PC named to Service Honor Roll

PC named to Service Honor Roll

Presbyterian College has been named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for National and Community Service. This is the second consecutive year that PC has received the honor and the third time in the past four years.

“The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and our Student Volunteer Service Fellows and Coordinators are very thankful that PC has once again been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll,” said Dr. Jeri Parris Perkins, PC’s Dean of Religious Life.

“Our faculty, staff, and students served over 34, 000 volunteer hours in 2012. It is our goal to increase not only folks served but also to challenge every PC community member to volunteer in 2013 and truly live out our motto, ‘While we live, we serve.’”

The Honor Roll specifically recognized PC and PC School of Pharmacy professors and students for their  exemplary community service demonstrated during Special Olympics, Service Day, and with the CHAMPS program during 2012.

Special Olympics

Last year, 150 students and 20 professors hosted the Special Olympics for 500 athletes from five South Carolina counties. As they have done for the past 38 years, PC students led the effort, meeting with the SC Special Olympics Area Coordinator throughout the academic year to plan and publicize the spring event. Students then managed all facets related to the Special Olympics, from recruiting and training volunteers to coordinating parking to serving as one-on-one buddies for a number of the most physically challenged athletes and celebrating like big brothers and sisters at the accomplishments of these very special students.

Service Day

New PC School of Pharmacy students, along with professors, were introduced to the culture of service at the beginning of the 2012—2013 academic year during Service Day. Nearly 80 students served those in the local community at the Presbyterian Community, National Healthcare, and Bailey Manor, and several health-related sites around the Clinton area.

CHAMPS

Last year, 54 students and 34 professors helped to serve 205 seventh to twelfth graders who participate in CHAMPS, a partnership between PC and local and national organizations that has helped promising students reach college for the past 18 years. Last fall, CHAMPS partnered with 15 members of PC’s honor societies to create a new service to eleventh and twelfth graders called College Literacy. In this program, PC students coordinated Saturday programs that brought together parents and high school guidance counselors with college students and college admissions and financial aid experts to walk students through the tasks related to researching, choosing, applying, enrolling, and funding further educational opportunities. In addition, CHAMPS partnered with the United Way to train 25 educators, leaders, and coaches from the community and all PC student mentors in a new character education and soft skills curriculum, Girls and Boys Circle.

The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll honors the nation’s leading higher education institutions and their students, faculty, and staff for their commitment to bettering their communities through service. These are institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities.