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Whitworth recognized on 2013 President’s Honor Roll for Community Service

December 10, 2014

On December 5, the Corporation for National and Community Service recognized Whitworth University in two categories on the 2014 President’s Honor Roll: General Community Service, and Community Service in Education. This is the first time Whitworth has been recognized in two categories, with education being the new designation.

The President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, launched in 2006, annually highlights 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, measureable outcomes in the communities they serve.

The RISE (Reinforcing the Importance of Support in Education) tutoring and mentoring program was developed in 2012 by Whitworth alumni Elise VanDam,’13, and Andrew Pearce, ’14, with the aid of Susan McDaniel, Whitworth interim student-leadership program assistant. This student-led program gives members of the Spokane and Whitworth communities opportunities to mentor and tutor students ranging from elementary to high-school levels. During the 2012-13 academic year, Whitworth students volunteered 833 hours as mentors in Spokane schools.

This spring, Whitworth’s School of Education held its 30th annual Writing Rally, led by children’s author Jerry Pallotta. The Writing Rally is a family literacy initiative for students in pre-school through sixth grade. As many as 500 students from over 90 schools around the Inland Northwest participate each year. Over 100 Whitworth students volunteered more than 800 hours in the annual event.

The Whitworth School of Education’s Literacy Center is a primary site for training graduate and undergraduate students earning endorsements in special education or reading through Whitworth. The center provides assessment of academic skills and individualized and small group instruction for elementary-aged students. During the 2012-13 academic year, the Literacy Center served over 90 students with mild learning, behavioral or language challenges.

To read more about the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, visit http://www.nationalservice.gov/special-initiatives/honor-roll.

Whitworth’s commitment to community service has garnered national recognition multiple times over the past decade. Whitworth students were honored in 2014 by U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who awarded the student body a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for its work to raise funds and package meals for those suffering from food insecurity, both in the Pacific Northwest and in Central America. During the 2013-14 academic year, the student body partnered with Generation Alive to raise $150,000, and on a Saturday in May, more than 1,000 Whitworthians worked together to package over 600,000 meals, which were then distributed by Second Harvest of the Inland Northwest.

Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private liberal arts university affiliated with the Presbyterian church. The university, which has an enrollment of 3,000 students, offers 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Contacts:

Lucas Beechinor, media relations manager, Whitworth University, (509) 777-4703 or lbeechinor@whitworth.edu.