For the second year in a row, Cabrini College was named to the second annual President’s Higher Education Community Honor Roll with Distinction for General Community Service on Feb. 27.
Being one of only seven colleges and universities in Pennsylvania and 127 nationwide to be named to the Honor Roll with Distinction, Cabrini proved to be once again a strong leader in community service among universities nationwide.
The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll was started in 2006 to recognize colleges and universities for their education that supports ground-breaking and outstanding programs involving community service.
Cabrini started as the first college or university in Pennsylvania to make community service a requirement in their core curriculum for all their undergraduate students.
There are a number of different programs and community service projects that make Cabrini stand out as exemplary. Director of service learning David Chiles believes that Cabrini’s distinction came from “a combination partnership with the city of Norristown, Catholic Relief Services and the new [general] education curriculum for next year.”
In addition to being the first university or college in Pennsylvania to make community service mandatory for undergraduates, Cabrini was also the first in the nation to sign an agreement with Catholic Relief Services (CRS).
As the relief efforts in Africa as well as South and Central America for immigration and HIV/AIDS prevention grows, the work in the nearby city of Norristown and the new general curriculum for Cabrini both play a major role in Cabrini’s recognition in Pennsylvania and throughout college and universities around the world.
Student involvement and the extent to which the school offers the service is a large factor in which colleges and universities get named to this Honor Roll and even better, which of them gets distinction.
More students will be involved with the community service programs next year, due to the new general curriculum Cabrini is putting in place. Margaret Fox- Tully, vice president for Mission Integration and Human Resources, is excited for the new curriculum. “We get to start to work with students at all different levels,” Fox-Tully said.
“The general education curriculum [next year] will bring a new level of community service and Cabrini will become a national leader in terms of integration,” Chiles said. “This distinction is great recognition for the entire community.”
Service projects may not be on the top of priorities for some students but because it is required at Cabrini, Chile believes that the “. experiences that help prepare [the students] for the real world,” Chiles said.
In addition, Chiles believes that doing community service benefits everyone in the way that we become overall better citizens.
“[When participating in community service] students are pushed out of their comfort zone to new and maybe even scary situations.” Fox-Tully said. “This is when the real transformation happens…. This you cannot learn in classrooms.”
