Service to the community – it's a learning thing

When students in the air conditioning and refrigeration program at Mountain Empire Community College installed four heat pumps for the First Church of God in Norton this summer, they got valuable hands-on training while learning the value of service to others.

Service learning allows students to learn and develop through active participation in a carefully planned and well-organized service experience. For some MECC students, this takes place as part of a college class and provides an opportunity for students to apply theoretical classroom learning to address needs in the community.

Jerry Ramey, assistant professor in the air conditioning and refrigeration program at MECC, has been instructing students in community service projects for eight years. This summer's project "is the biggest we have done," said Ramey.

The church bought the heat pumps and materials and the students provided the labor. Ramey estimates the cost to the church was approximately $10,000, compared to what would have been more than $25,000 without the student workers.

MECC's Americorps program puts more than thirty college students each year into the public schools as tutors. The Americorps students also conduct a drive to distribute books to the local Head Start programs and the public schools. This program, funded by the federal government to engage Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service to the community, is also supported by the college and the MECC Foundation.

Student clubs at MECC incorporate service as part of their activities. In May, MECC"s Phi Theta Kappa honor society received a certificate from the organization's international office for its members' participation in the community service initiative, Project Graduation, Feed a Body, Feed a Mind, which collected canned food items and books for the needy. The Phi Theta Kappa students also participated in the Relay for Life in July, donating $788.50 to the American Cancer Society.

The MECC Student Government Association sponsors MECC Serves Week each year to collect clothing and toys for needy children, and the Phi Beta Lambda club sponsors the Angel Tree project to collect items for needy children at Christmas.
Community service fosters within the student a sense of civic-mindedness and becomes the vehicle by which students and faculty move outside the traditional classroom to learn from and give back to the community.

The MECC Hearts of Faith club provides a means for inner growth for students as they aid both the college and the community through humor. A primary focus of this group is to visit the sick and elderly in hospitals and homes for the elderly.

Sponsoring blood drives, donating funds to the Red Cross, and participating in the annual Mountain Empire Older Citizens walkathon, are among other contributions made by students, faculty and staff at MECC.

"Service to the community and learning through service is an important component of education at the college, says MECC President Terrance Suarez. One of his first acts as president was to engage the college in the Adopt the Highway program. You can see him picking up litter along the highway, along with faculty, staff and students volunteers, four times each year.

MECC's Air Conditioning and Refrigeration students installed four heat pumps at the First Church of God in Norton. Each summer, Assistant Professor Jerry Ramey engages his students in this service learning project with hands-on experience for their Heat Pump and Seminar classes.
Pictured upper left are Chris Nixon, Chris Yates, and Chris Bryant; bottom left are Artartus Plight and Kevin Coleman, and pictured right are Tommy Pennington and Doug Ely with Jerry Ramey.

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