Hutton Honors College
— HC Community Service Program Provides Volunteer Opportunities
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Honors College Community Service Program Connects Students with Meaningful Volunteer Experiences Sophomore and Honors College Community Service Intern Katie Koors learned the true value of volunteering from an autistic child. As part of an Honors College autism mentoring program, Koors mentors Jes, a 12-year-old autistic boy. Last year, Koors took Jes to an astronomy program at Wonderlab. They arrived early, and started talking about planets.
The Honors College Community Service Program seeks to match up Honors College students with meaningful volunteer experiences. These consist of both individual, ongoing opportunities and one-time, group opportunities which occur monthly. The Community Service Program also acts as a clearinghouse for local agencies seeking volunteers. The Honors College Community Service Program has been in existence for 20 years. The program was created as a way for Honors College students to earn credit toward a General Honors Notation. "Currently, students can trade in volunteer hours for a maximum of three credits toward the notation," says Nigel Pizzini, academic advisor and coordinator of student programs for the Honors College. This year, Pizzini hopes to revive a Book Buddies mentoring program, where college students read books with elementary school students. The Community Service Program also partners with a long list of community organizations, including the Boys and Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity, Bloomington Parks and Recreation, Wonderlab, the Bloomington Hospital, the American Cancer Society and the Hoosier Hills Food Bank. "We want to get students in a position where they say, 'listen to what happened to me today' to all their friends," says Ralph. The Honors College offers reports certifying that a student has logged a certain number of hours volunteering for an organization. Such reports can be useful when students apply to graduate school or jobs. According to Ralph, the benefits to volunteering are immense. "The primary benefit is to the community," she says. "You can't just go to class and sit around watching TV; you need to be doing something meaningful." Aside from helping others, volunteering provides personal benefits, as well. "You meet amazing people and make amazing contacts," says Ralph. "Some of my best friends are people I've met volunteering. It gets you to know the campus and community, and makes you want to be here." To get involved, check out the
Honors
College
Community Service Web site.
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"He taught me more about planets than any science class I had
ever
taken," says Koors. "I thought the program would consist of me helping
him deal with his issues, but that night there was no autism involved. I
never expected to learn something like that; it changed my expectations of
the program. Now I have a 12-year-old friend."
Honors
College Community Service Intern Elizabeth Ralph says
personal attention is a unique benefit of the Honors College Community
Service Program. Interns Koors and Ralph work directly with students to
help them find a volunteer opportunity and organization which matches
their interests.