Warner Pacific College Earns Place on National Honor Roll for Community Service
We were named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for National & Community Service (CNCS). This designation is the highest honor a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement.
“‘Where faith and scholarship leads to service’ has long been the motto at Warner Pacific,” said Dr. Andrea Cook, President of the College. “We believe that loving and serving our neighbors here in Portland is a vital component of preparing our graduates to be active leaders and participants in an ever changing world.”
Over the past year, students at Warner Pacific College served the city’s homeless residents through partnerships with multiple organizations, including the Oregon Food Bank, Next Step shelter, HomePDX, Union Gospel Mission, and the College’s own Hot Chocolate Ministry and Friday Lunch Outreach program. In addition, hundreds of students participated in large-scale service efforts like the Annual Common Day of Service and the MLK Day of Service with Campus Compact.
Warner Pacific students have also built long-term relationships with local elementary, middle, and high schools in the area, working as mentors, tutors, and providing arts and athletics support when programs have been cut due to budgetary constraints.
“Congratulations to Warner Pacific College, its faculty, staff and students for its commitment to service, both in and out of the classroom,” said Wendy Spencer, CEO of CNCS. “Through this work, institutions of higher education are helping improve their local communities, creating a new generation of leaders by challenging students to go beyond the traditional college experience and solve local challenges.”
Inspired by the thousands of college students who traveled across the country to support relief efforts along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, CNCS has administered the award since 2006 and manages the program in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as the American Council on Education and Campus Compact.
More information on eligibility and the full list of Honor Roll awardees, can be found at americorps.gov.
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.
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, the Social Innovation Fund and other programs, and leads President Obama’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve.