Throughout 2017, Southern celebrated its 125th anniversary with a wide variety of activities. One element of that commemoration was collecting the service hours of alumni, students, volunteers, employees, and friends of the university, with the goal of reaching 125,000 hours by the end of the year. Southern’s good-hearted extended family not only met that goal but surpassed it with 164,148 hours logged.

“The joy of service is a core part of Southern’s identity—something we hope young people learn here and put into practice the rest of their lives,” said Jennifer Carter, director of Southern’s Christian Service Program. “I’m so thrilled that we exceeded the goal, although I’m not surprised—I imagine this was only a fraction of the time people actually spent serving others last year.”