University of Pennsylvania receives presidential recognition for community service

The University of Pennsylvania was awarded with the highest federal honor a college can receive for its commitment to community service today.

The Corporation for National and Community Service and the U.S. Department of Education recognized the school with the Presidential Award in the 2012 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, according to a press release.

Penn, one of five schools honored, received the award for its summer learning support, a constellation of summer internships, camps and tutoring programs that helps students retain what they learned during the school year in a safe environment.

Programs include a free science and engineering camp for middle school students taught by the School of Engineering and Applied Science and a six-week project-based Freedom School that teaches literacy and math to elementary school students. The Freedom School is taught, in part, by local high schoolers mentored by Penn students.

“[Benjamin] Franklin’s spirit and approach to education is more alive now at Penn
than ever before with President Amy Gutmann’s Penn Compact, her
strategic vision for moving the University from excellence to eminence.” said associate vice president Ira Harkavy in the release. “Local engagement is not only a core tenet of the Penn Compact, but it is also an integral part of the University’s mission now and into the future.”