Mid-Atlantic Christian University Honored for Community Service

Mid-Atlantic Christian University Honored for Community Service

Elizabeth City, N.C. – The Corporation for National and Community Service and the U.S. Department of Education recently honored the nation’s leading colleges and universities and their students, faculty members, and staff for their commitment to bettering their communities through community service and service learning.  Mid-Atlantic Christian University was admitted to the Honor Roll for its work in Elizabeth City, NC, and around the world.

“We have great students, faculty, and staff at Mid-Atlantic. Mid-Atlantic has won this award for multiple years. We care about people and serving others. I am honored to serve here as together we serve our community,” states President Clay Perkins.

“Through service, these institutions are creating the next generation of leaders by challenging students to tackle tough issues and create positive impact in the community,” said Robert Velasco, Acting CEO of CNCS. “We applaud the Honor Roll schools, their faculty and students for their commitment to make service a priority in and out of the classroom. Together, service and learning increase civic engagement while fostering social innovation among students, empowering them to solve challenges within their communities.”

“Preparing students to participate in our democracy and providing them with opportunities to take on local and global issues in their course work are as central to the mission of education as boosting college completion and closing the achievement gap,” said Eduardo Ochoa, the U.S. Department of Education’s assistant secretary for postsecondary education.  “The Honor Roll schools should be proud of their work to elevate the role of service-learning on their campuses.   Galvanizing their students to become involved in projects that address pressing concerns and enrich their academic experience has a lasting impact – both in the communities in which they work and on their own sense of purpose as citizens of the world. I hope we’ll see more and more colleges and universities following their lead.”

The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll recognizes higher education institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities. Inspired by the thousands of college students who traveled across the country to support relief efforts along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, the initiative celebrates the transformative power and volunteer spirit that exists within the higher education community.

Mid-Atlantic Christian University is dedicated to impacting the world by transforming ordinary people into extraordinary Christian leaders. We are an educational institution, but we are also ministers. We strive to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and to serve others. As stated in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Mid-Atlantic Christian University sets a high standard for our students in serving others. We believe that serving others is an important part of becoming good leaders and good employees. Our students take part in a minimum of 60 hours of service during their four years of undergraduate studies, and many surpass this expectation.

MACU is a faith based community and strives to be involved in many aspects of our surrounding area and around the world. Each year we have several students travel nationwide and worldwide serving in internships not only to learn from their experiences and to learn from those who are in their field of study, but also to serve others. Mid-Atlantic has a student-led D.A.R.T. program (Disaster Assistance Response Team) which mobilized into action last semester following Hurricane Irene here in Eastern, NC. We had many students and staff volunteer their time and energy during their fall break and during one other weekend to go to Lowland, NC, to serve those devastated by the hurricane. There are also many organizations throughout our own community that our students volunteer and serve in such as our local public schools, the Red Cross, Senior Living Homes, Youth Camps, the Teaching English as a Second Language class, serving in youth groups, worship ministry, and much more.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, which has administered the Honor Roll since 2006, admitted a total of 642 schools to colleges and universities for their impact on issues from literacy and neighborhood revitalization to supporting at-risk youth. The students, faculty and staff of the institutions admitted to the 2012 Honor Roll have given a total of 105 million hours of community service to communities across the United States.  For a full list of recipients, visit www.NationalService.gov/HonorRoll.

CNCS oversees the Honor Roll in collaboration with the U.S. Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact, and the American Council on Education. Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors, including the scope and innovation of service projects, the extent to which service-learning is embedded in the curriculum, the school’s commitment to long-term campus-community partnerships, and measurable community outcomes as a result of the service.

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President Barack Obama’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.

For information on becoming a student at MACU, contact admissions at 866-996-MACU (toll free), 334-2028 (local), or admissions@macuniversity.edu.

Mid-Atlantic Christian University is accredited by The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (COC-SACS) to award certificates, associate, and baccalaureate degrees.