DATE: Tuesday, April 29, 1997               TAG: 9704290244

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A16  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   58 lines

VIRGINIA WESLEYAN TO OPEN OFFICE ENCOURAGING STUDENTS TO SERVE

Virginia Wesleyan College will open an office in July to promote community service among students.

``Our students are doing that now, but the situation is that it's happening in pockets,'' said Diane E. Hotaling, who will serve as part-time director of the office for Wesleyan, a Methodist-affiliated college.

``What we would like to do is bring a broad awareness of these opportunities and provide coordination to make sure they are meaningful experiences.''

President William T. ``Billy'' Greer Jr. said Monday the office was planned before President Clinton's volunteerism conference in Philadelphia. ``We've been talking about volunteerism long before the summit,'' he said. ``But we certainly hope and believe the summit will give us some momentum.''

Hotaling, citing the founder of Methodism, said, ``John Wesley said our mission is to warm hearts and train minds. . . . To simply have a mind full of facts and not put them into action, whether in a business sense or a social sense, doesn't make a whole lot of sense at all.''

Hotaling said the college doesn't have a good count on how many of its 1,460 students perform community service. Campus projects include a Habitat for Humanity group, which helps refurbish homes for low-income families; volunteer programs at public schools; and a partnership with the adjacent Lake Edward neighborhood.

She doesn't have a target for the number of students she would like to get involved, but her goal is to provide a solid opportunity to every interested student.

When Greer took over at Wesleyan in 1992, he raised the idea of requiring community service. That's still being discussed, he said Monday, but the concept has faced some opposition on campus. ``Everybody here believes in community service,'' he said. ``But there is concern on the part of some people as to whether or not you can require service.''

Said Hotaling: ``We're not closing the door on it, but we're moving in another direction.''

Megan McClary, a 21-year-old junior from Maryland, spends 10 hours a week working on crafts projects and other activities with patients at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.

``I think it (the office) is a wonderful idea,'' she said. ``Students may not realize what community service is all about. They hear about it and think it's just work. They don't realize there can be love and you can develop great relationships.''

Hotaling, who has worked at Wesleyan since 1985, is director of campus publications. She will relinquish that title in July but will continue to edit the college's magazine.

Hotaling has been active in several college volunteer programs, including the Lake Edward project and the Adopt-a-School program at Newtown Road Elementary School. ``Diane's the perfect one for the job,'' Greer said.

The volunteering spirit, she said, is ``infectious. You just invite a person to be involved. Once they get in, you just watch them blossom and grow and realize they can connect.'' ILLUSTRATION: Diane E. Hotaling

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