A chance visit to the Center for Values and Service office (now called the Center for Community Service and Justice) during her freshman year inspired a commitment to serving others that shaped the rest of Karla Jenkins’ College career, and had a tremendous impact on the direction she’s taken in her personal and professional life since graduating in 2002.

Jenkins’ first Loyola service experience involved engaging at-risk teens in activities designed to keep them from the dangers that plagued their neighborhoods. Later, she served as a mentor for a student from the Mother Seton Academy, a school for low-income children in Baltimore. Throughout the rest of her years at Loyola, Jenkins helped maintain land in front of home for senior citizens near the Evergreen campus, led several Thanksgiving food drives, and participated in a Habitat for Humanity project in Baltimore’s Sandtown neighborhood.

Jenkins isn’t alone; nearly two-thirds of Loyola undergraduates participate in community service during their years at the College.

"Loyola’s commitment to service may be the element of my education that I’ve applied the most since graduation," says Jenkins, now a member of the Loyola Alumni Association Board of Directors. "The ‘men and women for others’ ideal is more than words to me, it’s embedded in my life. I don’t feel complete unless I’m involved in some type of service."

Through her church, Jenkins works with a West Baltimore program for displaced and abused teens. She also travels to the women’ s pre-release center in West Baltimore once a month to help incarcerated mothers choose books and tape messages to send to their children.

Jenkins’ passion for service has influenced her career as well. At an outreach for an enrichment program operated by Morgan State University, Jenkins worked with more than 600 promising, low-income students, most of whom may become the first members of their family to go to college, providing them with academic, cultural and social programming designed to help them pursue and succeed in post-secondary education. Jenkins also helped the students meet the 75 hours of community service needed to receive a Maryland high school diploma.

"With my students, I used the principles I learned at Loyola," she says. "Service is always combined with reflection—and it’s very meaningful for the students to serve someone less fortunate than they are. Through service, they learn that while striving for excellence is important, when you reach it, you always remember to give back."

Jenkins has continued her commitment to service, today working as a Youth Impact Manager at the United Way of Central Maryland.