Campus Compact » Program Models Alternative Spring Break Service Projects

The Caribbean Service Learning Program

tdomf_26a6d — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Students and faculty spend two weeks during the winter break working within the schools on a small Caribbean island. During the subsequent semester, students enroll in a 3-credit course led by the program faculty that provides structured reflection related to the students’ Caribbean service experiences.

Contact: Lynn E. Pelco, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Education

UC Berkeley’s Alternative Breaks Program

tdomf_26a6d — Fri, 05 Sep 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Alternative Breaks take teams of students to do community service and hands-on learning. Students participate in short-term projects during their winter break, spring break, or on a weekend. Housed at the Cal Corps Public Service Center, the campus Alternative Breaks program is student-led, with student leaders choosing the break leaders, designing break curriculum and service projects, and with fundraising efforts led by students. Unique to the campus program, each break leader teaches an integrated service-learning course as part of the break to prepare break participants for their experience and egage in effective reflection activities.

Cal Corps Public Service Center website: http://publicservice.berkeley.edu

“”Navajo of the Southwest”" course: students use art in ways that enrich the community and increase understanding

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Throughout the year, students are provided with opportunities to utilize their talents in ways that enrich the community as well as increase their understanding of what the community has to offer. Imagination, creativity, and vision in the civic arena are all nurtured through a variety of programs integrated into the curriculum through service learning, as well as through co-curricular programs. Faculty members interest in service learning has increased greatly over the past few years, and participation in communityARTworks during Orientation stimulates that interest both for faculty and students. Service learning has been utilized in a range of disciplines.

This past semester, a course, called “”Navajo of the Southwest,”" was jointly developed by a professor of Anthropology and the Associate Dean of Students. Students studied the art and culture of the Navajo, as well as the history and the current social, political and economic issues. As a part of the curriculum, the class traveled to New Mexico for an Alternative Spring Break, working with Navajo children on the reservation to create a collaborative mural. Before leaving for New Mexico, students also learned about issues of diversity and culture while engaged in service, basic group process theory, and tools for successful collaboration. Over seventy students applied for the fifteen spaces available in this class, which was an overwhelming success. Through relationships developed with Navajo while in New Mexico, students became aware of the issues surrounding uranium mining on the reservation, and continue to be activists in working to gain compensation for Navajo who contracted cancer as a result of their work in the mines.

Website: http://www.massart.edu/at_massart/ (“”Community Service-Learning”" is in the left sidebar)

Gustavus Aldophus Alternative Spring Break

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instead of heading to the beaches, hundreds of Gustavus Adolphus College students will once again engage in service to others during Spring Break. About 50 students will go on a mission trip to Costa Rica, more than 150 students will go to one of seven US destinations for the college’s 11th annual spring break work trips, and about 20 students will go on a mission trip to Washington, DC. All of the trips are student-initiated, student-organized, and student-funded through fundraisers and donations, typically. The trips are centered primarily around Habitat for Humanity and other construction projects. The DC group will work and worship with impoverished communities.

Community Service web site: http://oncampus.gustavus.edu/oncampus/communityservice/

A very active Center for Service Learning (CSL)

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Center for Service Learning (CSL) of Keystone College is actively involved in promoting civic responsibility throughout the campus community.

Service Learning Initiatives
First, the CSL assists with and expands upon the College s existing service learning initiatives. Currently, every Keystone student must take IDS 101: College Seminar, which is a three-credit course designed to acclimate new students to college studies and life. A key component of this course is a major-related service learning project. The CSL is responsible for providing expert service learning support for the approximately twenty-two sections of the course each year. The CSL also provides assistance and training to other faculty members interested in incorporating service learning into their courses. Examples of such service learning projects include: Human Services majors hosting the on-campus display of the Names Project AIDS Quilt, Physical Therapist Assistant majors volunteering at the Riverside Rumble International Wheelchair Classic, Sports and Recreation Management majors running programs at a local nursing home, Economics and Business majors working with low-income families, and Liberal Studies/Education majors mentoring/tutoring disadvantaged students through Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

Campus-Wide Service Activities
Second, the CSL also directly develops and administers volunteer service projects in which the entire campus community can participate. Such projects during the current academic year include: Special Olympics Softball Game, March of Dimes Blue Jeans for Babies, Millennium Tree of Giving, Junior Achievement Shadow Day, National Volunteer Week Activities, and the American Heart Association Heart Sale. The CSL also runs an Alternative Spring Break Trip to Washington, DC. This trip first exposes the students to issues of homelessness, poverty, and justice through service work at after-school programs and soup kitchens. It then empowers the students to address these issues through discussions with members of Congress.

Volunteer Coordination
Third, the CSL encourages civic responsibility by acting as the volunteer coordinator for the College. The CSL is constantly being contacted for assistance by local community agencies and organizations, particularly by those who address low-income and literacy issues. The CSL then attempts to meet these needs by finding volunteers from the campus community. Whenever possible, the CSL provides the volunteers with transportation and training. In this capacity, the CSL also assists the campus clubs with their service project requirements. Volunteers have recently been provided for such community partners as the Friends of the Poor Thanksgiving Dinner, NEPA Community Reading Day, Christy Mathewson Park Project, Jaycees Children s Christmas Parade, United Way Day of Caring, Friendship House Children s Fair, Scranton Tomorrow Heritage Week, Lupus Foundation Family Walk/Run, District Attorney s DWI Program, and Tyler Hospital Grounds Clean-Up.

Providing leadership and citizenship development opportunities is the fourth way the CSL promotes civic responsibility. The CSL participates in the Intercollegiate Leadership Wilkes-Barre Program. Through this program, a select group of Keystone student leaders meets once a month with student leaders from other local universities to develop skills, engage in service work, interact with community leaders, and network. In addition, the CSL coordinates Keystone s participation in Pennsylvania s “”Day in the Life of Democracy,”" which includes a voter registration drive and a guest speaker. The CSL also facilitates leadership training both on campus and throughout the region and hosts conferences for local Learn and Serve grantees. Moreover, the CSL houses the only active Circle K Service Club (the collegiate affiliate of Kiwanis) in the Scranton area. Finally, the CSL hosts public lectures on civics-related topics. Recent speakers have included: Judge Richard Conaboy, former Chairperson of the Federal Sentencing Commission; Brian Reap, Member of the Scranton City Council; US Congressperson Don Sherwood; Senator Robert Mellow, PA State Senate Minority Leader; and Attorney Eric Brown, Assistant DA from NY County.

“”Service-Leadership”" course and other service learning courses

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In the past two years 27 classes with a total of 403 students engaged in service-learning activities totaling 7,229 hours of service. These classes spanned the Academic Divisions including Business, Education and Human Services, Liberal Studies, and Arts & Sciences.

An interdisciplinary course, “”Service-Leadership”", has as its goal the development and enhancement of students leadership skills through community service activities. Students become familiar with concepts, terminology and principles of servant leadership and apply them with at least 30 hours of community service projects. Representative projects included teaching non-violence and conflict resolution in an elementary school, setting up “”peace corners”" in another, tutoring programs, Habitat for Humanity, and equipping a playroom in a homeless shelter. Students also studied poverty and homelessness issues culminating in food and clothing drives. In Environmental Education Lab students develop and implement educational strategies that highlight and address environmental issues and the development of environmental stewardship.

Also, in the past year Neumann College collaborated with the Chester-Upland School District (an impoverished urban community ranking at the bottom in student academic performance of all the districts in Pennsylvania) in arranging Neumann College students to tutor through the America Reads Program. In an Accounting course, students assisted senior citizens in the preparation of tax returns through the VITA program. Another class involves learning about Native American history and culture, and includes an alternative spring break trip to New Mexico for service at a mission school serving the Acoma and Laguna pueblos. Other classes also provide students the opportunity to the work of citizenship.

Service Learning Center Website: http://www.neumann.edu/life/service_learning.asp

The Pipeline Project

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Pipeline Project recruits, trains, and places students as volunteer tutors in the schools throughout the academic school year. Orientations are held twice weekly in the Pipeline offices. Personal placement allows individuals to tailor their tutoring experience to accommodate their areas of interest.

Pipeline also offered an EDUC 401 seminar for credit each quarter entitled “”Inner Pipeline”". Students tutor in the schools 2.5-5 hours per week as well as attend a bi-weekly seminar focusing on current educational topics. Student also complete a reserach paper or project on a topic they choose. Seminar topics include general K-12 tutoring, math and science, poetry and art.

The Pipeline Project offers student the opportunity to spend their spring break in a rural community of Washington working on literacy and art projects with local schools.

Website: www.washington.edu/uwired/pipeline/