Her senior year at Fresno State, alumna Amanda Whitten received the Student Volunteer of the Year award, but in high school she had only a vague idea of what community service meant. She thought of it more or less as “that thing they’re making me do in order to keep my honors college scholarship.”

Little did she know that service-learning would a big difference in her journey. Soon after she enrolled in a service-learning class, her vague definition of community service underwent a dramatic change.

"As I sat through my Community Service 1 class during the fall semester of my freshman year, a new definition emerged," she said. "I helped organize campus blood drives, volunteered to be a conversation partner for foreign exchange students, and worked with underprivileged youth at after school programs."

Slowly she realized that community service was not just another class assignment. She began to realize that serving the community made her more connected to others.

"It was the thing that bonded me to this community and brought me back here after law school," she said. "It was the thing that made me not just a Fresno State alumna, but part of the Fresno community as a whole. And, it is the thing that still drives me to do what I can to pay it forward – volunteering as a marathon coach for Team in Training or as an attorney coach for a local high school mock trial team."

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