Owls Head Couple Gives USM $150,000 To Promote Community Service
USM's efforts to promote student involvement in community service have received a significant boost thanks to a gift from an Owls Head couple.
James and Lillian Haversat are providing a $150,000 endowed scholarship to support voluntary community service by USM full-time students. Awards will be made annually, beginning with the 2002-2003 academic year. The donors plan for the awards to not only help defray tuition expenses but to fund opportunities for students to attend service learning conferences and related activities. The Haversats made the gift through the University of Southern Maine Foundation, which seeks to build endowments to ensure the growth and quality of USM.
The awards will be known as the ChrisAlice Endowed Scholarships in memory of Christina Kerr Kasfeldt, mother of Lillian Haversat, and Alice Haversat, mother of James Haversat. Both women were excellent role models for citizens aspiring to community service, noted the Haversats.
"USM and other universities have a responsibility to prepare students for active participation in the civic life of our communities," said USM President Richard L. Pattenaude. "The generosity of the Haversats will ensure students have opportunities to become committed and informed citizens."
USM is a member of the Campus Compact, a nationwide organization formed to support the civic development of students and development of campuses that are engaged members of the community.
The concept is known as service learning. USM's strategic plan states, in part, that service learning will be instituted, "...throughout the curriculum, both as a learning methodology and for the intrinsic value of learning civic responsibility."
This past spring, for example, 16 USM students spent their spring break in Florida volunteering for the Nature Conservancy and a local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Nine students at USM's Lewiston-Auburn College recently donated 180 hours at Lewiston High School as tutors for Somali students. More faculty members through USM are helping students make arrangements for service learning projects and incorporating the service learning experiences into the course work. At Lewiston-Auburn College alone, 18 faculty members have supported 178 students who have donated more than 10,800 hours to community service projects.
Service learning is becoming increasingly popular throughout the country. Last month, speaking at Ohio State University's commencement, President George Bush asked citizens to build what he called "a culture of service. America," said the president, "needs more than taxpayers, spectators, and occasional voters. America needs full-time citizens."
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