WyoTech might not receive a bumper sticker for its recent honor roll achievement, but the success has been noted around the industry. The Corporation for National and Community Service named WyoTech’s Laramie, Wyoming, campus to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts and service to disadvantaged youth.
If there is any school in the country that deserves this recognition it is WyoTech’s Laramie, Wyoming, campus under the leadership of Guy Warpness, Campus President,” says Frank Stryjewski, WyoTech Division president. “Guy, his team, and his students literally log thousands of hours every year serving Laramie and the surrounding communities. These students learn, first-hand, the significance of giving back to the community and carry that lesson with them for life!”
Launched in 2006, the Community Service Honor Roll is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement. Honorees for the award were chosen based on a series of selection factors including scope and innovativeness of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service, and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.
“WyoTech Laramie logged 15,011 volunteer hours in 2007,” notes Guy Warpness, WyoTech Laramie Campus president. “Our students take pride in the fact that, in light of the war in Iraq, they comprise United Blood Services’ largest group of blood donors. Our students also volunteer daily at the local senior center, helping with such activities cooking and the ‘meals on wheels’ delivery.”
“College students are tackling the toughest problems in America, demonstrating their compassion, commitment, and creativity in by serving as mentors, tutors, health workers, and even engineers,” Eisner says. “They represent a renewed spirit of civic engagement fostered by outstanding leadership on caring campuses.”
The honor roll is jointly sponsored by the corporation, through its Learn and Serve America program, and the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps, and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.
In congratulating the winners, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said, “Americans rely on our higher education system to prepare students for citizenship and the workforce. We look to institutions like these to provide leadership in partnering with local schools to shape the civic, democratic and economic future of our country.”
Overall, the Community Service Honor Roll awarded six schools with Presidential Awards. In addition, four schools were recognized as Special Achievement Award winners, 127 as Honor Roll With Distinction members and 391 schools as Honor Roll members. In total, 528 schools were recognized. A full list is available at www.nationalservice.gov/honorroll.
“There is no question that the universities and colleges who have made an effort to participate and win the Honor Roll award are themselves being rewarded,” says American Council on Education President David Ward. “Earning this distinction is not easy. But now each of these schools will be able to wear this award like a badge of honor.”
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