Your Uniquely Eureka Community Service Experience starts here!

 

Did you know that Eureka College’s mission statement affirms a commitment to learning, service, and leadership? We believe that learning inside and outside the classroom, being a leader on campus and in your community, and giving back through service can significantly enrich your educational experience.

 

As a student at Eureka College, you will have many opportunities to be engaged in service experiences during your college career. All new students take part in a service project during the fall Welcome Week program and students in the First Year Seminar course are involved in a service-learning project as part of this class experience. The College also offers recognized student organizations whose primary focus is community service and sponsors various programs like America Reads (tutoring and mentoring program in the local schools) including Spring Break mission trips and days of service (MLK Day of Service, January and Maroon & Golden Rule Program in April). Residential floors and athletic teams also readily participate in service projects throughout the year.

 

Get Started

We hope you will seek out ways to serve others through service-learning experiences and service opportunities in campus organizations, and projects which have a specific focus on helping a cause or making an impact on an area of need. To get started, connect with a community service partner or see current needs and opportunities below. Before you complete your experience, make sure you understand the community service documentation process (see below).

 

For four consecutive years (2010-2014), Eureka College has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary community service. The Corporation for National and Community Service and the U.S. Department of Education gives recognition to institutions of higher education for their support of volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement.

 

If your organization is interested in getting involved in any of the above efforts please contact the Office of Student Life at 309-467-6420. 

 

 List of Local Community Partners/Service Opportunities

Community Service Documentation Process

Documentation Forms

Online Individual Documentation Instructions through SONIS
 Liability Waiver 
 Student Group Travel Authorization 
 Medical Release 

 

 

The information collected through the College documentation process will be utilized for reporting, assessment/evaluation, and feedback purposes at the College. Your response provides us with important details to help us evaluate our efforts in striving for excellence in service. Thank you for helping us collect this valuable information.

What qualifies as community service for the documentation process?

1. Direct service which benefits a non-profit/community-based organization or those in need in the community (example: working directly with clients being served by an organization, such as mentoring/tutoring children or serving meals at a shelter).

2. Indirect service benefiting the greater good of the community (example: packing care packages for soldiers or collecting canned food items for a shelter or food pantry).

3. Fundraising/Philanthropic work for non-profit community organizations.

4. Some on-campus service activities (example: campus clean-up days, volunteering to raise funds for scholarships, volunteer classroom note taker).

Documentation guidelines for students

• Please help us avoid duplication of service documentation. If an individual is being included on a group form, it is not necessary for an individual service documentation form to be submitted.
• For service hours to be counted towards a particular semester, the documentation must be completed and submitted by the last day of that respective semester.
• Students may submit service hours to be documented for summer volunteer work upon beginning their coursework at the College.
• For service work to be counted/documented, complete contact information from the person submitting and the site/organization being served must be included.
• While students are encouraged to pursue off-campus service opportunities as much as possible, there are some on-campus service projects that may be included in our documentation process.
  • If it is part of an organization such as EC4DAX, Student Foundation, Alpha Phi Omega, etc., count the hours you are actually volunteering at an event (writing donation letters, working the concession stand, participating in a campus clean-up), but typically not hours involved in planning and organizing for these types of events.
  • Be sure to complete the appropriate paperwork; general risk waiver forms are always required for participants to complete when going anywhere off campus to serve.
  • When traveling outside of the City of Eureka, campus organizations/groups are required to complete the Group Travel Form, and all members are required to complete or have on file in the Office of Student Life, the travel/medical release forms (these forms are good for one year).
• While students are challenged to be intentional about their service activities, please know that we are seeking brief responses for goals/reflection fields on the documentation form. If any of the fields do not apply, you may note N/A or not applicable.
• Students documenting service hours for campus opportunities, scholarships, Sandifer Fellowship, etc., should also be recording and keeping their own service records. The information collected through the College’s service documentation process may be used as a reference but does not suffice as evidence of students’ service involvement.
• Any questions may be directed to the Office of Student Life, or by calling 309-467-6420.