WM Employees Visit White House to Kick Off Service Challenge

By Amber Lester Kennedy Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Two College of William and Mary employees will represent the college at the White House today to help kick off a community service campus challenge.

Vernon Hurte, director of the Center for Student Diversity, and Drew Stelljes, director of community engagement, will join President Barack Obama when he kicks off his Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge, which seeks to motivate higher education institutions to foster interfaith cooperation through service.

The year-long challenge will start with a full day of informational sessions, panels and workshops. Hurte will serve as the lead coordinator for the challenge at William and Mary, working with the Center for Student Diversity, the Office of Community Engagement and Scholarship, Campus Ministries United and I-Faith, an interfaith student organization led by Tom Flaherty and Abdullah Noor.

The college will focus on two service projects: one in partnership with the nonprofit organization Pathways in Petersburg and the other with two Williamsburg-James City County schools. In Petersburg, volunteers will build on an existing partnership between the city and the Office of Community Engagement and Scholarship. Students will work with Pathways on community development projects, including building and restoration efforts.

In Williamsburg, college students will enter two local schools (not yet selected) to teach middle and high school students about community engagement and service. In the spring, the local students will be asked to create their own service projects, with the help of the college students.

For both initiatives, students will gather together to reflect and discuss how their faith encourages service, thus promoting the interfaith cooperation.

This new initiative “builds on the William and Mary community engagement ethos,” Stelljes told W&M News.

“The timeline of activity includes integration of engaged teaching and research, supports students in their development as active citizens and scholars, and develops partnerships with communities as central to student learning,” he said. “Our students, alumni and faculty enjoin head and heart, faith in the spirit of citizens and best practices in strengthening community.”

On Wednesday, Hurte and Stelljes will hear speeches from numerous leaders including Melody Barnes, assistant to the president and director of the White House Domestic Policy Council; Eboo Patel, executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core; Joshua DuBois, special assistant to the president and executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships; and Rev. Brenda Girton-Mitchell, director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships for the Department of Education.

“Given our commitment to service and diversity here at the College, this initiative seemed like a natural fit for us,” Hurte said. “It’s another wonderful opportunity for us to really share some of the great things we’re doing as an institution with the entire nation.”