MEDIA ALERT--(COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--Mar 3, 2003--A new Service Honorary, created to recognize community service among American students, has been launched and has members from college campuses across the United States.
The Platinum Torch National Service Honorary is a not for profit organization designed to increase volunteerism on campus, and establish a formal recognition on a national basis that community service is now acknowledged as an essential component of the collegiate experience.
By formally recognizing student volunteers on the national level, community service becomes an avenue to differentiate students in the same manner as academic excellence and athletic achievement. By introducing students to the importance of service, Platinum Torch hopes to develop lifelong patterns of volunteerism and begin a student-based effort to lead by example so as to encourage and inspire community service among their peers.
The significance of service has become so highly regarded that the President has urged Americans to seek out new volunteer opportunities and asked them to dedicate 4,000 hours to national service or volunteer work during their lifetime in his State of the Union Address. Furthermore, a recent Roper Starch survey indicates that Americans want schools to educate students to become active, competent, and worthy stewards of our democratic traditions and institutions as well as competent in core academic knowledge and skills.
Executive Director and co-founder Susan Puder notes, ''Our interaction with corporate and academic leaders clearly indicates a growing and material respect and weight being placed on involvement in the community. To that end, Platinum Torch National Service Honorary supplements the intangible feeling of helping others with a meaningful reward for their efforts and a platform to leverage their experiences into a competitive advantage.''
Membership to the Platinum Torch National Service Honorary is predicated on the performance of verified community service and is open to students throughout North America. Complete details are available at: www.platinumtorch.org.
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