POUGHKEEPSIE – Dutchess Community College President Dr. Pamela Edington addressed an audience of over 200 people, Thursday, for the Annual President’s Breakfast hosted by the college and its foundation.
Edington and Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro
Edington said she was excited to announce some new developments for the SUNY school in the 2015-16 year, especially their new service learning programs that connect students, faculty and the community in a “hands on” learning approach.
“We have hundreds of our students who are now connected up with community identifying needs and are helping out local agencies with projects; everything from creating a marketing brochure for the Dutchess County SPCA, to promoting an arts program, working with after-school programs. That’s really critical for the college,” said Edington. “It’s a great benefit to the community, but also, to our students who have the opportunity to apply their knowledge in the community.”
At first glance, service learning may seem as if it is a new version of a traditional internship; however, Edington, who has been a strong advocate and initiator of service learning, even before coming to Dutchess, said there is a distinction between the two, explaining that service learning’s focus differs from the individual “on the job” training expected from an internship, putting more focus on the greater community.
“There’s an equality and reciprocity of the relationship,” she said. “The community is learning from the students who are engaged in the activity with them and the student is learning from the work they’re doing in the community; so, it’s very much a reciprocal relationship with service learning.”
Since the inception of the program at Dutchess in the fall of 2015, over 200 students have partnered with dozens of community organizations in various service learning programs.
In addition to service learning, Edington announced the new on-campus veteran’s center, a place providing various resources for veterans while also giving them a place of their own to commune with each other and a grant, which will provide $220,000 a year for low-income, first generation college attending and disabled students.
“These resources will enable us to do additional counseling and advising and supporting of our students to enhance their opportunity for success,” the president said.
In the 2014-15 year, DCC awarded 1,132 degrees and had an annual budget of $61.4 million. Currently, Dutchess has 9,543 enrolled students.
