Review ranks JMU high in community service

JMU was ranked among the nation’s best schools for outstanding community involvement by The Princeton Review and Campus Compact.

Out of 33 states surveyed, JMU is the only college in Virginia that will be featured in "Colleges with a Conscience: 81 Great Schools with Outstanding Community Involvement."

The survey was based on college admissions practices, scholarships rewarding community service, support for service-learning programs, student participation and voice and the social engagement of the student body.

"It’s exciting to get recognition. Service-Learning is definitely becoming a part of JMU culture," said Rich Harris, director of Community Service-Learning.

The National Survey of Student Engagement is a national survey of college freshmen and seniors based on their community involvement. At JMU, the NSSE survey indicates the freshmen are below the national average and the seniors are above the national average for community involvement, Harris said. "Something at JMU is encouraging service," Harris said.

Harris said that community service is beneficial to the volunteer and the recipient. "Everybody learns. You are both a teacher and a learner at the same time."

"I like the idea of getting beyond the focus on monetary gain by employment. [Service is] an important aspect of education," said Wayne Stephen Teel, assistant professor of Integrated Science and Technology. "We often think of education as classroom oriented, but most of what students remember happens outside of the classroom."

An example of one way JMU students are involved in community service is the Alternative Spring Break trips that many students returned from recently. Sophomore Tyrone White participated in one of the ASB trips offered by Community Service-Learning. White went to Winter Park, Florida, where he worked with underprivileged youth in a school program. "It makes you aware of how much love and optimism these kids have to give," White said.