Ceremony to recognize service learning

by Diana De Leon

managing editor

   The service-learning program on NE Campus will recognize volunteers at a ceremony Tuesday, April 13, in the NSTU Center Corner at 7 p.m.
   Students, faculty and agencies will be recognized for work through April in the classroom and community.
   “ They are having a positive impact,” Lori Fowler, associate professor of sociology, said about her students.
   Fowler’s class has worked on different projects, from a backpack drive to a collection of baby items for donations.
   The service-learning program encourages students to volunteer in the community, and students can earn points in class for participating in projects.
   The Alliance For Children is one of many agencies with which TCC students volunteer. The agency works with law enforcement to interview children to determine if there has been abuse.
   “ It was really informative and interesting,” Esmeralda Martinez, a student in Fowler’s class, said. “It makes me feel helpless because there’s not much you can do.”
   Martinez described the experience as hard because of the statistics involved and explained this volunteer area as different from volunteering elsewhere because she learned more about the problem.
   “ I can’t believe that people would do this to their own children,” she said.
   Fowler’s class will put a ribbon on 10,000 cards and distribute them to bring attention to child abuse.
   “ I’m depending on them for the Blue Ribbon Campaign,” Tammy Alvarado, center coordinator for the Alliance For Children, said.
   The trip to the Alliance was hard on some students, Fowler said, because of the serious nature of abuse.
   “ It’s one thing when you talk about it in class; it’s another when you see it,” she said.
   Students have donated toys and baby items as part of their project and must also write about their experience.
   “ They are extremely helpful and very important,” Alvarado said about TCC service-learning students. “They help clients directly in a lot of ways.”
   Service learning students also have volunteered to help present a program called Personal Safety.
   The participants will visit local schools and teach children how to handle a bully and how to recognize child abuse, as well as other safety issues.
   The Focus Program, which consists of Cornerstone students, also is involved in service learning.
   NE students are tutoring and mentoring students at Smithfield Middle School in North Richland Hills.
   “ These students recognize that it’s a good thing to do,” Dr. Murray Fortner, professor of English, said.
   Although these student’s service-learning experience is different from those in Fowler’s class, all the students are said to be making a difference in the community.
   The ceremony will present a certificate to each student who participated in the service-learning program.
   Displays of students’ work will be available for viewing at the ceremony.