Stanbridge College Presented The 2016 CAPPS Gold Award For Excellence In Community Service

IRVINE, Calif. - Aug. 25, 2016 - PRLog -- Stanbridge College was honored to receive the 2016 Gold Award for Excellence in Community Service. The acceptance of the award highlights Stanbridge College's continued commitment to creating an educational experience not only in the classroom but also through a platform for students and staff to serve the community and make a positive impact. Stanbridge College has, in addition, been recognized at the federal level for its civic engagement by the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for six consecutive years.

Created by the California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools (CAPPS), the award is intended to recognize private schools and institutions that not only offer excellent higher education programs, but make strides towards strengthening the community.

"CAPPS is proud to announce that the inaugural Gold Award Winner of the Annual CAPPS Community Service Award is Stanbridge College," announced Mr. Robert Johnson, CAPPS Executive President. Mr. Johnson went on to say, "there is no doubt that Stanbridge is truly a national leader in the field of community service. I personally congratulate the outstanding efforts of Stanbridge students, faculty, and team for being the model and inspiration for community service in the Higher Education community".

"We are very pleased to accept this award. Studies consistently show that service learning enabled classes generate better retention, engagement, learning outcomes, and overall student satisfaction," said Mr. Yasith Weerasuriya, President of Stanbridge College. "Service learning is a very effective learning tool that helps instill our students with confidence in their skills and shapes them into more valuable candidates in their career field. We are pleased that one hundred percent of our programs are service learning activated."

The award-winning Stanbridge College REACH – Beyond the Classroom™ Service Learning and Civic Engagement initiative is another branch in Stanbridge College's outreach to the local and global community. Consistently serving those in great need, Stanbridge College's students and staff have, over the past two years, served 9,000 hot meals, donated over 200,000 lbs. of fresh food, and provided 543 animals of No-Kill Shelters with quality treatment to facilitate permanent adoption, sparing them from euthanasia. The initiative also functions as a tool for students' degree completion, as every student is required to complete a specific number of community service hours before graduating.

Stanbridge College has an extensive history of service learning initiatives that enable students to use real-world skills while forming connections in the local community. Each Stanbridge College on-campus degree program is required to have at least 2 courses integrated with a service learning experience where students align a volunteer project with course objectives and write a reflective essay illustrating the outcomes of their service in the community.

Stanbridge College Occupational Therapy graduate students have partnered with the Wounded American Veterans Experience Scuba (WAVES) project to help wounded American Veterans with PTSD regain a meaningful life through scuba therapy. The team of students participated in a dive on Catalina Island, where they observed the benefits of the weightlessness of water. Afterward, students constructed an evidence-based education plan to help the veterans feel safe in an underwater environment. Most recently, students of the Vet Tech Program partnered with Wellness for Wags in Watts to organize a community service event where low-income pet families received quality treatment, giving exams to 178 dogs and cats. The Vet Tech students are best known for their low cost, on-campus clinics held on a regular, year-round basis to assist in the same medical treatment provided in animal hospitals and shelters.

Through all acts of community service and service learning courses, Stanbridge College offers students the ability to absorb vital skills towards their career field while enriching the community and people around them.

The award was presented at the CAPPS 2016 Legislative Policy at the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento on April 19th, 2016.

About Stanbridge College
Founded in 1996, Stanbridge College offers specialized degrees at the Master, Bachelor, and Associate levels in the fields of Nursing and Allied Health. Stanbridge is based in Irvine, California with an annual enrollment of over 1,300 students.

For each year from 2009 through 2014, Stanbridge has been named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement. In 2016, Stanbridge College was awarded the Gold Award for Excellence in Community Service from The California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools (CAPPS) for offering students quality higher education while simultaneously maintaining efforts to assist the local community. In 2013, Stanbridge College received the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC) Community Service Award for outstanding outreach to the local and global community. Stanbridge College has been selected as a 2014-2015 School of Excellence by the ACCSC, and also received its 2015 Excellence in Student Services Award for creating a comprehensive student services program that enhances student achievement outcomes. Institutional Research & Evaluation, Inc., has named Stanbridge College one of America's Best Technical Colleges for each year from 2009 through 2015.

For more information, please visit www.stanbridge.edu or call (949) 794-9090.