Community service offers tuition assistance
Vickie Perez
Mesa Community College offers students the opportunity to get a hands on experience in different fields while helping their community through the Service-Learning Program.
Students can receive course credits and money for tuition if they decide to volunteer at one of the participating agencies.
Duane Oakes, the faculty director for Service-Learning believes that the the Service-Learning Program will help students who are undecided about their major.
“If a student uses their learning experience here they can try something and love it. This hands on experience helps a student select their major if they don’t know what they want to be,” Oakes said.
The AmeriCorps UCAN serve program allows students to earn money that can be used towards tuition, books, or student loans in exchange for volunteer service.
Three educational award amounts that students can earn through AmeriCorps are $1,000 by committing to 300 service hours in a year, $1,250 by committing to 450 service hours in a year, or $2,363 by committing to 900 service hours in two years.
Oakes said that he has witnessed some students find employment after their service with the AmeriCorps Program.
“A benefit of AmeriCorps is that it helps your community, your resume and you can sometimes find job placement,” Oakes said.
The Service-Learning Program not only allows students to earn money for school, but it also creates a sense of fulfillment after they volunteer.
Tiffany Wilson, a student at MCC said that she felt a sense of fulfillment after she volunteered at a Service-Learning camp.
“I felt privileged just having met these amazing kids and to witness some of the great changes that they are making in their own communities,” Wilson said.
“To actually see the changes that were made in these kids was phenomenal,” she added.
Brian Asdell is a student at MCC that is doing volunteer work for an honors project and is seeing the amazing benefits that come with service-learning.
“The really cool thing is that I’m doing this in conjunction to the AmeriCorps program. That means that my hours count for both Service Learning and AmeriCorps so I’m getting double the benefits for the same amount of hours,” Asdell said.
Students who are interested in Service-Learning can go to www.mccservicelearning.org for more information.
