Instructor takes class into the real world for life lessons:
Student clean, organize, taste new cuisines for grade
by Brian Shults, SE News Editor

    A classroom exists outside the walls of SE Campus granting students new educational opportunities and hands-on experiences helping in their community.
    Students enrolled in Tarrant County Community as the Classroom used the second half of the semester to visit a variety of settings, including the Arlington Life Shelter and International Food Land.
    At the Arlington Life Shelter, a homeless shelter, several students cleaned and disinfected the recognizable children's toys, preparing the playthings for those children who would be staying at the shelter that night. When finished, the toys, which lined the walls, made the rooms look no different than the average American daycare center of the past 20 years.
    The goal of the field trips, or service projects, is to enable students to see the community's commonalities and appreciate its diversity, Terri Schrantz, assistant professor of sociology and psychology, said.
    "Most people are conditioned to focus on differences. It's that separation that creates disorientation ... The social collective helps to shape individual consciousness, and that individual consciousness helps to shape social reality," she said.
    A cycle of altruism could be seen through the actions of the students at the Life Shelter as well.
    Computer science major, Harry Huynh, vacuumed cookie crumbs from the toddler-room floor as he explained that 14 years ago, following his arrival in the United States from Vietnam, he and his family were in a precarious economic situation and received help from a similar organization. Huynh said he was pleased to return the favor.
    Community as a Classroom is a mongrel of sociology, psychology, informal class communication and community service.
    "Part of the goal for the class is for students to better understand themselves and their social world through direct experience. My hope is they expand their boundaries by making connections," Schrantz said.
    Natalie Robinson, business management major, said, "Knowing that not everybody has a home to come to after their shift at work is over-like I do-has made me appreciate what I have."
    Education major Fernando Galban offered his take on his first trip to the shelter.
    "It's good to know that in the community there are people actually going out and helping homeless people find jobs. It will give me an open mind when I teach elementary school. And not just toward the kids, but to the parents if they have problems in their lives," he said.
    Operating primarily from donations and government funding, the Arlington Life Shelter has a program that can last up to nine weeks and is dedicated to helping its residents find employment, Stephanie Storey, assistant executive director, said.
    In addition to the Life Shelter, students visited International Food Land, a small food market that carries foods from Mid-Eastern and European countries such as Iran, Russia, Poland, India and Pakistan.
    Having been in business for 12 years, Food Land has witnessed the community grow and its ethnic make-up altered.
    "We used to import our products directly from the countries where they came from. Now there are many wholesalers in the United States who import the food themselves, and we buy from them because of the increase in the ethnic communities," Osama Rashid, Food Land owner, said.
    Rashid, a Muslim from Jerusalem, immigrated to the United States 26 years ago.
    "I remember the Middle-Eastern population in Arlington in the mid-'70s was maybe a couple hundred, and now it must be 15 thousand, if not more," he said.
    Following the tour of the market's in-store bakery and butcher shop, the students sat down in the small dining area and ate Middle-Eastern food.
    One student related to the experience of eating the food because his daughter currently is stationed in Iraq.
    "The most interesting part is to experience something that my daughter might be experiencing over in Iraq. It's the excitement of trying something new," Anthony Bale, SE student, said.
    Business major Brian Dally ripped a slice of pita bread in half and tentatively ate a piece of spiced meat while the 24-hour Middle-Eastern news outlet Al-Jazeera flashed pictures of the Iraq war above his head.
    "I just ate something. I don't know exactly what it was, but it was good," he said.
    Schrantz explained the impetus for creating the class and exposing the students to such necessities as another culture's food.
    "I would like for the students as a group to experience and connect with an underlying humanity," she said.
    Allowing the students to be engaged outside of the campus classroom was a primary objective for Schrantz. She said the experiences have created additional dialogue between students during regular class times, establishing a vital link between the cycle of learning and community contribution.
    The spring '03 semester was the first time the college offered Community as a Classroom. Schrantz plans to teach the class every other year.
    During the spring '04 semester, however, Schrantz and her husband, Dr. Jim Schrantz, SE English professor, plan to teach a class on SE campus exploring the sociological and psychological implications of Disney animation.