Linfield College has tripled its number of AmeriCorps positions. The college has been awarded 30 Students in Service (SIS) AmeriCorps member slots to fill this year, a three-fold increase from 2009-10, and will provide 30 students with an education award of $1,132 upon completion of 300 hours of community service over the course of one year. This amounts to nearly $34,000 in scholarships for Linfield students to apply directly to tuition, student loans or graduate school.
Students are eligible to enroll in SIS if they perform volunteer work in partnership with schools and community organizations including tutoring, mentoring and environmental restoration. Students completing part-time or full-time teaching positions at qualifying schools, or service-related academic internships or service-learning projects with a non-profit, faith-based or government agency are also eligible.
A number of Linfield students have served with the SIS AmeriCorps program, including Ashlee Hockett, class of 2010, who is now working with Looking Glass in Eugene, a nonprofit organization that serves more than 8,000 at-risk youth and their families per year. Heidi VandenBos, class of 2010, is beginning her master’s in music therapy at Marylhurst University after performing her SIS hours at Hillside Retirement Community in McMinnville, where she taught residents to play the piano. Lizzie Martinez, class of 2009, completed the program during her sophomore year and has now returned to Linfield as the AmeriCorps VISTA student engagement coordinator.
Linfield’s SIS program is made possible through Campus Compact and the Corporation for National and Community Service AmeriCorps Education Award Program.
For more information, contact Jessica Wade, community service coordinator, 503-883-2636, jwade@linfield.edu.
