Spring Break
Dollar amount placed on Service-Learning
Eau Claire students provide about $1.5 million worth of work during year
Lindsey Lewandowski
Issue date: 9/12/05 Section: Campus News
Carrie Dachel wasn't required to complete a volunteer project at UW-Superior.
In fact, it wasn't until she was surfing on AmeriCorps' Web site right before she graduated that she realized what service opportunities were available. Now, the New Auburn native is a vista working in UW-Eau Claire's Service-Learning office, as well as recruiting volunteers to work at local area nonprofit agencies that need the most help.
Dachel said she also plans to work with low-income youth in the Eau Claire area.
"I never thought about making a connection to the university and the community," she said. "I never even thought about it until I came here."
Students here donated roughly $1.5 million to the Eau Claire community last year, according to Donald Mowry, Service-Learning director.
He said he derived that number by multiplying Eau Claire's more than 100,000 hours by $15, the value assigned to each service hour by Independent Sector, a coalition of nonprofit organizations, in 2002.
"It's a very clear reflection of the contribution students are making to the common good,"
Mowry said.
He said Service-Learning requirements, which were implemented 10 years ago, could be fulfilled at a student's hometown during a break or while a student is studying abroad, but the majority of students provide services to the
Chippewa Valley.
He added grants, as well as the AmeriCorps and Jumpstart programs, brought a lot of economic stimulus to this area, boosting Eau
Claire's program.
AmeriCorps is a national service organization in which vista workers serve for a year. Vistas are given a weekly living allowance and at the end of the term, vistas are given up to $4,725 to be used for college or graduate school tuition or to pay back student loans, according to an AmeriCorps' information packet.
In fact, it wasn't until she was surfing on AmeriCorps' Web site right before she graduated that she realized what service opportunities were available. Now, the New Auburn native is a vista working in UW-Eau Claire's Service-Learning office, as well as recruiting volunteers to work at local area nonprofit agencies that need the most help.
| "It's a ... reflection of the contribution students are making to the common good." -Donald Mowry Service Learning Directot |
Dachel said she also plans to work with low-income youth in the Eau Claire area.
"I never thought about making a connection to the university and the community," she said. "I never even thought about it until I came here."
Students here donated roughly $1.5 million to the Eau Claire community last year, according to Donald Mowry, Service-Learning director.
He said he derived that number by multiplying Eau Claire's more than 100,000 hours by $15, the value assigned to each service hour by Independent Sector, a coalition of nonprofit organizations, in 2002.
"It's a very clear reflection of the contribution students are making to the common good,"
Mowry said.
He said Service-Learning requirements, which were implemented 10 years ago, could be fulfilled at a student's hometown during a break or while a student is studying abroad, but the majority of students provide services to the
Chippewa Valley.
He added grants, as well as the AmeriCorps and Jumpstart programs, brought a lot of economic stimulus to this area, boosting Eau
Claire's program.
AmeriCorps is a national service organization in which vista workers serve for a year. Vistas are given a weekly living allowance and at the end of the term, vistas are given up to $4,725 to be used for college or graduate school tuition or to pay back student loans, according to an AmeriCorps' information packet.