THIBODAUX – The Corporation for National and Community Service has named Nicholls State University to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts and assistance to disadvantaged youth.
“I am delighted that for the second consecutive year, Nicholls has received this national award,” said Dr. Stephen T. Hulbert, university president. “This recognition reflects the strong commitment of Nicholls faculty and students to service-learning.”
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 projects for which Nicholls has been honored include the Angels on the Bayou Restoration, a sculpture-conservation initiative in Chauvin; Project Le Cirque, a youth-centered family service program located in Houma; X-treme Spring Break, a post-Katrina renovation effort in Gray; and the Little Zion/St. Luke’s Baptist Church Study, a physical/historical restoration of a plantation-era facility in rural Chackbay.
“Service-learning, volunteerism and civic engagement are encouraged on this campus, and this type of recognition is a great way to acknowledge the efforts of those who participate in such activities,” said Dr. Carroll Falcon, provost and vice president
of academic affairs.
“Nicholls is honored to have been listed as one of the nine institutions in Louisiana to have been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for 2007. We feel very proud of our students and faculty members who have participated in service activities that have resulted in this recognition. The leadership of our Student Government Association president, Olinda Ricard, is especially recognized. Olinda is to be honored at the Campus Compact’s Gulf South Summit later this spring for her work with X-treme Spring Break.”
Ricard said service-learning is paramount to the higher-education experience.
“Universities should be in the business of developing students into servant leaders. Students who embrace this mentality will be ranked among the world’s greatest leaders – those who were dedicated to improving the lives of others through service. I am proud to be a student at Nicholls, a university that is steadily expanding its contributions to our community through service-learning.”
Nicholls’ first induction in the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll occurred in 2006 for its role in assisting the victims of hurricanes, primarily Katrina. Students, faculty members and community members were all involved in this effort.
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.
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.”
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. The Corporation 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. For more information, go to https://www.nationalservice.gov.
