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Home > Featured Stories > Outside the Classroom > February 2009 > Making a DifferenceMaking a Difference
Service requires a sense of proactiveness and an understanding that things will not change if we wait for some other person or some other time.
Timur Ender ('11)
A number of NC State students spent Spring Break 2008 serving in the Dominican Republic, helping build homes and teach English to local residents.
By Dave Pond, Web Communication
The announcement that NC State architecture students will partner with Habitat for Humanity leaders to develop land in Norlina, NC, is just the latest example of the university's mission to serve those around campus, across our state and around the world.
"Service-learning is an important facet of education at NC State that gives students hands-on experience as engaged members of the community," chancellor James L. Oblinger said. "Our Center for Student Leadership, Ethics and Public Service [CSLEPS] coordinates a number of creative projects across the state and around the world - projects that give our students, faculty and staff an opportunity to expand their worldview by connecting to the community and learning about service in a way that cannot be captured inside the classroom."
Earlier this week, our students' commitment to service was recognized on a national level, as NC State was once again named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll – the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement.
"NC State places a high value on students giving back to the community," CSLEPS director Mike Giancola said. "Through their community involvements, students learn about critical social issues, apply what they learn in the classroom and practice important leadership skills."
But it's a willingness to serve others without the assurance of recognition that truly sets NC State students apart – students like Michael Ransone ('10), who delivers meals to Raleigh's homeless residents in hopes of building relationships with those less fortunate in the communities around him. Or sophomore Christine Nguyen, a Caldwell Fellow working with several other Caldwells to develop an art program for local runaways and troubled teens.
"Service, learning, and leadership are all interchangeable," said Timur Ender ('11), a criminology student and cyclist who will ride from Raleigh to San Diego, CA, this summer to in hopes of raising $4,000 for Bike & Build and Habitat for Humanity. "Service starts from within – it starts with listening to understand a problem.
"It requires a sense of proactiveness and an understanding that things will not change if we wait for some other person or some other time."
Recent studies have underlined the importance of service-learning and volunteering to college students. In 2006, 2.8 million college students gave more than 297 million hours of volunteer service, according to a 2007 study by The Corporation for National and Community Service.
Expanding campus incentives for service is part of a larger initiative to spur higher levels of volunteering by America's college students. Just as important, however, is faculty, staff and organizational "buy-in" – something that is ingrained in the fabric of NC State.
"Philip Dail, a professor in the College of Textiles, has been an incredible encouragement and support for me to act out my desires to help others," Ransone said. "Having someone older beside me has greatly encouraged me and shown me that my desires to serve others for the rest of my life, no matter what profession I pursue, can be lived out.
CSLEPS maintains a list of service projects and leadership forums for campus organizations, and offers a wide variety of different ways NC State students address social justice issues in the world around them. Approximately 150 events will take place during the 2008-09 academic year.
"NC State offers tons of service opportunities and does a great job at letting the student body know what projects are going on and how they can help," Ransone said. "But the thing is, no matter how many service projects NC State sets up, it comes down to people making the decision to step out and serve others."
Ender, who helped tutor Navajo children during a 2008 service-break trip to New Mexico, agreed.
"Service requires initiative, action, and love," he said. "We must never underestimate our potential, because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."
