Learn, Lead, Serve: Service-Learning in the United States

In the U.S.A., education oftentimes extends beyond books and teachers to include experiences outside the classroom.

Service-learning is a hands-on volunteer learning experience which may incorporate academic study and is almost always rewarding and educational. Students apply their knowledge to improve the lives of others in their community, elsewhere in the U.S.A. or in the rest of the world. Students may receive academic credit for their service, depending on the program.

Service-learning is similar to an internship. A service-learning experience offers an added benefit of giving back to a community and helping others. Students lead others in using skills they learned in the classroom, making the experience even more educational than a typical internship where you might only be observing others.

For international students, service-learning programs uncover other subcultures of America that you do not always easily encounter within a university setting or in the corporate world. You might interact with people living in poverty or talk with members of communities struggling for their civil rights. Service-learning will transform the abstract concepts you have learned in class into reality. You will acquire values and skills that will help you when you return to your country and confront such challenges as poverty, pollution, climate change and habitat destruction.

“People are very much the same wherever you go, no matter what circumstances they had to overcome or what environment they live in. Service-learning makes you realize that you have the power to make a difference,” said Tiro Daenuwy, a Marquette University student from Indonesia who hopes to bring his skills home and use them to improve living conditions.

A history of service

The United States is an ideal place to practice service learning because of the country’s history of service and volunteerism, the growing number of universities integrating service into the curriculum, and our diverse demographics . The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse estimates that almost two million students participate in service-learning at four-year universities. Almost half of all community colleges offer service-learning courses.

Diverse demographics

At Marquette University in Wisconsin, service-learning programs are coordinated through the Center for Community Service, and overseas programs are organized by University Ministry and the Office of International Education. Each year Marquette students perform over 100,000 hours of service to the Milwaukee community, while Marquette engineering, nursing, and dentistry students routinely participate in international service learning programs as part of their studies. Anna Villanueva, a Nursing and Psychology student who helps prepare and serve meals for the homeless in Milwaukee, said her experience has increased her knowledge of both academic fields as well as her problem solving skills.

Each semester, a group of teachers and administrators at the University of Florida’s English Language Institute nominate an academically outstanding student who has demonstrated leadership in community building or promoting international understanding and peace. The student, who usually has also volunteered in the local Gainesville community, receives a full tuition scholarship for one semester. Since the scholarship was established, 15 students from 12 countries have won.

Community service

At the University of California Irvine, Extension, upper level students in the Intensive ESL program are offered a Service Learning elective class, in which they are required to perform 20 hours of service during the quarter. Students taking this class often remark that this was on of the best experiences of their lives, both for improving their English and for expanding their life experiences. One of the projects that students often choose involves assisting at a local retirement home, where students engage in many activities, including chatting, playing chess, and singing with elderly residents who restricted to bed or wheelchairs. The seniors love this chance to have contact with young, international students. In another project, students help out at the campus child care center. Students read to the children and play games with them. The children adore this time with their international “friends.” Additional service opportunities have included cleaning up the local beach with local university students, serving food at a homeless shelter, and many others.

Creighton University in Nebraska sponsors autumn and spring service-learning trips to other areas of the U.S.A. Silvia Rodriguez, from the Dominican Republic, recently joined other Creighton students to help out at a convent in a nearby state and learn about the pro-environmental lifestyle practiced by the nuns. They planted organic vegetables, cared for an alpaca herd (whose fleece the nuns use to knit scarves, gloves and hats), and interacted with the elderly nuns.  Very impressed with what they learned about growing organic produce and composting, buying local and seasonal produce, recycling, etc., the students have resolved to improve environmental awareness on the Creighton campus.  Silvia said, "This was a wonderful experience.  Now I'm even more interested in the environment.  I want to start recycling, and I want to influence others to do the same."  Silvia is considering a Creighton summer volunteer program to the Dominican Republic, so that she can help her country.

On previous trips, Creighton students traveled to Louisiana to rebuild houses for people who suffered losses during Hurricane Katrina and are still living in temporary trailers. They learned firsthand about relief efforts for victims of natural disasters.

At Creighton, each residence hall is assigned a partner organization helping less fortunate people in the city of Omaha. For instance, several international students from one dormitory regularly participate in a program to tutor immigrant Sudanese children at a nearby low income apartment complex. The Creighton students play with the younger children and make them feel welcome in the community. Another residence hall is "partnered" with a women's shelter, where the students deliver slightly used clothing and toys. Creighton students also learn to help each other adjust to campus life. Upper classmen and graduate students attend a series of meetings and lectures entitled "Who am I becoming, for others, for the world?" focusing on helping students to decide how they will use their gifts and talents to benefit themselves and others after they graduate and start their careers.

Palolo "Pipeline" in Hawaii

Chaminade University of Honolulu students help provide a "pipeline" for disadvantaged youth in the community, helping the young people continue their education all the way from preschool to university. In the Palolo neighborhood, where almost all live below poverty level, faculty, staff, students and even the University President provide tutoring for over 100 young people every day. Chaminade students also tutor their young neighbors in the summer and during Spring Break. They have improved the children's math & reading achievement through fun science/environmental projects.

At holiday time the university brings Palolo families to campus for Christmas celebrations and to introduce them to college life.

Chaminade also sponsors an afterschool program teaching tech skills to the Palolo young people. In one program, Economics majors teach budgeting and finance using the board game Monopoly.

School athletics are the “hook” that attracts some children. The Chaminade soccer team visits Palolo primary school to give the children academic tutoring - and then they all play soccer.

Many international students take part in service-learning. Sometimes international students are matched with needy young or elderly people from their own countries of origin.

Service-learning is not required at Chaminade but is strongly encouraged. It helps bring cultural awareness and understanding of diversity to students' university experience. It gives them a sense of what life is like in local communities, outside of the sheltered arena of the campus.

To learn more about service learning in the United States, visit www.servicelearning.org or www.ipsl.org.

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