Leaders in Service

Mount students and alumni are Leaders in Service.

Community partnerships move mountains: Mount students work with leading service organizations in health care and environmental action, with Habitat for Humanity and in homeless shelters, with veterans and in communities for the elderly, in after-school programs and soup kitchens.

Service takes time: Mount students annually volunteer 10,000+ hours of service to those in need, partnering with more than 50 organizations, responding to the needs of youth, people suffering from illness and disability, the homeless and disenfranchised, the elderly, and the poor. Last year they:

  • Raised $46,300 for cancer research
  • Raised more than $50,000 for Philippine typhoon relief
  • Brought food and blankets to New York City’s homeless through the Midnight Run
  • Repaired homes in Appalachia
  • Worked in community health in Guatemala
  • Worked at Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center through the Mount M.D. extended service trip

Mentors matter: More than 30 student volunteers mentored teens in partnership with Leake and Watts, an organization founded in 1831 to serve children at risk. One alumnus turned his volunteer experience at Leake and Watts into a career there.

Mind and heart: Last year 32 Seton Service and Leadership Scholars earned an overall grade point average of 3.45 while volunteering more than 3,800 hours in service.

All in: During the Mount’s annual Month of Service, more than 500 students, faculty, staff, and alumni pitched in with upwards of 1,500 hours in service.

MOUNT STUDENTS act on their belief in a better world. Compared to students at peer institutions, they …

  • See developing a meaningful philosophy of life as more important
  • See helping to promote racial understanding as more important
  • Are more likely to see becoming a community leader as important
  • Are more likely to see spirituality as essential
  • Are more likely to believe they have strong interpersonal skills
  • Are more likely to see themselves as taking part in a religious belief system
  • Are more likely to have meaningful and honest discussions about race/ethnic relations outside of class
  • Put a higher value on influencing social values and the political structure
  • Put a higher value on raising a family
  • Put a higher value on contributing in some way to the sciences, humanities, or arts
  • Feel a greater sense of personal responsibility about cleaning up and protecting the environment, adopting green practices, and participating in a community action program

*Source: UCLA Higher Education Research Institute, 2013