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In 2002, when Ronald Chinchilla took Service Learning, the sole business school course in the United States that’s dedicated entirely to service learning, it changed his life and he describes the professor, Robert “Dr. Bob” Hogner, as his mentor. The very first event in which Ronald participated put him on a path that has led to his earning the Excellence in Civic Engagement Medallion of Distinction in recognition of his more than 200 hours of community service. “We were serving food as part of the Community Partnership for the Homeless, Inc. (CPHI), and a little boy kept thanking us,” he said. “It made me feel like I was doing something. I never before saw myself helping others, but this event opened my eyes and heart.” Chinchilla is now vice president of the Miami Benefits Club at FIU, a campus service organization with a wide enough range of activities to interest any student. The group’s main focus is to prepare and serve dinner to the residents of the CPHI on the last Sunday of every month during the semester. Club members also assist the Coconut Grove Neighborhood Enhancement Team (N.E.T.) clean and maintain the sensitive mangrove areas in Peacock, Kenneth Myers, and Kennedy Parks, and work with the Downtown N.E.T. to clean the shoreline of Margaret Pace Park. They also help Roots in the City, a group that adopts and beautifies rundown areas of Overtown, transforming them into attractive farmers’ markets and gardens. Despite his busy class schedule and spending at least eight hours per week on community projects, Chinchilla also still finds time to serve as vice president of the International Business Honors Society and to work at the gym at Miami-Dade College, which he has done for five years. He’ll graduate from FIU with a double major in International Business and Management, and plans to start his International MBA at FIU in the fall of 2005. As he looks ahead to his career, he knows community service will be an important part of it. “I hope to get a job at a corporation where I can build a community service program that will benefit both my company and FIU,” he said. Get in touch with Ronald at 786.380.5290 and learn more about upcoming events. Help is always needed, and you might find, as he did, that just one experience could put community service at the center of your life.
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