Community service plus course work equals semester credits Students learn through helping others in service-learning experiences
by Diana De Leon, reporter

    (Final in a series on service learning)

   Recently, students from a NE Campus sociology class spruced up the grounds by planting flowers and worked inside patient rooms making beds at an AIDS hospice for their service-learning experience.

   “I was scared at first. I have never been around anyone with AIDS before,” Sarah Smith, a NE student majoring in international business, said.

   “I enjoyed it; I felt like I contributed,” she said.

   Michael Rack said patients were happy to see them there.

   “It made me feel like I was doing something good,” he said. “I think it helped me to be more of a team player because we all worked together.”

   Service learning is a program that allows students to receive extra credit for volunteer work in the community. The experience should be tied to the student’s major.

   The program is on the NE and SE campuses on different levels.

   On the SE Campus, students. with staff and faculty assistance, choose the organization they wish to work with.

   On NE Campus, the service-learning experience depends on the instructor. Some instructors structure the experience and choose the organization while others allow the student to choose the organization.

   Research done by Learning In Deed, a national initiative to engage young people in service to others as part of their academic life, states that service learning fosters a lifetime commitment to civic participation and improves social skills.

   Gloria Uzegunam, nursing student on SE Campus, chose the Parenting Center in Fort Worth for her service-learning experience.

   “They were so nice,” she said. “The people you work with make it worth while.”

   Gloria felt she was helping the entire family by helping the parents. Her experience was positive, and she expressed the desire to volunteer again as a result.

   Jason Prickett, a SE student, chose Mission Arlington and thought it was a learning experience.

   “I would volunteer again,” he said. “Everyone can learn from the service-learning experience.”

   Service learning can boost academic achievement by helping students learn new skills and concepts through hands-on creative real-life learning beyond the classroom, states Learning In Deed research.

   This semester a sociology class from NE Campus visited an elementary school in Fort Worth and donated shoes and school supplies.

   A tour conducted by Lori Cornando, the parent liaison, included information about the school and the children.

   The students were told that although the school was only six years old, most of the children in it were underprivileged.

   Corporations donate school supplies and backpacks, and 89 percent of the children are on the free lunch program.

   “The only time most of these children hear English is in the classroom,” she said.

   The parents of these children do not speak English and cannot help them with their homework, Cornando said.

   After the tour, some of the students stayed to help in an English as a second language class (ESL).

   Gail Helms, ESL teacher, welcomed the students and encouraged them to read to the children from books written in English.

   Sarah Smith, a NE student, expressed her admiration for the children struggling to learn a new language.

   “Everything these children run into outside of their home is in English,” she said.

   “This is how they start out in America,” she said, “it must be hard for them.”

   Sarah thought the experience was worth the trip and wished she could stay longer.

   Reflection is a major part of the service learning experience.

   Each student involved must express his or her thoughts and feelings on the experience.

   Different mediums are allowed; for instance, written papers and oral presentations could be done.

   Instructors determine the reflection time and structure for their own classes.

   Vincent Lembo, associate professor of psychology on SE Campus requires, a written paper on the service-learning experience.

   Lori Jowell, associate professor of sociology on NE Campus, requires a journal entry and schedules class time for discussion.

   Jowell’s classes experience service learning together and reflection together.

   “It helps the students to bond,” she said; “they become buds.”

   Learning In Deed research has shown that reflection has some positive impact on the attitudes of participants concerning service.

   By examining experiences, students learn how to handle real-life problems effectively and with a higher transfer of learning.

   By reflecting on the experience, learning becomes more permanent, according to Learning in Deed reports.

   The instructors on SE and NE campuses give extra credit in their classes to service-learning students.

   This makes service learning the only program that allows students the opportunity to help in their community and earn credit in class.