A total of 16 Hope College students are being recognized by Michigan Campus Compact (MCC) for their dedication and commitment to service.
The awards will be presented during the organization’s 2013 Outstanding Student Service Awards Ceremony on Saturday, April 13, at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing.
Each year, MCC recognizes students from member colleges and universities across the state for their outstanding commitment to service-learning and civic engagement. Three types of awards are given: the Outstanding Community Impact Award, the Commitment to Service Award, and the Heart and Soul Award. This year, more than 450 students from 33 member campuses will receive awards.
A Commitment to Service Award will be presented to senior Daniel Owens of Rocky River, Ohio. The award recognizes up to two students per member campus for breadth or depth of community service. Only 33 students statewide will receive the award.
Heart and Soul Awards will be presented to senior Derek Blok of Schoolcraft; senior Jessica Breslin of Palatine, Ill.; junior Christopher Davis of Shelby Township; senior Iliana Garcia of Los Angeles, Calif.; junior Samantha Gindl of Crown Point, Ind.; senior Jasmine Harris of Columbus, Ohio; senior Kevin Krueger of Traverse City; senior Felicia Marshall of La Grange, Ill.; sophomore Erica Porzondek of Belleville; senior Magdaline Rohweder of Troy; junior Kayleigh Schneider of Lake Leelanau; sophomore Holly Thompson of Traverse City; junior Lydia Thornburg of Indianapolis, Ind.; junior Amelia Townsend of Zionsville, Ind.; and senior Kara VanOordt of Jenison.
The students’ service spans the wide range of such activity by students across the campus, from commitment individually in working with local organizations, to participation in major charitable fund-raising efforts involving hundreds of students. Prominent examples of the latter include the annual student-organized Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society each fall and the Dance Marathon held on behalf of Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital each spring. In January 2011, Hope received national recognition for exemplary service-learning as one of only 115 colleges and universities across the country named to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s “2010 Community Engagement Classification.”
Michigan Campus Compact is a coalition of college and university presidents who are committed to fulfilling the public purpose of higher education. The compact promotes the education and commitment of Michigan college students to be civically engaged citizens, through creating and expanding academic, co-curricular and campus-wide opportunities for community service, service-learning and civic engagement. Some 40 Michigan colleges and universities are members of MCC. More information may be obtained online at www.micampuscompact.org.