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Miami students gave 400,000 hours of service last school year

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By Sarah Reder Contributing Writer Updated 7:44 PM Tuesday, March 9, 2010

OXFORD — Miami University students collectively gave more than 400,000 hours of community service during the 2008-09 school year – earning the university a spot on the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.

Miami is one of 700 institutions to make the list, which recognizes colleges and universities that offered the nation’s best community service programs for students in the past year.

Selection factors include scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation and the extent to which the school offers service-learning courses.

More than 4,000 Miami University students completed at least 20 hours of community service each semester during the 2008-09 school year, according to Monica Ways, director of Miami’s Office of Community Engagement and Service.

Miami offers 27 courses that link class work with community service projects and each has received a special service learning designation.

Senior Andrew Schuster devotes at least 10 hours a week as president of the group On Campus for Cancer Awareness at Miami University,

He works to organize the Relay for Life, an annual 24-hour walkathon in April centered on raising funds for cancer research.

His group also spearheads numerous other cancer awareness activities throughout the year, which include speaker events, survivor panels, rallies and the planned wearing of the color pink during the month of October to show support for women and men with breast cancer.

Schuster joined On Campus For Cancer Awareness during his freshman year at Miami because he was specifically looking for a service-oriented organization to be part of in his free time.

“I like knowing I am involved with something that helps improve the quality of human life,” Schuster said. “Even if it has nothing to do with me.”

Other Miami students are devoting their spring break to service.

This year, alternative spring break trips are sponsored by Hillel, a Jewish organization at Miami, as well as by second year programming for Miami sophomores.

Members of Habitat for Humanity also traveled to Georgetown, South Carolina and Denver, Colorado to help build houses during Miami’s spring break, something the group does every year.

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