Kernodle Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement Collection

The history of the Kernodle Center began in 1988 when the Elon College Habitat for Humanity Chapter began through a partnership with the Chaplain's Office and various student leaders. The student-run volunteer program called Elon Volunteers! Program also evolved from this partnership. In 1992, with the help of a grant from the United Church of Christ, the first paid staff member was hired to provide support for the student volunteer movement. Over the next few years students, faculty, and staff become more involved with Elon Volunteers!, and in 1994, the college was awarded one of five $50,000 grants from the Council of Independent Colleges to establish the Center for Service Learning. In 1997, the Center received an endowment gift from the family of John R. Kernodle, Jr., a well-known community activist, and the Center was renamed the John R. Kernodle, Jr. Center for Service Learning. During the 2009-2010 academic year, the Center changed its name again to the Kernodle Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement to "better reflect the role the Center serves in innovatively connecting the campus and community in creative problem-solving" (quote from Smith Jackson, 2009-2010 Kernodle Center Annual Report).

Some of the programs of the Kernodle Center are described below. For a broader overview of the center, visit http://www.elon.edu/eweb/students/servicelearning/welcome.xhtml.

Academic Service-Learning

"Academic Service-Learning (ASL) is a fundamentally academic endeavor in which service is an integrated component. It is a credit-bearing, experiential education approach that involves an established community partnership guided by the expertise of professors and community-based practitioners working together with students to address community needs." 1994-1995 was the first year of tracking courses linked with a service component. (Kernodle Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement website, 2014).

Campus Kitchen at Elon University

Campus Kitchen at Elon University is a weekly program that provides meals to people in need in Alamance County. The program served its first meals in February of 2011.

Community Partnership Initiative

The Community Partnership Initiative was created in 2005 with funding from the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation in Little Rock, Arkansas. The program is intended to provide "funding to collaborative teams of faculty, students, and community agencies that will enable them to launch projects meeting identified needs in the community" (2005 email correspondence). Grants are made available to support areas such as the development of new programs, research, assessing the causes of community problems, and supporting partnerships between Elon University and the local community in addressing social issues.

Faculty Scholars

The Service-Learning Faculty Scholars program was designed to identify faculty members interested in incorporating or enhancing service-learning in their courses. The first faculty scholars were announced in spring of 2004 for the 2004-2005 academic year.

Safe Rides

Safe Rides was founded in 1992 after the alcohol-related death of a student. The student's family joined with Elon Volunteers! to create a program to help prevent drinking and driving on campus and to provide students with a safe ride home.

Service-Learning Community

The first Service-Learning Community was established during the 1994-1995 year by a grant from the Council of Independent Colleges. Thirty-six first year students applied and were selected to live together in Chandler Hall. The students took academic service courses together and volunteered for community projects. As of the 2013-2014 academic year, members of the Service-Learning Community lived in Virginia residence hall.