By Maddie Oslejsek
Transcript Correspondent
President Barack Obama and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) recognized Ohio Wesleyan in September for its achievements in interfaith community service this year.
The university has been recognized on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll every year since 2008. The award is divided into four categories: Top Award, Finalist, Honor Roll With Distinction and Honor Roll.
Of the ninety-eight schools honored for their efforts, thirty-eight were recognized on the Honor Roll With Distinction. OWU was recognized in this category under Interfaith Community Service, a new distinction that was introduced this year.
All documentable community service completed during the year by OWU students is recorded and reported to the CNCS by the men and women involved. To qualify for recognition under the new distinction, they included information and personal narratives about specific people and projects that reflected the university’s interfaith involvement locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
“Interfaith for us means engaging, voicing and acting on our love and respect of other faiths,” said University Chaplain Jon Powers.
The OWU Charter of 1842, which states, “The University is forever to be conducted on the most liberal principals, accessible to all religious denominations, and designed for the benefit of our citizens in general,” drives the university to embody the ideas of interfaith throughout the campus community, according to Powers.
The honor roll annually recognizes institutions that achieve meaningful and measurable outcomes in the communities they serve by solving community problems and directing more students on a lifelong path of civic engagement, according to the CNCS website.
“This award affirms, at the highest national level, the exceptional quality of interfaith life at Ohio Wesleyan and lets others know that OWU is a superb place to live and learn,” Powers said.