Thursday, April 10, 2008
Having a grown man twice your age stare into your eyes and cry, trying to explain how only a year ago he lost a successful business, his wife, children and the roof over his head was just within the first two hours of my service learning experience.
I enrolled in a service learning class on accident. A speaker came to my history class speaking French and using a slinky metaphor to explain the goal of service learning. Overall, it came down to linking class material to an actual need in the community through an advanced level of volunteering. I was a little bit hesitant about what I was getting into, but the other option was to write a research paper so I decided to go with the service.
My hesitant feelings increased the first night I walked between two rows of homeless men into the Lawrence Community Shelter. I entered a crowded room with mats and people occupying them covering the dusty tile floor. After walking just a few feet past the entrance I saw people lining up for dinner, coming to and from the showers, looking for spare blankets, and organizing their possessions next to their mats. Being tossed into the chaos of people my fellow classmate and I, were immediately put to work and served dinner to about 40 people.
Now, after working there for the past two months, I value the lessons I have learned from the homeless people staying in the shelter just as much as the lectures given from any of my professors. There are actually previous KU students who are now staying in the homeless shelter. Things like that have made me ask more questions about the reasons people become homeless.
After the first night, service became more than just being an extra pair of hands. Service learning is about actually talking to the people you are handing the food to. Those people you ignore and walk by on Mass Street deserve to be acknowledged instead of looked down on.
This is an opportunity for people who learn better by actually getting hands-on experience. I decided to work in a shelter, but there were various places to choose from. To receive a certification that will be placed on your transcript, you first need to complete a service learning class and an independent project. Those are followed by some directed readings and what the Center for Service Learning calls a “reflection”, but from my understanding you pretty much just go talk about what you’ve been doing. To find out about classes you can take just search for “service learning” at the University’s homepage and go from there.
There is no excuse to shy away from taking a service learning class. As long as you know how to read and can carry on a conversation there’s no reason you shouldn’t add to your record. I’ve heard the dreaded phrase “it looks good on a resume” one two many times, yet in this case it’s true, and it’s actually worth doing. If you are one of the people who have deliberately walked past a homeless person downtown this is an experience you need to have in order to gain a perspective beyond college life.
Thornbrugh is a Lenexa sophomore in women’s studies and creative writing.
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