The third crop of graduates of AmeriCorps NCCC’s Southern Region was congratulated Tuesday as members concluded 10 months of service that “planted seeds of hope” in needy communities from Birmingham, Ala., to Binghamton, N.Y.

The 72 young volunteers — 65 corps members and seven team leaders from 18 to 24 years old — served 97,732 hours on 51 projects in the region’s 11 states, and they traveled outside the region to provide disaster assistance in New York resulting from Hurricane Irene.

In graduation ceremonies in the gym at the Confederate Avenue campus, keynote speaker Dr. Reginald Nichols commended corps members for their service.

“I know it’s tough, I know it’s been hard, but the service is so important and so vital,” Nichols said. “You might not see all the blossoms, but you have planted the seeds of hope.”

In their volunteer work they slept in church basements, community centers, Red Cross shelters, a cottage “and the occasional tent,” said Kari Galensky, a corps member from Pittsburgh, Pa.

Galensky elicited laughs in her graduation speech reflecting on their volunteer work — “a rewarding commitment,” an “enriching and surreal experience” and “uniquely difficult for all of us — staff included.”

“It was the most physical labor I’ve ever done,” said Brandi Perkins, 22, of Akron, Ohio, who helped build houses and trails and suffered through numerous bouts of poison ivy. “But it taught me I really could push myself physically, and I left in tears from some of these places. We really became part of these communities.”

Teams were deployed to nine disasters, including Tropical Storm Lee and a series of tornadoes in January and February; served 25,966 meals in disaster areas; assisted with Habitat for Humanity building in Miami and New Orleans; removed 932 tons of debris from various sites; planted 13,896 trees; and tutored 1,198 students.

Ashley Benn, 24, a corps member in 2010-11, came back this year as a team leader.

Benn, who had completed two years of college before joining AmeriCorps, said the experience gave her an opportunity to serve but also a chance to find out if her planned career path into education was really right for her.

“We didn’t get to work with kids that often, but it was often enough for me to know that that is where I’m meant to be,” said Benn, a native of Kennewick, Wash. “AmeriCorps provides so much direction. Members who come in with no idea where they want to go leave with a clear direction, or at least a sense of confidence that they can do what is asked of them.”

Each graduate was awarded a Certificate of National Service.

Kate Raftery, NCCC national director and a 1975 Peace Corps volunteer, encouraged them to keep their commitment to community service alive.

“This is not the end of NCCC but the launching pad,” Raftery said, and quoted Muhammad Ali: “Service to others is the rent you pay for your home here on Earth.”

In addition to awards given to corps members and out-of-town project sponsors, the Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce was given the Community Partner Award for its “outstanding support” of the AmeriCorps NCCC Southern Region, including advocacy with Mississippi’s Congressional delegation for continued federal funding.

The Southern region began transitioning to a summer-based program several months ago and currently has a group of 160 members in the field, said Erika Roberts, community relations specialist. Those corps members will graduate in December, she said.