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Students do good deeds, pump up transcripts

Community service projects provide college credit

By Jeff Deters

Monday, September 10, 2007

Students who want to become more involved in the community can earn college credit for their efforts. In correlation with the Center for Service Learning, faculty and students participate in group activities that examine problems in communities.

Students then work to help solve those problems by doing a variety of tasks, going on alternative breaks or becoming a volunteer. Students can also become certified in service learning.

To become certified, students must complete four tasks. First, they must enroll in a corresponding service learning class from a variety of subjects, including history and sociology. Students must then complete a series of directed readings of articles or book chapters. Third, they must complete an independent project, which could range from taking another service learning class to being a volunteer in the community or going on an alternative break. The students must then submit a reflection piece that explains what they learned about the problems in the community and how those findings might apply to other community problems.

Students who are looking for ways to become more involved in the community and earn college credit at the same time can do so with the help of the University.

At the Center for Service Learning, students participate in group activities that examine various problems in communities. Students work to help solve those problems by doing a variety of tasks, including going on alternative breaks or becoming a volunteer. Students can also become certified in service learning.

To become certified, students must enroll in a corresponding service learning class, complete a series of directed readings, complete an independent project and submit a reflection that explains what they learned.

Danielle Strauber, Centennial, Colo., senior, is certified in service learning. She has done volunteer work for the Humane Society and United Way. Strauber went to the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind in Spartanburg, S.C., and worked one-on-one with children, helping them learn Braille.

“It was really great,” she said.

T.J. Trum, Stillwell senior, is also certified in service learning. A double major in political science and psychology, Trum became interested in the program following his internship in Washington D.C. Strum later incorporated some of the things he learned back home. In Stillwell, he worked in a therapeutic writing center and helped teach religious studies.

“I think that’s when the most learning occurs, when people interact,” Trum said.

Trum said that one benefit of being certified was that he learned from the experiences of others.

“I can take the messages that they learned and taught me, and then apply that to my own work, and I hope I can do the same for them,” he said. “It’s like the old ethic: You can take what you learn and apply it in all fields.”

Ryan Casey works at the CSL and is a volunteer in the AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America, or VISTA, program. VISTA is a one-year commitment where members work to address community needs, like improving health care services and creating new businesses.

Casey, a native of North Attleboro, Mass., is in his third week in the program. Prior to joining AmeriCorps, he worked as a research associate for a health care investment bank in Boston.

“While I greatly enjoyed my time there, I wanted to live and serve outside of the Northeast for a while.” He said.

Casey said this year’s goal was to have 200 students certified in service learning, which would be 50 more than last year.

“Students not only gain an enhanced appreciation for their course material and civic involvement, they also gain a valuable addition to their transcript, useful during the all-important first job interview and/or graduate school application,” Casey said.

For more information, go to www.servicelearning.ku.edu/.

— Edited by Kaitlyn Syring

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