Not just another day

The AmeriCorps VISTA program sponsors many service initiatives outside service learning. In addition to the MLK Day of Service (which Campbell already does) and the AmeriCorps Week of Service, this year we'll join VISTA campuses across the country in celebrating a day of service I didn't know existed until recently, despite being a news junkie.


Last year President Obama declared 9/11 a day of service in order to reflect on the period of history that prompted "...Americans to come together in a remarkable spirit of unity and compassion," according his call to service last August.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, a partner organization of AmeriCorps, supports the 9/11 Day of Service along with many others service organizations. 


I'm really excited about Campbell's first 9/11 Day of Service. Not only does Campbell have a strong military presence in its student body through the ROTC program, but we have three extended campuses on three bases: Fort Bragg, Campe Lejeune, and Pope Air Force Base.


This year's 9/11 Day of Service is just beginning to take shape, but here are a few highlights to peak your interest:

• The day will begin with an opening ceremony at the flagpole on campus.
• We're offering up the idea to students to commit to a service project in honor of a soldier they know.
• The service projects are local and diverse.

Below is a public service announcement from the September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance promoting the day.


Lots of links to many different sites all about service, but the common thread is focusing to serve others on 9/11 in honor of those who serve us the other 364 days of the year.

In the beginning...

This real camel from
Welcome Week '09
is really pumped about
helping the community!

I'm proud to announce that Service Learning @ Campbell has arrived!


Mind you it's my first day on the job and all I've done is schedule meetings and try to figure out how to transfer calls. Baby steps.


We (Campus Ministries and myself) have spent the summer hammering out details and preparing as much as possible to take off on this adventure. We've read the books, Googled a few things and attended the workshops. 


Perhaps the most monumental baby step was attending AmeriCorps VISTA Pre-Service Orientation, four days of ice breakers, info sessions and really good food. It provided many points of clarity on a few questions Faithe and I had about this undertaking.


The one huge lesson with which I returned to Raleigh was this:


Our work is bigger than ourselves.


This year's goals are more than just convincing college students to want to help out. It's not just being nice to our Spanish-speaking neighbors.


On the local level the work we do in the coming months and years will ripple out in ways we may never discover. In an even bigger picture, over 7,000 VISTAs all over the country are executing anti-poverty initiatives that together will weave a cloth of hope and success for our fellow Americans, impoverished or not.


Check back for more frequent updates to the life and times of Service Learning @ Campbell.

Two scoops of service, please.

Tonight the university is wrapping up orientation season. Every incoming freshman has learned very briefly how to find the library, how to find dinner, and most importantly-- how to serve.


We had 500 smiling faces and eager hands preparing 20,000 meals for Stop Hunger Now. New to the orientation line up was a special local project to assemble backpacks full of food and school supplies for elementary school students under the wings of the Baptist Fellowship of Angier.


While the service projects aren't the definition of service learning, they give students a taste of service and get them thinking about it. The projects are the tip of the service learning iceberg.


The Class of 2014 will be the first class to enter Campbell with the service learning program. Together, the students and program will grow up together in Buies Creek. I've watched the incoming class and am incredibly hopeful that service learning at Campbell will flourish through these 1,000 bright and passionate students.


I spoke to the parents again and offered the same words I did at the first orientation session. My shaky public speaking abilities always extinguish any fantasies that parents will run up to me, asking for my autograph and rounding off questions about service learning. A few parents, however, did catch me during lunch to say they appreciated my schpiel. I don't say that to brag about myself-- I say it to point out that when parents think something is important, they're going to tell their kids about it.


Now that the entire freshman class knows kind of what service learning is, the next step is to develop the concept among them and tend to our mustard seed of a program.

Above (left to right) incoming  Campbell freshmen pack food bags for Stop Hunger now, prepare backpacks, and seal the bags for Stop Hunger Now. The 500 students packed 20,000 bags and prepared 200 bags of food and 40 backpacks to touch people across town and around the world.