Karen Call was 2 years old when her mother gave birth to a premature baby, but that was old enough for the toddler to recognize the needs of the small spirit. She helped tend when she could, responding to alarms indicating the infant needed attention. One afternoon Karen's mother found the helpful two-year-old holding the smaller child in her arms, the oxygen on the baby's monitor turned up so high you could hear it.

When Call was 5 years old, her mother stepped away from the stove where she was cooking pasta for a minute. She returned to find Karen had pulled a chair to the stove and was pouring oil into the pot. "Aunt Chris told me if you add oil to your spaghetti it won't stick together," the eager 5-year-old said.

Karen Call, a senior studying psychology, hasn't changed much.

The 25 year-old from Bountiful is the first BYU student to be recognized as a Service Scholar in the Service Certification program developed by the Center for Service and Learning.

"This is a university honor that requires 100-plus hours of direct service, completing the Service Theory class and a capstone project. It began in May 2007 and [Call] has already finished. Recipients wear a medallion at graduation and attend a special banquet at the end of the year," Brittney Losee, community service coordinator at the Center for Service and Learning, said in an e-mail.

In addition to this recognition, Call is the winner of the AmeriCorps award for completing 300 hours of service in one year, which earned her a $1,000 education grant; an individual can only earn two in a lifetime and she just received her second.

A standout among the Center for Service and Learning volunteers, Call is a regular volunteer at the Friday Kid's Respite and a program coordinator for the Teaching and Loving Children program.

Growing up in Bountiful, Call was influenced not only by grandparents who taught the spirit of service but by parents who constantly emphasized the necessity of service.

"They taught us to be service-oriented people," Call said. "It was just something you should do."

Call remembers a specific instance when she noticed her mother giving service, and how much it has influenced her drive to give as well.

"I remember when I was young and my mom was Relief Society president," she said. "If something happened or someone called, she would drop everything. I was the fifth of 11 kids and she was able to just make it work. She would watch the kids of the young mothers in our ward so they could get out. That's what impressed me most."

In high school Call volunteered at elementary schools, tutoring first-and-sixth graders in math and reading, and lettered in service at Viewmont High, an honor that required 180 hours of service. In addition, she had a cousin who had special needs and required constant supervision. Call regularly visited to relieve the family members and spend time with her cousin. "I just loved being around people," she said.

Call has experienced tough times of her own, however.

She started college at Weber State and then served a mission in Peru, but upon her return she suffered from depression. After transferring to BYU and struggling through six months of depression, Call passed the Center for Service and Learning in the Wilkinson Center and decided to stop in and see what she could do.

"It got me out and moving again," she said.

The Center for Service and Learning coordinates volunteers for many programs around the state. Two student co-coordinators manage the volunteers for each program and Call soon was the co-coordinator for the Teaching and Loving Children program.

"We visit three local elementary schools and visit their students with special needs," she said.

Her capstone project for the Service Certification is to spread the program to American Fork and Springville.

The project wasn't easy, however. Ronalee MacInnis, one of her supervisors in the Center for Service and Learning, has mentored her through her capstone project.

"She developed a project proposal but as she worked through it it had specific problems, she had to come up with a solution she didn't expect ... and she did really well," MacInnis said.

Call's passion for changing lives shows on the faces of those she spends time with as well.

"When she comes through the door the kids look up, and they know that their friend Karen is coming," said Nate Haight, the co-program director for the Teaching and Loving Children program. "She's not afraid to get her hands dirty. ... she works hard to help all the volunteers in the program feel that their service is meaningful, too. She really gets on their level to connect."

However, Call claims she is the most changed from her time serving others.

"It really is unconditional love that you learn," she said. "I have become more patient, I have learned how to love more easily."

Call will receive a medallion that recognizes her at graduation in April, and she plans to start a master's degree in social work at BYU the following year.

Copyright Brigham Young University 16 Jul 2008