March is the final month for Lee students to earn service hours before the April 1 deadline for the semester. All undergraduate students are required to have a set number of service hours, which vary depending on their class status.
Heather Duncan, assistant to the director of the Leonard Center, emphasized the significance of these service hours within the Lee University community.
“Jesus says serve your God with all your heart, and then love others ... that is a big piece here of being able to look beyond ourselves and serve others,” Duncan said.
Since its inception in 2003, the Leonard Center has been focused on helping students serve the community. Dr. William Lamb has been at the Leonard Center since the beginning and has been the director for 21 years.
“We as a university felt that students were getting great information in the classroom, and we have a biblical obligation to serve, so why not connect the two together? So that was kind of the launch of why the Leonard Center was launched,” Lamb said.
The Leonard Center provides opportunities for students to serve the Lee community or the greater Cleveland area.
“Hopefully, there's an element of not only Christ-like service but also education ... that's why it’s named Service Learning because you're learning through service,” Duncan said.
Duncan clarified that service hour requirements are only for full-time undergraduate students and vary if students transfer to the university. Students transferring to the university with an associate degree are only required to complete 40 hours or 10 hours for every semester they are here. Duncan further noted that the Records Office manages the specifics of these requirements.
Students are not required to complete ten hours per semester, but they are highly encouraged to do so by the Leonard Center to stay on track. For every semester a student is enrolled as a full-time undergrad ten hours of service are required.
For example, if a student graduates in seven semesters, they are required to have 70 hours of service rather than 80.
Duncan recommended accessing resources available through the Leonard Center for students seeking ways to get service hours.
“There really is a lot of information here for just different ways that students can get involved,” said Duncan. “This is on Portico; you can access it through Portico under Service Learning, or it's available by just going to Leeuservice.com.”
As March ends, Lee University students are encouraged to engage in service opportunities within the campus community and in the Bradley County/Cleveland City area.
