For the second year in a row, the Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL) recognized a record number of students who logged 100 hours or more of community service and engagement in a calendar year. The seventh annual Spartan Volunteer Service Awards Ceremony took place on January 24, 2025, to recognize student volunteers for dedication to their communities between November 14, 2023, and December 8, 2024.

“It’s a joy every year to put these awards together,” said CCEL Assistant Director K.C. Keyton. “We want to say thank you from the center and acknowledge how much time and effort [our students] have put not only into studies, but in the community as well.”

The Spartan Volunteer Service Awards are sponsored by the Office of the President and the Center for Community Engaged Learning. This year’s 205 recipients surpassed CCEL’s previous record of 130 recipients in one year for volunteerism in 2022-2023. These 205 students logged 42,243 collective hours of community engagement for the year, creating the equivalent of $1,414,727 of financial impact in communities served.

Amanda Croft-deHagen, a recipient in the College of Human Medicine who served over 1,000 hours in one year, was the featured student speaker. Croft-deHagen shared that for the past 3 years she had volunteered as a survivor advocate with the YWCA of West Central Michigan. 

“This experience has given me the opportunity to work closely with members of my community, to fill a need within the program, and to develop my passion for service and advocacy,” said Croft-deHagen about this partnership.

The CCEL team looks forward to continuing this honor for the impact of the work that MSU students do with communities every day. In the words of 2024 recipient Joe Romanelli at the ceremony, “Service is not a reward, but rewarding.”