Michigan Campus Compact has named Kellogg Community College its 2017 Engaged Campus of the Year and honored two KCC students with Commitment to Service awards for their dedication and commitment to community service.
The MiCC’s Engaged Campus of the Year award recognizes community colleges for exemplary commitment to community engagement, as measured by select indicators demonstrating such engagement is embedded in the culture of teaching and learning at the recipient institution.
KCC Service-Learning Manager Kate DeGraaf said the College is honored to be recognized with the award, which considers the voices of students and community members as well as faculty, staff and administration among its indicators of commitment to engagement.
“The Campus of the Year and individual student honors are a validation of KCC’s work in service this past year, and demonstrate the real investment KCC and its students have in helping our communities succeed,” DeGraaf said. “Michigan Campus Compact’s recognition of KCC as Engaged Campus of the Year is a confirmation of the College’s dedication to producing service-minded graduates who are committed to proactively meeting the needs of their communities, and we couldn’t be prouder of our students.”
The student award winners, who received their awards for community projects completed during their service-learning coursework at KCC during the Spring 2017 semester, were honored at the MiCC Awards Gala March 23 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing.
KCC students Julia Beffrey, of Augusta, and Heather Morse, of Battle Creek, were among just 29 students statewide to receive the 2017 Commitment to Service Award. The award recognizes up to two students per member campus in the state of Michigan for either the breadth or depth of their community involvement or service experiences.
Beffrey was nominated by DeGraaf for her service as a student worker in the department for nearly two years. Beffrey coordinated and attended every Bruins Give Back community volunteer event for students and staff from October 2016 through the spring semester; helped maintain and harvest crops from the College’s community garden; and was involved in working with area organizations including Binder Park Zoo, the Burma Center, Dudley STEM School, the Food Bank of South Central Michigan, Fremont Elementary, Gracious Homes, Habitat for Humanity and Kingman Museum, among others.
“I’m so proud and it is so nice to have our college be recognized for such a tremendous honor,” Beffrey said. “Being at a school named most actively involved with my community makes me so proud!”
Morse was nominated by Dental Hygiene Program Director Bridget Korpela for serving more than 30 hours on projects including volunteering at Marian E. Burch Adult Day Care Center, a local elementary and at an “open dentistry day” in Detroit, where dental professionals aided individuals with dental services at no cost. While serving, Morse participated in activities ranging from helping to serve and clean up breakfast to keeping senior clients company, to provided plaque screenings for kids and creating comprehensive educational lesson plans to help them learn about how to take care of their own teeth.
The above awards are just the latest of several honors KCC has received over the past several years recognizing the College’s commitment to service-learning and community engagement. The College was the only community college in the state and one of just 16 colleges and universities in the state to be listed on the 2015 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll last fall; the honor is the highest federal recognition an institution can receive for its commitment to community, service learning and civic engagement.
For more information, contact the KCC’s Service-Learning office at servicelearning@kellogg.edu. For more information about service-learning at KCC, visit www.kellogg.edu/service-learning.
About Michigan Campus Compact
Michigan Campus Compact is a coalition of college and university presidents who are committed to fulfilling the public purposes of higher education. Campus Compact member presidents are joined together in their commitment to the development of personal and social responsibility as integral to the educational mission of their campuses. Currently MiCC has 38 member campuses and Michigan members are part of national Campus Compact, a coalition of nearly 1,100 college and university presidents, representing some 6 million students. Michigan Campus Compact’s purpose is to build and sustain a network of colleges and universities to strengthen student engagement through sharing and expanding knowledge and resources, fostering community partnerships and celebrating service leaders.
Michigan Campus Compact, located in Lansing, is a statewide charitable organization, operating under the 501(c)(3) status of the Michigan Nonprofit Association. For more information, visit www.micampuscompact.org.
Pictured above, KCC students and staff pose while volunteering in KCC’s community garden during one of several Bruins Give Back volunteer events held in Battle Creek each year.
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