For the second consecutive year, Cochise College has earned a place on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which administers the award, recognized six institutions as Presidential Awardees, 115 on the Distinction List, and 621 on the Honor Roll. On campuses across the country, thousands of students joined their faculty to develop innovative programs and projects to meet local needs using the skills gained in their classrooms. Honorees were chosen based on a series of selection factors, including the scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service, and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.

Three specific service-learning projects earned Cochise College recognition: COOKIES, the MLK Project and Alternative Spring Break. In 2008-2009, 30 college students put more than 2,000 volunteer hours into the projects.

The COOKIES program, otherwise known as Creating Optimistic Outlooks and Keeping Interest in Educational Success, is a partnership between the college and the Douglas Unified School District in which college students mentor and tutor students from Sarah Marley Elementary School. The program is designed to promote the academic success and positive personal development of a young population; hone college students’ leadership, interpersonal communication and service aptitudes; and form a close partnership with the local school district. The initiative engages student leaders four hours per week, allows them to exercise concepts learned in the classroom, and gives them the opportunity to positively interact with elementary students.

The MLK Project is a service learning course in which 15 students researched, prepared and delivered presentations on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy in modern America. It is designed to raise awareness of the ongoing struggles for equality and justice throughout the year, rather than on a single national holiday. Collectively, students put 900 hours into researching, developing and delivering multimedia presentations for local schools that covered King and the civil rights movement, the challenges of minorities in the American southwest and border region, and interactive lessons regarding contemporary struggles.

During the Alternative Spring Break project, 10 students spent the week of spring break 2009 broadening their perspective on immigration issues by removing more than two tons of debris left in the Huachuca Mountains by immigrants. The students also created a community garden, performed work at the Bisbee Boys & Girls Club and assisted Habitat for Humanity. In all, they contributed 600 volunteer hours. The project will be repeated during spring break this year.

Eleven college faculty and staff members also contributed 508 volunteer hours on these three projects. In addition, Cochise College estimates that students engaged in service-learning activities in a variety of ways during 2008-2009, as follows:

  • 65 – students engaged in academic service-learning (such as assignments for a class, honors project, or co-op activity)
  • 121 – students engaged in forms of community service other than academic service-learning (such as athletic team clinics and student club projects)
  • 186 – students engaged in community service of any kind
  • 169 – students engaged in at least 20 hours of community service per semester
  • 5,915 – number of service hours provided by students

The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll is a program of CNCS, in collaboration with the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact, and the American Council on Education. It is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service learning and civic engagement.