Service Guidelines for 2020-2021

Recommendations for Individual and Group Service Projects

• The Center for Service Learning will continue to share information with students about how to engage in remote volunteer service
• The Center for Service Learning will support community partners sharing volunteer opportunities on Engage Rockhurst.
• Individual and groups are required to observe campus and partner protocols related to face coverings and social distancing.
• Considerations for determining volunteer service sites:
  • Preference should be given to remote or virtual activities. Activities that may be completed in the students’ residences provides optimal precautions.
  • Projects conducted outdoors also reduce risk.
  • Projects conducted indoors, on-site of the nonprofit organization should maintain CDC guideline. Visit the facility to observe volunteers at work. If safety protocols are not observed, do not recommend on-site projects.
  • In all activities, CDC guideline should be observed:
    • Wash hands often. If soap and water are not available, hand sanitizer should be.
    • Avoid close contact with others (at least 6 feet a part)
    • Cover your mouth and nose with cloth face cover when around others
    • Clean and disinfect surfaces
    • Monitor your health. If you feel ill, stay home.
• Students who are at risk of complications of COVID-19 are advised to avoid off-campus, in-person service opportunities and seek remote/ virtual opportunities instead.

Community Service

Service is an integral part of the student experience at Rockhurst University.  Rockhurst students give over 30,000 hours annually in service to others.  Service at Rockhurst is voluntary, but more than 80 percent of students participate in service projects during their Rockhurst education.

Service to others provides an opportunity to reflect on the broader issues that shape our world.  Through service, Rockhurst students come to ask important questions about the injustices found in our society.  Reflecting on these issues helps students learn that their decisions have economic and moral implications for others and future generations.  Service is at the heart of Jesuit education because through service we use the gifts we have developed and put them into action to transform the world, making it a better place for us all. 

Voluntary community service may be a one-time, short-term project or a lengthy, on-going commitment by a group or an individual.  Community service connects to the educational and Jesuit mission of Rockhurst University.  Rockhurst students engage in community service with a wide variety of community organizations across Kansas City, the nation, and even the world.  Projects organized by Rockhurst reach beyond the campus to directly impact community livelihood.  In practicing community service, the direct or primary benefit of service should extend beyond the campus and groups in which the volunteer is a member.

The Jesuit Challenge

"You are called by the Society of Jesus to be men and women who reflect upon the reality of the world around you with all its ambiguities, opportunities, and challenges, to discern what is really happening in your life and in the lives of others, to find God there and to discover where God is calling you, to employ criteria for significant choices that reflect Godly values rather than narrow, exclusive self-interest, to make decisions in the light of what is truly for the greater glory of God and the service of those in need, and then to act accordingly."

Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S/U.
Superior General of the Society of Jesus, 1997

There are many resources on campus to help students discover how they can serve. As you look through these pages, you’ll find helpful information and contacts.

Engage Rockhurst is a website with opportunities to service and community partner information. 

The Center for Service Learning is your campus resource for connecting service to your coursework.

Finucane Service Project welcomes incoming students to Rockhurst and introduces them to service – an important part of Rockhurst’s mission as a Catholic and Jesuit university. The Finucane Service Project gives the campus an opportunity not only to experience service but also to celebrate the spirit of service. Named in the memory of the Rev. William Finucane, S.J., Rockhurst initiated the Finucane Service Project to honor his commitment to introducing freshmen to both service and the neighborhood around campus.