Thursday, August 27, 2009
Brighid O’Malley kept a 20-hour workweek throughout her senior year last year, but she never expected a cent of compensation.
O’Malley, 2009 graduate, majored in applied behavioral science — a degree that requires two semesters of practicum volunteer work from every student — because she wanted to help children with special needs. Volunteering at the Edna A. Hill Child Development Center preschool gave her that opportunity in college.
“I always wanted to work with handicapped children,” O’Malley said. “That’s always been my goal. When the kids would see me in the hallway and run up to me and give me hugs, I knew I was making a difference with them.”
Last spring, however, she and 149 other students received an unexpected $1,000 in federal grant money for volunteer work they completed for their degrees. The University received the money from the Kansas Campus Compact through its “Careers for the Common Good” grants. The Kansas Campus Compact, which created the CCG program last year, will use an extra $100,000 from the Serve America Act for state AmeriCorps programs to extend the program to include 400 students statewide this year. 200 of the grants awarded will go to KU students.
The Kansas Campus Compact, a coalition designed to encourage community volunteering in college universities across the state, developed the Careers for the Common Good program to reward students who, as part of their coursework, volunteer in struggling communities, Matthew Lindsey, executive director of the Kansas Campus Compact, said.
Any student who receives one of the awards must first serve a struggling community for a minimum of 300 hours in one of three focus areas – education, health care and non-profit support, Lindsey said.
Lindsey said the half-dozen colleges and universities in Kansas that participated in the program first had to request how many of the grant awards they would like to offer.
“This year, we have 400 total slots,” Lindsey said. “KU requested 200 slots. It is the largest that is going to any school in this program. There’s probably three or four that are in the 50 to 100 range.”
Andi Witczak, director of the Center for Service Learning, said the non-profit support area of the program allowed her to open it up to graduate students in the law and pharmacy schools and allow more students to participate.
Todd Rogers, assistant dean for career services in the law school, said he hoped the award would help law students with an interest in public service accept unpaid internship opportunities without going into debt.
“It’s wonderful to tell students you can go to these public interest employers, you can do good work, and you can also get compensated through these educational awards,” Rogers said. “To be able to tell them there may be a light at the end of the tunnel, there may be some monetary reward for this is a great thing.”
Lindsey said he hoped the growing student interest in the program meant that it would continue to make a positive difference both in the lives of the students and in the underprivileged Kansas communities they serve.
“There is strong evidence that service benefits the economy,” Lindsey said. “The more we can encourage students to pursue public good careers, the better off the state is going to be. They’re also getting education dollars that they can spend later that are also stimulative.”
Witczak said many of the recipients last year chose to save their award to pay for graduate school because, unlike scholarships, which usually must be used immediately, the grant awards give students a window of seven years to choose when they wish to use their money.
O’Malley said she chose to use her award immediately to help pay off a student loan.
“I felt lucky, glad that I was given the money,” O’Malley said. “I was ecstatic when I heard about. It helps people who are trying to help others.”
— -Edited by Sarah Kelly
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