The university has been named by the Corporation for National and Community Service to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll 2014, recognizing the university as one of the nation’s leading colleges and universities for commitment to bettering their communities through community service and service-learning. Misericordia has been named to the Honor Roll every year in which it applied.
During the 2012-13 academic year, 2,511 MU students participated in service and provided 151,416 hours of service to the community, a 31 percent increase over the 2009-2010 academic year, according to Kevin Feifer, director of Office of Service-Learning. Of those students doing service, 685 completed 20 hours or more of service and 655 were engaged in academic service-learning courses.
The university is continuing to grow its service learning participation and that number has since nearly doubled to over 1,200 students in service learning classes for the 2014-15 academic year.
The President’s Higher
Education Community Service
Honor Roll was launched in 2006. It recognizes the role colleges and universities play in solving community problems and placing more students on a lifelong path of civic engagement by recognizing institutions that achieve meaningful, measurable outcomes in the communities they serve. It is the highest federal recognition a college or university can achieve for its commitment to service learning and civic engagement.
CNCS reports that in 2013, more than 3.1 million college students dedicated more than 118 million hours of service to communities — service valued at more than $2.5 billion.
According to the CNCS website, the President’s Honor Roll recognizes higher education institutions in four categories: general community service, education, economic opportunity and interfaith community service. The honorees were chosen based on a series of selection factors that recognize the quality of, quantity of, and commitment to community service initiatives at a college or university. Honorees reflect the best practices of community service and service learning, such as long-term campus-community partnerships and measurable community outcomes as a result of the service.
In addition to the outstanding participation numbers, three particular service-learning projects during the 2012-13 academic year were highlighted and contributed to Misericordia University being selected to the 2014 President’s Honor Roll.
Approximately 30 Pre-K and kindergarten students from local daycare centers participated in a hands-on ‘Bone Academy,’ hosted by students in the Department of Medical Imaging to teach the youngsters about bones and radiographs (x-rays). The program included lessons on bones, body movement and how radiography works.
The youngsters also had the opportunity to simulate getting an x-ray taken and were able to see and touch the medical imaging equipment to help them become more comfortable with the procedures and decrease any fear of this type of medical procedure.
The program offers Misericordia University students the opportunity to learn how to position equipment and interact with younger patients they may encounter in the field and increase their self- and community-awareness.
Students participated in a service-leaning trip to Jamaica where they served the elderly at the Missionaries of Charity, a safe haven for men and women abandoned by their families, and at Mustard Seed, a community for adults and children with special needs.
Health care majors were able to share their talents with the aid staff by teaching them physical and occupational therapy skills to improve the lives of their patients. The students were exposed to make-shift implements used to care for the individuals including wheel chairs fabricated from bicycle tires and lawn chairs. Upon returning from this trip, the students rallied together to raise funds and awareness about the extraordinary needs of this population, and later donated seven gently used wheelchairs to the Mustard Seed organization.
In the third project, students in the graduate Family Nurse Practitioner program provided medical care on a weekly basis to migrant farmworkers in the Keystone Migrant Farmworker program during the months of June, July and August.
A majority of the workers are foreign born and receive little or no healthcare due to a lack of health insurance and financial ability. The students provided physical exams and health screenings and services such as immunizations, blood pressure checks and oral health evaluations. The faculty and staff orchestrated a fundraising drive, providing much needed clothing, food and toiletry items to the workers, and partnered with a local dentist who provided toothbrushes, tooth paste, dental floss and mouth wash.
Honor Roll was launched in 2006. It recognizes the role colleges and universities play in solving community problems and placing more students on a lifelong path of civic engagement by recognizing institutions that achieve meaningful, measurable outcomes in the communities they serve. It is the highest federal recognition a college or university can achieve for its commitment to service learning and civic engagement.
CNCS reports that in 2013, more than 3.1 million college students dedicated more than 118 million hours of service to communities — service valued at more than $2.5 billion.
In addition to the outstanding participation numbers, three particular service-learning projects during the 2012-13 academic year were highlighted and contributed to Misericordia University being selected to the 2014 President’s Honor Roll.
Approximately 30 Pre-K and kindergarten students from local daycare centers participated in a hands-on ‘Bone Academy,’ hosted by students in the Department of Medical Imaging to teach the youngsters about bones and radiographs (x-rays). The program included lessons on bones, body movement and how radiography works.
The youngsters also had the opportunity to simulate getting an x-ray taken and were able to see and touch the medical imaging equipment to help them become more comfortable with the procedures and decrease any fear of this type of medical procedure.
The program offers Misericordia University students the opportunity to learn how to position equipment and interact with younger patients they may encounter in the field and increase their self- and community-awareness.
Students participated in a service-leaning trip to Jamaica where they served the elderly at the Missionaries of Charity, a safe haven for men and women abandoned by their families, and at Mustard Seed, a community for adults and children with special needs.
Health care majors were able to share their talents with the aid staff by teaching them physical and occupational therapy skills to improve the lives of their patients. The students were exposed to make-shift implements used to care for the individuals including wheel chairs fabricated from bicycle tires and lawn chairs. Upon returning from this trip, the students rallied together to raise funds and awareness about the extraordinary needs.