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8 to 5

On September 18, 1923 Stephen F. Austin State University was founded and a history of education and service begun for the people of East Texas. While the university has undergone a location change and a number of name changes, the basic premise of the institution remains the same; a university which places an emphasis on quality teaching and the development of its students. To mark our 85th year, University President Baker Pattillo commissioned a committee to mark the anniversary with a series of events and dedications, which focus on our rich history but look ahead to our bright future.

Chaired by Dr. Ron Anderson, the 85th Anniversary committee has chosen service to the community as the underlying theme of the year. It is the committee’s vision that the SFA community, including its faculty, staff and students reaches outside of its campus walls and makes the Nacogdoches community a better place. That is why we are challenging our SFA family to complete a full days work in some volunteer activity and register it with the Office of Student Life. Your time will be added to reach our goal of 85,000 student service hours by graduation in May.

To kick start this effort a faculty / staff breakfast and campus celebration was held on September 18th, 2008. Attended by over 1,000 students, faculty and staff this event helped us raise awareness of our year of service declaration and included a proclamation by SFA President Baker Pattillo.

Are you ready to do your 8 to 5?

The committee is asking everybody to contribute a total of eight volunteer hours by graduation May 16, 2009. Take the equivalent of a day at work to coach a team, work with your church, give blood or any other effort to make your community a better place. While we know many will volunteer, we hope you will volunteer more than that and recognize all you do to make East Texas a better place. So, be a part of this program. We hope to demonstrate the tremendous impact of SFA on the communities we serve.

One important note. If you are currently volunteering in some capacity then we want to hear about it! While we hope this effort will introduce many students, faculty and staff to the joys of volunteering we know most of you are already getting it done. All you need to do is report it.

Where can I volunteer?

There are dozens of non-profits in the Nacogdoches community who are looking for volunteers in many service areas. We have compiled a list of them and they are available here in a downloadable PDF:


In addition to these venues many of you volunteer in your community in a number of ways. Here are just a few examples:

Who can I call with questions?

You can call the Stephen F. Austin Involvement Center at 468-6721 or come by the Involvement Center and one of our students or staff will be happy to help you find the volunteer site best suited for you. You can also email Michael Preston, Director of Student Life at mpreston@sfasu.edu to receive a list of local volunteer sites.

Can I do more than 8 hours and report them?

Absolutely! We hope the 8 hours is simply an introduction. We have already had dozens of students and a few faculty / staff report up to 70 hours for the year so far. Last year we had 481 students contribute over 32,000 community service hours, an average of 66.5 hours. In addition we have a number of levels of service you can reach. These include:

1923 Society

In honor of the year SFA was founded, we are seeking the participation of SFA students, faculty and staff who are willing to complete 23 hours of service as individuals or 123 hours of volunteer work as a group and earn a spot on our wall of recognition. Individuals and organizations who meet this challenge will be presented with a “Power of 1923” lapel pin and will have their picture added to our wall of recognition in the Student Center for all of SFA and the community to see!

President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA)

In his 2002 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush issued a challenge to all Americans to make time to help their neighbors, communities, and Nation through service. He called on each person to dedicate at least 4,000 hours – or two years – to service over the course of their lives. He created the USA Freedom Corps to help all Americans answer his call to service and help foster a culture of service, citizenship, and responsibility.

Recognizing and honoring volunteers sets a standard for service to others. It encourages a sustained commitment to civic participation and inspires others to make volunteering a central part of their lives. The President's Volunteer Service Award recognizes individuals, families, and groups that have achieved a certain standard – measured by the number of hours served over a 12-month period or cumulative hours earned over the course of a lifetime.

To date SFA students, faculty and staff have reported over 100,000 hours of community service through the program and over 700 students have been awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award. Each year these students, faculty and staff are honored at our annual awards dinner during the last week in April.

Award levels begin with the bronze award at 100 hours of service and continue with the silver award for 175 hours and the gold award with 250 hours.

What is Service Learning?

Service learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich learning experiences, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. There are many approaches to service learning, but fundamental to each is that service and learning remain in balance. Neither is achieved at the expense of the other. That means that the educational experience is sufficient to satisfy the learning objectives of the course, and the service is sufficient to meet a real and pressing need in the community.

True service learning can only happen from within the confines of a classroom experience and it is our hope for Stephen F. Austin to increase the number of classes offering service learning to increase. The Office of Student Life is here to help you do the hard work. By providing the service learning guide and assisting you with connecting with a site we help you focus on the classroom and let us do the heavy lifting.

Interested?

The Office of Student Life has teamed up with the Teaching Excellence Center to offer workshops on service learning and how you can apply it to your class.  We will offer educational workshops in the Teaching Excellence Center on;


At these sessions you will receive information on defining service learning, unique ways to enter it into your curriculum and resources available.  Service learning is not only a national hot topic for dozens of colleges it has become a center feature of the learning outcomes of a university.  To register for one of these sessions, call the Teaching Excellence Center at 468-1831.  

Student Life Service Grants

At Stephen F. Austin we hope to encourage all students to value and participate in service activities, which enhance the community environment, further the student’s understanding of the world and hopefully connects to the student’s academic program. In order to support this university perspective the Office of Student Life has created a service grant program for students to access funding for worthy community service projects.  A limited number of service grants are available at SFA to all undergraduate and graduate students interested in implementing a service project. Service Grants are typically under $500. Larger grants may be offered under special circumstances.  This year’s theme is sustainability.  While you may apply for a service grant for any project, priority will be given to grant applications that address this topic.

Service grants can help to pay for expenses related to project development and delivery. Some common expenses include:


Deadlines

Deadline for applying for a fall Service Grant is October 17, 2008. Applications for grants that have been accepted will be notified one week later. Any additional grants funds will open for rolling awards on October 25, 2008.

Deadline for applying for a spring Service Grant is February 6, 2009. Applicants for grants that have been accepted will be notified one week later. Any additional grants funds will open for rolling awards on March 1st, 2009.

Application Guidelines

You should use the Grant Application form including a cover page, main section, and budget.

Requirements

Grant recipients must submit a short report that explains how the funds were spent and what they accomplished with the funding. Pictures are encouraged in order to help visually document the service experience. Funds that are not used in the time allotted will revert back to the service account. Grant recipients must also agree to participate in our evaluation process.

Still have questions?

Contact Michael Preston, Director of Student Life, at mpreston@sfasu.edu

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