Civic Engagement in Community Colleges

http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/philanthropy/21873-tiny-foundation-big-idea-foster-civic-engagement-with-focus-on-community-college-students.html

In this rather lengthy article, there is a lot of interesting information that basically boils down to one statement: This organization, the Rappaport Family Foundation, helps out and encourages community college students to become more civically engaged in their communities. Throughout the nation, community colleges are almost forgotten about, even though they comprise of the majority of students currently in college.

I feel as if this article is very important because community colleges are forgotten about and are almost looked down upon just because they are not large campuses or extremely accredited. Encouraging civic engagement in smaller community colleges can also improve the ethics of the students at these colleges, because some community college students go into school already as at-risk students for dropping or not using their full potential. Also, community colleges are very common among large cities. For example, there are many community colleges here in San Antonio in different parts of San Antonio. If each community college helped out more in their part of the community, San Antonio could thrive and in the long run, possibly even decrease the high school drop out rate.

This article also discussed many positives about being civically engaged in communities, which reminded me a lot about the St. Mary's mission. Here at St. Mary's, we are always civically engaged through service and being informed on social issues on various scales through events such as the President's Peace Comission. I feel that St. Mary's and it's students benefit highly off of doing service and being informed citizens, and civic engagement in community colleges can have a similar effect.

Ultimately, this article proves a good point and I feel it is an idea that can benefit not just universities, but cities and other organizations. Being civically engaged makes for better citizens and students, and also provides many other personal benefits to the people involved.