Contributing to the greater good

For the second year in a row, Bryant is named to the Presidential Honor Roll for Community Service.

Christopher Brida ’12 (Southampton, MA) stood in the Koffler Rotunda on a Thursday morning last month with a few classmates, a couple of cans of red paint, and a large sheet of paper. As representatives of Bryant’s chapter of Amnesty International, they were taking part in Red Hand Day to raise awareness to the plight of child soldiers across the globe. In just a few hours, more than 100 students put their handprints on the paper and signed their names to the poster that was sent to the United Nations.

Brida hopes Bryant’s efforts can fuel a larger movement of students effecting change around the globe.

“College students can be the driving force behind social change, and even the smallest community service project can have a significant impact,” he says.

Members of Bryant's chapter of Amnesty International show off their red hands.

Back in the classroom, Brida has the opportunity to learn about issues that affect society both here and abroad as part of his Community Engagement and Service Learning course. “My favorite part of the class is that there is always an open forum for discussion,” he says.

This is just one example of the innovative service learning programs at Bryant that helped the University earn a place on the Presidential Honor Roll for Community Service. (Learn more about the Presidential Honor Roll for Service.) It is the second consecutive year that Bryant has received the honor.

Culture of service

Recent data from UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute reports that two-thirds of entering college students believe that it is very important to help others – the highest percentage in the last 25 years.

Over the past year, 840 Bryant students were engaged in academic service learning and another 2,060 students were involved in community service projects. All told, Bryant students volunteered approximately 12,700 hours of service.

“I find students eager to get involved, discuss important issues, and think hard about important issues,” says Sandra Enos, associate professor of sociology who incorporates service learning projects into many of her classes. “It is our responsibility to create opportunities where they can begin to meet the challenges that will face them at citizens. It is more than service – it’s citizenship.”

Among of the noteworthy projects at Bryant:

Bryant’s Annual Relay for Life, which raised nearly $60,000 and included 560 participants last year.
The New Hope Diner project, in which Bryant students taught business skills to residents of the Rhode Island Training School.
Tri Sigma’s “Up ’til Dawn” letter writing campaign, which raised $8,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
WJMF’s Held Hostage raised $1,300 for the Meeting Street School while broadcasting for 36 consecutive hours.
Sociology students examined the importance of inmates maintaining relationships with family members and created a visitor’s guide that is being used by the Rhode Island Department of Corrections.
Nearly 700 students each year take part in semester-long service learning projects as part of the Management 200 course
Students volunteered at an afterschool program at the Highlander Charter School in Providence.

Finding your passion

Brida, the organizer of Amnesty’s Red Hand Day, encourages students to identify issues they are passionate about. “It is important to find something you enjoy doing,” says Brida, who would like to start a nonprofit organization one day dedicating to improving life in Africa. “Always know that the work you are doing makes a difference.”

Enos says the students’ work in the community is preparing them for lives that make a contribution to the greater good of society.

“Our students are engaged in important work, as they are bringing their classroom knowledge to sites and applying and testing what they have learned,” says Enos. “What our students take from these courses cannot be replicated in any other way.”