WCU student receives statewide award

Press release from Western Carolina University:

Western Carolina University student Aaron Marshall is among the statewide recipients of the 2013 Community Impact Student Award.

Presented by North Carolina Campus Compact, an association of colleges and universities committed to fostering campus-community engagement, the award recognizes college and university students across the state who are making a difference in their respective communities.

Marshall, a senior from Gastonia majoring in sociology with a minor in emergency and disaster management, was one of 19 N.C. students to be honored during a Nov. 2 ceremony at North Carolina Campus Compact’s annual student conference. Now in its 20th year, the conference was held at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, with more than 175 student leaders from 27 campuses in three states attending.

At WCU, Marshall has been an enthusiastic participant and leader in the alternative break program, taking part in 10 service and study abroad trips. The experiences led him to work with the university’s Center for Service Learning to plan, market, coordinate and evaluate the alternative break program, in which students participate in service activities instead of heading for the beach or home for spring and fall breaks.

Marshall also volunteers with several local nonprofit organizations, including the Community Table, as well as disaster relief efforts across the country. He has served as the Student Government Association senator for service learning, a student mentor in the Ripple Effect learning community and a volunteer for “get out the vote” campaigns.

During the North Carolina Campus Compact event, Marshall also was part of a team of WCU students who led a workshop on the university’s new Lily Community Engagement Award program, developed by the Center for Service Learning to encourage and reward students who participate in a wide range of WCU community engagement opportunities.

“Aaron has great reservoirs of energy and passion for this work,” said Lane Perry, director of the Center for Service Learning. “Right when you think he’s tapped out and reached his limit, he digs deeper.”

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