The honors office sits on the ground floor of the Francis Harvey Green Library here at West Chester University, with the following words written above its door: “To be honorable is to serve.” For Dr. Kevin W. Dean, the director of the honors college, these words are not just there for show. On the contrary, he feels that this statement could have no greater meaning for students preparing to graduate from college. According to Prof. Dean, service is “the common humanity” of our diverse world regardless of the different races, creed and religions that make it up. “Service to others” is something he feels “makes our communities stronger” and college students, endowed with an education, have to understand this as they prepare to enter the real world.
“Because you have a college education. you are still a minority in this country,” he said, “Simply by virtue of a college education, people are going to look up to you for answers in all sorts of facets of life. The challenge that I see for what an honors program can do, is just to try to find ways for you to be able to use the gifts that you have to go along with that degree and make a difference wherever.”
Starting next semester, the WCU Honors College will offer the opportunity for all students to develop leadership qualities through service, in the form of a certification program. According to Dean, the Undergraduate Certificate Program in Leadership and Civic Engagement (UCP-LCE) will give students the opportunity to learn what skills they possess to benefit communities through a mixture of academic
which students have to complete 40 hours of community service for three semesters. All students who apply must have at least a 3.0 GPA average and at least 12 hours of completed university hours.
Dean says that the civic engagements class is similar to student teaching in that students work outside of the classroom by performing service in any areas that interest them. Students also meet in a classroom environment frequently to discuss ideas for service and share experiences.
According to Dean, the goal is to identify “what your passion is and match it with some activity,” whether that activity is available on campus or through the development of your own unique ideas. He cited the example of a student named Elizabeth Fry, who had a passion for knitting and used this to organize a club to make scarves for victims of poverty in South Africa. Thanks to her efforts, Dean and several honors students were able to bring approximately 20 hand-made scarves with them on their last trip to the country.
Donna Dollard, an honors student who has had similar service experience as a Bonner scholar, attested to the class’s ability to develop service ideas.
“You bring an idea to this group and it can fly,” she said, “It can be what you think is the most miniscule idea and if it’s something that you really want to try and make work or something that you really care about, you will get input and help from this group to try and make your idea work for you.”
Dollard, whose personal service interest lie in helping children with disabilities, also further advocated the civic engagements class for the sense of achievement that it brings to the individual.
“To me the best part is that it’s not the whole group having to go out and do ‘x, y or z’. It [the program] is individuals doing what they’re passionate about and what they do best.” she said.
Dean says he feels that the UCF-LCE program will not only help students find what types of service they are passionate about but also allow students to be involved in honors who weren’t previously considered, and give all students a chance “to meet in a community sense.” In terms of graduating on time, Dean said involvement in this program would be most beneficial for first and second year students as well as upperclassmen in the first semester of their junior year.
“Given you have to have at least three semesters left to complete the service requirement,” he said, “but if you know you’re going to be here for three more semesters, then you should apply.
For more information on the honors program, for certification in civic engagement and leadership, stop by the Honors Office on the ground floor of the FHG library.