youth, mainly in the form of the university's JumpStart program. In 2006, URI was given the award because of its work in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
Sarah Miller, the coordinator for the Feinstein Center for Service Learning, said that across the campus there was "wide spread commitment to service."
Miller, who has been at the university since last May, said she believes that there is a great culture of service at the university. She referred to the university's URI 101 service component, or the Feinstein Enriching America program, as the introduction of many students to service.
"I have yet to learn of another college that has a required service component," Miller said. Miller also said that despite being a large university, the community service program contributes to URI's small college feel. "It's part of the campus culture," she said.
Miller said that she applied for the award online in October, adding that the toughest part of the application process was capturing the entirety of the community service that URI students do. The award application said that the school did around 40,000 hours of community service, but this is not including service from Greek life, the Mentor/Tutor Internship, the Alternative Spring Break program and Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences, or SMILE.
