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What is 57 Miles?
57 Miles is an Honors College program that facilitates service opportunities in Alabama’s Black Belt.
As a Sophomore in college, I joined a team tasked with revitalizing 57 Miles. As I learned more about the role this program once played in the Marion community — and the deep, long-standing relationship between the Honors College and the Blackbelt — I felt inspired to lead the charge to bring the program back stronger and more sustainable.
Prior to 2019, the program functioned primarily as a faculty and staff-supported Honors College initiative, often tied to courses, enrichment programs, or short-term engagement opportunities.
With the knowledge of what it used to be, and vision for what it could be, it became my mission to redesign 57 Miles to create a sustainable model for university-sponsored service learning based on research and experience.
Programming
Day of Service
Educational Seminars
Ongoing Projects
On April 19th, 2025 I hosted 57 Miles’ first Day of Service in over 5 years!
Since then, we have hosted two more and exposed over 200 students to the community of Marion through hands-on service. Students participate in primarily physical labor projects brought to us by community leaders. This serves as a recruitment tool for 57 Miles’ ongoing projects and a low-commitment way for students to engage with the community!
Ongoing Projects
Educational Seminars
Ongoing Projects
57 Miles brings students to Marion weekly for ongoing projects in the areas of Healthcare, Education, and History and Culture
Healthcare
In Healthcare, 4-5 students volunteer at the nursing home in Marion, leading residents in stress releiving art projects designed for the aging population by the Psychology department at UA.
Education
In Education, students lead ACT prep programs at Francis Marion High School.
History and Culture
In History and Culture, students work with Mary Moore, the Lincoln Normal School Museum Director, on creating informational materials and museum exhibits about Lincoln Normal School (Alabama’s first black school).
Educational Seminars
Educational Seminars
Educational Seminars
Throughout the year, students participate in Service Learning Seminars focused on cultural humility, participatory action research, and asset-based community development. This prepares students for work in communities like Marion, that are liekly very different from the ones they grew up in.
Statewide Expansion
To better understand the challenges facing service-learning initiatives, I conducted a literature review that identified four recurring barriers to university sponsored service learning programs. Research shows that leadership turnover weakens continuity, student outcomes are often prioritized over community benefit, sustainable programs require clear structure and accountability, and ethical engagement must be genuinely reciprocal. I then created a model to circumvent these issues and applied it to create the framework for 57 Miles.
Due to a phenomenon called “Brain Drain,” low-income communities surround almost every university in the United States. My hope is to use the model I have created for Sustainable University Sponsored Service Learning Initiatives to equip universities across the nation with the nessescary tools to engage with these communities, and it starts in Alabama!
Statewide expansion
Magnum Opus
/ˌmaɡnəm ˈōpəs/
A large and important work of art, music, or literature, especially one regarded as the best work of an artist, composer, or writer.
I believe any student would benefit from experiencing Marion on a personal and meaningful level to understand the history there that has shaped not only our state, but also our University. My hope is that 57 Miles will continue long after my time at UA, giving students the opportunity to engage with and learn from Marion for years to come.
57 Miles is my Magnum Opus! It is my greatest work to date and it is the culmination of a lifetime of skills!
