Millikin University was named to the 2014 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The CNCS encourages, celebrates, and recognizes achievement in service by college students.

“Service is one of our key mission goals,” President Patrick White said. “[We are dedicated to performing] democratic citizenship in a global environment, and we explore the question of what it means to be a citizen.”

Community service falls under the category of performance learning, a subject that Millikin is quite passionate about.

“It is an essential part of our education,” White said.

There is a great deal of opportunities for community service at Millikin. During First Week, freshmen and their First Year Experience Mentors (FYEM) participate in “Day of Action.” Each seminar class has a different community service project to complete that day and reflect on later. Some classes continue the same or different projects into the semester, and all students living in Living Learning Communities (LLC) have to complete a certain number of service hours per semester.

“There are a number of institutions on this list, but it is certainly a high honor for Millikin University to be among them. It is in recognition for all that we do with community service,” White said. “It is important when anyone recognizes Millikin for strength of education in and out of the classroom. I am proud that Millikin is in this group. It underscores what we know and helps us communicate to other people that it’s important for Millikin’s education.”

Being named to the Honor Roll takes time and work. An application must be submitted and include the number of hours students have participated in community service. In the 2012-2013 school year, Millikin students completed around 150,000 hours of service through curricular and co-curricular programs.

White said, “You’ll never hear me refer to the students as ‘kids.’ It’s important for me that we, at Millikin University, recognize our students are in transition. For four years, they are citizens of this town [Decatur] and community. It is important to be an active member.”

“It is a great feeling to be recognized for our hard work by someone outside of the university,” White said. “It shows that we take community service seriously. It’s not just an activity or a requirement we have, but it’s part of our education and our way of life as a community.”