Bunker Hill Community College Earns National Recognition for Service Work
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) students and faculty who “give back” to the community have won national recognition for the College. BHCC was among the higher education institutions named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for their volunteer and service work. The list of Massachusetts winners included Boston University, Brandeis University, Tufts University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The Service Honor Roll was established in 2006 by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), inspired by the thousands of college students who traveled across the country to support relief efforts along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. The award highlights the role colleges and universities play in solving community problems and placing more students on a lifelong path of civic engagement.
“At BHCC, our faculty brings a community perspective into the classroom, allowing students to think about and take action on real-life challenges facing their neighborhoods,” said Meghan Callaghan, BHCC Coordinator of Community Engagement and Student Volunteerism. “Through BHCC’s Service Learning projects, our students become passionate about volunteering to help others.”
In 2012, more than 600 BHCC students contributed direct service to nonprofit organizations in Greater Boston and 50 faculty members integrated service learning into 75 courses involving approximately 1,800 students. From 2011 to 2012, BHCC students contributed more than 33,000 hours of their time at community centers, food pantries, after-school programs, hospitals, homeless shelters and other nonprofit organizations.
In congratulating the winners, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, “Civic engagement should be a key component of every student’s education experience.
The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through AmeriCorps, SeniorCorps, the Social Innovation Fund and the Volunteer Generation Fund. Other partners include the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Education, the Campus Compact and the American Council on Education.
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About Bunker Hill Community College
With more than 50 years of academic excellence, Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) is Massachusetts' largest community college, annually welcoming a diverse community of around 16,000 students. With campuses in Charlestown and Chelsea, BHCC extends its reach across several locations in Greater Boston. The College offers associate degrees and certificates, early college and dual enrollment, community education, corporate training, and industry-specific training programs. BHCC is celebrated for its diversity, boasting a student body where 65% identify as people of color and more than half are women. The College also embraces a global perspective, with over 600 international students representing 90 countries and conversing in more than 65 languages. Our commitment to diversity is further reflected in BHCC's designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).