From building houses and cleaning up parks to mentoring kids and preparing meals, West Virginia University students are stepping up in the community and making a difference.

No one could be more proud than Kim Colebank, director of the Universitys Center for Civic Engagement, who will be joining WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr. in honoring nearly 180 of those civic-minded students with the Presidents Volunteer Service Award at 7 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 22) in the Mountainlair ballrooms.

WVU students are engaged in our community, donating their time, energy and talent to bring us closer together as a community,Colebank said.The award is our way of thanking these impressive students and inspiring everyone in our community to make community engagement a central part of their lives.

During the ceremony, honorees will be recognized with a pin, certificate and letter signed by President George W. Bush, who established the award in 2003. Hardesty will give the keynote address.

WVU students who completed more than 100 hours of volunteer work or service-learning courses last year could be nominated for the Presidents Volunteer Service Award. The 178 student award winners collectively logged more than 50,000 hours of community service. In monetary terms, that equals to about $902,500 in service, Colebank said.

Some of the ways WVU students have helped others include participating in campus blood drives for the Red Cross, organizing Relay for Life teams to raise money for cancer research, collecting money for hurricane relief efforts, tutoring children in after-school programs at The Shack Neighborhood House, building houses through Habitat for Humanity, preparing meals at the Ronald McDonald House, visiting patients at the WVU Childrens Hospital and mentoring Energy Express kids from rural and low-income communities.

CCE on the Net:http://cce.wvu.edu/