Pottstown Students Choose Volunteerism Over Spring Break Party

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In the best of all possible worlds, money would be available for students to help fund their education while empowering them to assist nonprofit organizations in the community.

Welcome to MCCC and the AmeriCorps program, Scholars in Service to Pennsylvania.

MCCC’s Scholars in Service, Danielle Kennel, Pottstown; Alysa Murray, Pottstown; Kirstie Todisco, North Wales and Nicole Weising, Pottstown, will earn Scholars in Service to Pennsylvania grants that will enable them to enroll as part-time AmeriCorps members and help them fund their expenses at the college.

The award can be used to pay for any legitimate educational expense at the college, future educational expenses or to repay student loans.

The students’ service work includes projects on campus as well as weekly hours spent at an external site in the community.

Kennel, 27, and Weising, 24, work for Ministries on Main Street in Pottstown. On campus, Kennel co-chairs Relay for Life and is working to expand the College’s participation in World AIDS Day. Weising is the President of Doug’s Corner, the community service club at the West Campus.

Murray, 17, works for Pottstown Memorial Medical Center and, on campus, is working on projects that include Alternative Spring Break, co-chairing Relay for Life, and the first ever College Community Service Fair.

Todisco, 21, works on campus as assistant to Jenna Klaus, assistant Director of Civic and Community Engagement, where one of her projects is to help plan the Alternative Spring Break.

“I know that 300 hours (of community service work) seems a bit intimidating at first, but it's really not that hard to accomplish,” Murray said. “If you are serious about wanting to help your community, this is the best way to do it.”

The college began its participation in the AmeriCorps Scholars in Service to Pennsylvania with a single scholar in 2010, but has a long history of civic engagement and community service.

Alternative Spring Break enables students to forgo the usual week long party in favor of hard work on Habitat for Humanity service projects, for example.

Civic engagement and community service earned the college a place on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the past four years.

The Corporation for National and Community Service’s honor roll is the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.