Florida Gulf Coast University has again been recognized in the annual Florida Campus Compact Awards, which spotlight achievements by higher-education institutions in engaging students in community-enriching service.
The university’s residential Live-Learn Community, known as Leadership Through Service, won the Student Affairs Partnering with Academic Affairs Award. The community is tailored for students committed to leadership and civic responsibility and involves an annual large-scale service project. In the last academic year, they developed an event for students in Immokalee that highlighted the importance of completing high school and post-secondary education. They partnered with The Immokalee Foundation, a nonprofit focused on empowering residents of the rural farming community, where many migrant workers live.
Leadership Through Service is designed for first-year students who are interested in transformational leadership development. Students in the program take at least two courses together each semester, live in the same residence hall, attend weekly group activities and participate in service projects in and around the FGCU community. As a result, they often create lasting bonds with like-minded students and strong relationships with faculty.
Florida Campus Compact is part of a national coalition of college and university presidents committed to the public purposes of higher education and to helping students develop the values and skills of active citizenship through participation in community service. Last year, FGCU students volunteered 191,813 hours for some 300 organizations, adding to a cumulative total of more than 1.5 million hours since FGCU opened its doors in 1997.