In 2009, Saint Martin’s University and Seattle University were selected to receive $10,000 each to conduct a student research project focusing on energy efficiency and conservation.  This competition, open to all five ICW colleges on the west side of Washington, is funded by Puget Sound Energy.  On Thursday, April 8, 2010 each student group presented the results of their year-long research project to a group of engineers and other PSE employees.

The following is the Saint Martin’s University presentation developed to highlight their work on industrial paper drying.

Halloween weekend wraps up Independent Colleges of Washington Service Month. I think the timing was just a coincidence, but a story out of Walla Walla University the other day made us chuckle.

Myers

WWU freshman Lucas Myers (at right) received an award from the Sacramento area Red Cross for donating 10 gallons of blood. Not all at once! That’s a lifetime total, and thought to be a record for a kid of 17. Three other students from the college also were honored by Red Cross for a miraculous bit of life saving.

Lt. Governor Brad Owen was in Spokane this week to present Gonzaga University with a $5,000 grant from Washington State Mentors. Owen is a co-chair of the organization, which is funded by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation and others. The grant recognizes and supports Gonzaga’s outstanding mentoring program.

University of Puget Sound athletes have their annual Trick-or-Can food drive this weekend. Seattle University students have their quarterly Labor of Love service day, which connects new students with the community through meaningful service projects, focused on the environment in recent years. Saint Martin’s University students will help the sisters of St. Placid Priory clean up ivy and with other projects on their grounds.

Students at ICW member colleges give more than a half million hours of volunteer service in their communities every year. Thanks for all you do to help Washington!

It’s the next-to-last weekend of Independent Colleges of Washington Service Month, as proclaimed by Gov. Gregoire. There’s a good line-up of projects on tap at member colleges this weekend. Among them:

Saint Martin’s University students will be at St. Benedict Episcopal Church in Lacey to help with their monthly community dinner and food bank. At Gonzaga University this is Fall Family Weekend, and the university’s Spokane alumni chapter has invited students, parents, faculty, staff, and friends to participate in a canned food drive. GU also will have a pancake breakfast and auction to raise funds for a local nonprofit organization. It is Parents Weekend at Whitworth University, which will have its Tour of Service, with volunteers visiting the various agencies and service organizations with which Whitworth partners for community engagement and service learning. It’s Family Weekend at Whitman College, too, and Saturday is Make a Difference Day. Visiting family members will join their Whitman students in volunteer service around Walla Walla, and students will host a wine auction to raise funds for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Walla Walla University had its service day a few weeks ago, and has posted a nice story about the activities.

Every year independent college campus communities give well in excess of half a million hours of volunteer service to their communities. Thanks for all that you do!

A week ago I was in sunny Spokane strolling around the campus at Gonzaga University. As if to remind me that Independent Colleges of Washington Service Month is under way, GU has hung banners like the one at right from many of the light standards around the campus. Most of ICW’s member colleges have some reference to service to community in their mission statements, and those are more than mere words. They live it, contributing upwards of half a million hours of volunteer time in their communities every year.

News came from Gonzaga this week that they’re about to celebrate 10 years of involvement with the Mary Stuart Rogers foundation, which funds Mary Stuart Rogers scholarships for students who are committed to serving others. Many GU students will be participating in a neighborhood cleanup project this weekend.

Some of the other projects coming up: Students at Saint Martin’s University will help out with a planting day with Lacey’s Woodland Trail Greenway Association. University of Puget Sound students will spend part of their “Alternative Fall Break” with “Aware Tacoma!” doing volunteer service for a number of nonprofits in the city. Monday kicks off a “mini” volunteer fair at PLU, where they’re trying doing a similar event each month, instead of one big fair at the start of the academic year, to keep the service opportunities in front of students all year round. Walla Walla University had its Day of Service Wednesday.

Thanks, students, for all you do in your communities!

I’m in Spokane as we roll up on the second weekend of Independent Colleges of Washington Service Month, and there’s lots of interesting volunteer news here in the Lilac City.

Gonzaga University has just received a $5,000 grant that will help volunteers and mentors teach kids about nutrition and provide healthy snacks through the university’s Campus Kitchen project. GU’s Center for Community Action and Service-Learning will be sending out volunteers to help with a trail maintenance project through the Washington Trails Association.

Across town at Whitworth University they’re celebrating the 10th anniversary of the school’s Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement. Hundreds of students participated in Community Building Day in late September, and other service projects are coming up later this month.

There are some other great projects planned for the weekend. University of Puget Sound students will participate in the Pierce County Hunger Walk. At PLU they’ll go “Into the Streets” to learn about service agencies in the area. Whitman College students will assist with the Harvest Festival at the Walla Walla Children’s Museum. At Seattle Pacific University the women’s volleyball team will host a “dig pink” fundraiser for breast cancer awareness, after last month’s successful CityQuest (photo above).

Every year students at ICW member colleges give more than a half-million hours of volunteer service time to important causes in their communities.

The colleges and universities that are members of Independent Colleges of Washington share a mission-driven commitment to service, stewardship, and justice in the world, and students, faculty and staff of the colleges do hundreds of thousands of hours of volunteer service in their communities each year. In recognition of these valuable contributions, Governor Chris Gregoire has proclaimed October to be “Independent Colleges of Washington Service Month” in the state.

Dedicated college volunteers help thousands of Washington agencies and organizations achieve their goals in education, human service, mentoring, environmental cleanup and protection, literacy, veterans affairs, and justice. An increasing number of college courses include a public service component, and many students who receive a well-rounded liberal arts education at one of Washington’s independent colleges opt for careers in public service fields.

“[Through service learning], my hope is to broaden the student’s view so they will stop seeing stereotypes and start seeing people,” said Dr. Catherine Punsalan, professor of theology and religious studies at Seattle University. “This is how we come to understand and grasp concepts like community and compassion.”

Colleges have been coordinating service projects since students began returning to campus in August. A selection of highlighted October service projects, as well as links to the individual campus service resources, is on the ICW Web site.

Staff of Independent Colleges of Washington have spent the last two weeks on the “WCHSCR Tour”—a series of 10 workshops put on by the Washington Council for High School-College Relations. It’s a chance for high school guidance counselors and college admission counselors to sit down and share information about what’s happening on their campuses.

One of our main goals for the tour is to share information about our college planning Web site, ProjectOpportunity.net. The site, constructed with the help of many WCHSCR members and funded in part by a grant from the Ben B. Cheney Foundation, is a college planning guide for high school students, with calendars, deadlines, information about the application process, standardized testing, financial aid, and the other mysteries that sometimes trip up students and families when they’re considering college. ProjectOpportunity.net also includes information about our member institutions and reasons students should consider them: small classes, rigorous high-quality academic programs, and cost. Yes, cost; 90 percent of students at Washington’s independent colleges receive financial aid that brings the net cost within the reach even of those students of the most modest means.

We’ve recently set up a survey on the ProjectOpportunity.net site through which users can give us feedback. Any student who fills out the on-line survey is entered to win either a college scholarship or a Kindle! So check it out, learn about Washington colleges, and maybe get a little help paying for your education.

Dr. Roy Heynderickx

Independent Colleges of Washington was one of several organizations to sign on as partners for veteran supportive campuses at a ceremony in the state capitol rotunda Sept. 10. Dr. Roy Heynderickx, president of Saint Martin’s University, signed the agreement on behalf of ICW.

“It is now our turn to serve our service members and their family members and help them reach their academic goals,” said Heynderickx.

Other signatories of the “memorandum of understanding” include the state Department of Veterans Affairs, Governor Chris Gregoire, the state Military Department, the Higher Education Coordinating Board, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, the Council of Presidents, and the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board.

The partnership is a pledge that colleges will do whatever they can to support returning vets in their academic pursuits as they go from boots to books, from combat to college, and that they promote a culture that supports and understands the unique needs of veterans and their family members.

Independent colleges strongly support veterans, and almost all of the members of ICW have signed on the the post 9/11 GI Bill program.

ICW’s video highlights of the ceremony are below. You can also watch the entire ceremony on TVW.

Two of ICW’s member colleges have been key partners with Washington Business Week, a program that offers hands-on summer camps aimed to  educate and inspire high school students to recognize their potential as employees, employers and citizens in a free-enterprise society.

Washington Busienss Week has been offering programs for more than 30 years. In June they spent a week at Pacific Lutheran University, and this week they’re at Gonzaga University. Later this summer camps will be held at Central Washington University and Western Washington University as well.

The Washington Business Week program is a great example of a way independent colleges contribute to their communities, teaming up with this non-profit group to help students get valuable educational opportunities. The video below, from the camp at PLU last month, shows just how great the students feel about the program.