Building Effective Service Learning Programs in Local Communities

It is also a “boundary spanning” activity in that it requires active involvement from people both within and outside of the classroom context, often resulting in participant contributors who represent a variety of generations, ethnicities, social groups, and experience levels (Billig and Furco, 2002, p.vii). Service-learning is designed to reduce the boundaries between an institutional campus environment and the community around it. It is designed to connect learning to real experience through service and reflection (Ball and Schilling, 2006; Becker, 2000). As a baseline to facilitate this development, service-learning is distinct from other types of community service and civic engagement experiences in that the service-learning experience must not only have a service and reflective component but also be clearly tied to the curriculum through learning objectives and theoretical underpinnings (Bloomquist, 2015; Pritchard, 2001). As Barbara Holland, former Director of the U.S. National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, shared, “Service-learning is all in the hyphen. It is the enrichment of specific learning goals through structured community service opportunities that respond to community-identified needs and opportunities.” (Kenworthy-U’Ren, Taylor, and Petri, 2006: 121).

The benefit of service learning for the student and community is again a better inform civic minded individual who may use his experience from service learning as a launching pad for career opportunities to better serve within that community. In an article published in the College Student Journal its author noted that with service learning “students gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility" (Strange,

Service Learning is learning through experience to gain sociological observation, concepts, and theories so I decide to do my service learning hours in one of the two high schools that is part of the Oceanside Unified School District. The name of the school is called El Camino High School. El Camino High School is a high school that is located at 400 Rancho Del Oro Drive in Oceanside, California. It has over 3,000 students currently attending. The school’s mascot is the “Wildcat” and their colors are gold and red. El Camino High School is a public school that is part of a system of free public education that is maintained at a public expense for the education of students who are part of that community or district. El Camino High School is a place is a public school where students are coming out of middle school and are

Taking time to volunteer at the many nonprofit organizations, homeless shelters, advocacy centers, philanthropic fundraisers, local schools and child care facilities in the inner city is not always at the forefront of young people’s minds while navigating through their college experiences. But, with a little push from student organizations, local nonprofits and passionate individuals, volunteerism and community change can start to take a front seat and become not just an opportunity, but also a priority in the lives of young people.

Encouraging students to engage in meaningful, sustained community service and get involved in causes that speak to

The mission for adolescent and adult community service is to develop compassion and the spirit of service and charity in elementary, middle and high school. With that said, community service workers provide young people and adults with hands-on volunteer opportunities to help others in their local and global communities. For instance by being a part of volunteer community service work it can solve a few problems such as: health care, child care, literacy training, education (including tutorial services), welfare, social services, transportation, housing and neighborhood improvement, public safety, crime

“Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities” (Learn and Serve America National Service-Learning Clearinghouse). This assignment gave students the opportunity to go outside of their comfort zone, which is typically the classroom and see what the “real world” is like. As Gandhi would say “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others” (Gandhi). I believe that this project really allowed us to appreciate what we have because many people are not as fortunate. During this service learning project I had certain expectations going into the project, but in the end, my results were not exactly as I expected.

College students need a practical environment to apply theories they learn in classes to real life experiences. Service-learning courses that have increased dramatically, as Kathy O’Byrne, the director of the UCLA Center for Community Learning said, created this engaging opportunity for the UCLA students. Cited in their website, “the Center supports courses and programs that stress the importance of global citizenship, diversity, leadership and social justice” (uei.ucla.edu). Based on my experiences in Santa Monica Boys and Girls Club (SMBGC), service learning is a valuable and fruitful commitment that provides benefits to each party that gets involved within the site. More precisely,

Discussing about volunteering to teenagers should be the first step for a better life, since teenagers are the future of tomorrow and they will leave a mark from yesterday. Volunteering has been such an important matter, that schools in many countries around the world established that 12th grade students will need certain hours of community service in order to graduate. But the frequent answers all the schools are getting are “Why do I need to volunteer? I have better things to do!” What people are forgetting is that each one of them is part of a community, a community that is not perfect and that the government sometimes forgets about their problems or needs, because obviously the government needs to take care of other things that require more attention. People are not only helping others, they are also helping themselves (Volunteering).

According to Kathleen Flecky and Lynn Gitlow, service-learning is defined as, “learning that occurs in experiences, reflection, and civic engagement” (Flecky & Gitlow, 2011). In recent years more universities are implementing service learning into their curriculum. A key concept of service learning is civic responsibility. Civic responsibility can simply be defined as your responsibilities as a citizen. As will be shown later in this paper, service learning can have many benefits not only to a student, but also to the community members

Service learning programs are designed to increase the number of leaders in a community as well as community leadership as a whole. These programs contribute to building leaders in the area. This occurs through developing their leadership skills and knowledge to be effective leaders in the community. Service learning provides youth with the opportunity to practice and enhance their leadership skills by reflecting on their experience. Youth involved in service learning programs report a variety of benefits. These include an enhanced self-esteem, clarification of values, social and personal development, civic responsibility, and enhanced academic performance. Although we are able to understand how youth benefit from service learning programs,

In the case study of American Association of Community Colleges, a student commented, “With group projects, most of the time you have to worry about getting people together. But service learning I think the students are more apt to be excited about it and actually want to forth the effort to reach the common goal” (Prentice 8). By implementing what we learn from service learning activities we will be able to communicate clearly with the experiences we gain with working with others on a shared goal. An improvement would incur in different areas such as social, cooperation and communication skills. We can apply these skills in another group project, by giving feedback to group members. We will also establish relationships with our groups, which

Volunteerism enables students to gain the moral lesson that is vital to their life and develop their future interest. According to source 2, “community service teaches us through experience - about the relationship between empathy and responsibility, about what it takes to be part of a community, in essence, about human being”. While students are helping their community, they learn the crucial moral lessons in the most direct and impressive way. Through an actual experience of volunteering, students are reminded that it is their responsibility to serve for their community because they are a part of it. Helping without any feedback allows them to realize the power of empathy, the essential value that makes the society a

As a teacher, I will be more civically engaged by not only continue my involvement in the community, but also by teaching my students to become more involved through service learning lessons. Service learning can be an important tool as an educator because the students can learn the academic content while also participating in a service project of their own. Service learning also helps strengthen the student’s knowledge of their assignment because they can apply their knowledge to real life situations. With service learning activities, students will also discuss people in need, and what they can do as student. They learn to think creatively and come up with new solutions to

The term ‘‘service-learning’’ means a method (A) under which students or participants learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service that (i) is conducted in and meets the needs of a community; (ii) is coordinated with an elementary school, secondary school, institution of higher education, or community service program, and with the community; and (iii) helps foster civic responsibility; and (B) that (i) is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students, or the educational components of the community service program in which the