Community Service and an SNHU Education

By Rebecca Mahoney ’11MFA

“You never totally grasp the importance of enriching someone’s life until you are in the moment, doing it.”

For a long time, Steffon Evans thought he would have to choose between his education and his passion for helping others.

As an outreach coordinator at the national park service in the Bahamas, Evans gets to focus on what he loves best: giving back to his community, teaching people about the environment, and organizing volunteer projects. It’s a role he loves, and he didn’t want to give it up in order to attend college classes.

Thanks to Southern New Hampshire University, he doesn’t have to.

Evans earned his associate degree in liberal studies and is now working toward his bachelor’s degree in environmental anthropology through SNHU’s College of Online and Continuing Education. Though he has a lot on his plate, Evans says the flexibility of the program and the support from outstanding advisors means he can make it all work. “Even after a long day, I can still go over my course content and reach out if I need help. The flexibility literally transforms what I can do with my education,” he says.

Already, Evans has found ways to combine his educational goals with his mission of helping others. Last spring, inspired by SNHU’s first annual Global Days of Service initiative, he spearheaded a massive volunteer project to plant mangroves in a degraded area of a wetland in a Bahamian national park called Bonefish Pond. The event, which took place on Earth Day, included 500 volunteers made up of local residents and students from local schools. Together, they planted mangroves and learned about the importance of these trees to the Bahamas. “It was an awesome day,” Evans said.

At first, Evans was worried about leading such a major volunteer effort from a distance, but says he quickly found SNHU to be an enthusiastic and supportive partner. “They make me feel like I’m part of the family. I’m not even there, but I still feel connected and really appreciated,” he says. “It was the perfect thing to do.”

Evans, who also leads a youth group dedicated to community service projects, is already thinking ahead to SNHU’s next Global Days of Service in April 2017, where alumni,students, faculty, and staff will come together to strengthen their communities. “I would totally encourage everybody to get involved with their community,” Evans says. “You never totally grasp the importance of enriching someone’slife until you are in the moment, doing it.”