Mission Statement
The Week of Service program is dedicated to education, justice, and service. We seek to bring awareness to the causes and consequences of poverty at the national, state, and local levels. We empower students to live with empathy and compassion and to build relationships as their most authentic selves with each other and their communities. The Week of Service is a call to action: to better our community through understanding, advocating, and helping others who need it most.
Why Poverty?
Auburn University Honors College adopted the theme of poverty as a means to raise awareness for both its causes and effects across the state of Alabama, the United States of America, and the world to its students. This program is designed to give incoming Honors College freshmen first-hand experience with poverty at a local level. The program is both enlightening and challenging, developed thoughtful conversation and personal reflection for all its participants. Overall, previous students consider the week to be an “impactful, eye-opening, and transformative service-learning experience.”
According to recent data by Alabama Possible (a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing systemic poverty and its root causes), Alabama is the nation’s sixth poorest state. More than 800,000 citizens, including 262,000 children, live below the poverty line. 11 of Alabama’s 67 counties have poverty rates above 25 percent and the state has a child food insecurity rate of 22.3%. Because of this clear state-wide need, in 2013 the Honors College at Auburn University adopted poverty awareness as an overarching educational theme that supports Auburn University’s mission to directly serve the pressing, unaddressed needs to disadvantaged communities and at-risk populations. In keeping with Auburn’s land-grant mission and with Auburn’s historic commitment to service, the Honors College developed the Week of Service program.
The program is designed to give participants an experience that is both challenging and enlightening. A traditional academic approach is mixed with hands-on learning in order to develop a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding poverty. Thanks to the program, these students are creating an environment of service that is synonymous with the mission of Auburn University.
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Information on this page has been archived for brevity. If you would like historical documentation of this week, please reach out to the Honors College.
