Service Learning Case Study on a High School in Illinois

A Service Learning project is one of the project requirements to complete the Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree through Ferris State University (FSU). My Service Learning experience was completed at the VA Medical Center (VAMC) in November, 2014. This paper includes details of the facility along with the contact information for the coordinator of the project. A description of my role as a volunteer, critical reflection of my experience, and a synthesis of the Service Learning are also included.

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).

Service Learning is an educational strategy set in place to enlighten students with instruction and experience, in addition to improve learning , teach responsibility, and support the community. Service learning is vital to the development of the student, given that it intertwines academic and personal development together. It is aimed to enhance a student’s learning in all aspects of life.

The FFA mission statement reads “Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve”. The Columbia City FFA Chapter worked to fulfill this mission statement by embarking in a new community service project called Read to Feed with the Indiana FFA Association and Heifer International. Through this program, FFA members were provided the opportunity to impact first grade elementary students by heightening their awareness of international agricultural issues through service and literacy. The chapter partnered with first grade classes from Little Turtle and Coesse Elementary Schools. The first grade students read and recorded their reading minutes, while FFA members were out advocating the event to local businesses to gain their support

With the ever-growing population farmers have had to come up with solutions for a very common problem… hunger. Sadly roughly 21,000 die every day of hunger worldwide (globalissues.org). With these shocking statistics farmers have had to put the pedal to the medal to produce food for not just north America but the world. Yet countless people in the United States of America still hold strong opinions on how the agriculture industry is not doing as best as they can be. Yet like most of millennials in America they want to take no responsibility and educate themselves; yet want to put their two cents into every conversation and post of social media. Therefore every student that graduates must be enrolled into an agriculture class at least one time within their four year stay at high school.

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,

There are only two percent of the nation 's population that are farmers. Two percent of the people in America raise the crops and the meat for the whole country. This number needs to change in order to ensure that children and the nation’s children will be able to survive. Today’s kids do not know where their food is from which means they take farmers for granted. One personal story that can be recalled happened just recently. A student pointed to a turkey and asked “What is that? A giant rooster?” The response was “No, that is a turkey, and they come from turkey houses.” This is what brought up the thought of just how important ag education is. The ones in the field work very hard to improve the ways of life for the animals and plants they grow so that the people of America can eat. A recent study showed that U.S. cattle ranchers raise just

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

Since the farming community has diminished significantly, it is paramount for the participants to learn these lessons. The garden project provides classes on eating healthy, teamwork and proper agricultural skills. The United States is flooded with fast, over processed food. Having this food so readily available has caused people to forget about putting the time and effort into gardening. It is essential that the future adults of the United States learn the importance of being healthy. Although Sprouting Hope may be a small organization, it has managed to expand its garden twice and now has dozens of produce

I found Kathleen Cahill’s presentation on service learning to be very interesting. I have always been aware of how important it is to do service for your community. In high school, I had to complete 100 hours of service over the four-year span. This increased my awareness of the importance of service, and showed me a variety of organizations the exist in Erie, PA. However, I was never aware of the high level of poverty that exists in Erie until I saw Kathleen Cahill’s presentation. I was shocked to learn that the number of those living in poverty in the City of Erie, is around 30%. This statistic made me realize even more the importance of service, especially in the Erie community.

Agriculture does not just promote our community, it is our community. Where would you be without agriculture? You could say you would be naked and hungry, agriculture is everything. It’s the air we breathe, the food in our stomachs, the clothes on our backs, and the warmth in our homes. These aspects are brought to you by the hard work of the farmers and other agriculturists of our community. The Albion Fair gives a great example of agriculture. To the little girl who has

After some research and deliberation, I chose Habitat for Humanity (HFH, 2016) for my service project. There were several reasons that Habitat for Humanity appealed to me. The first reason is that I consider HFH to be a worthy cause is that I appreciate that it’s for a lower income family that would not otherwise be able to afford a home. The facts that the beneficiaries are expected to help build their home or other HFH homes with sweat equity, they’ll pay a mortgage, combined with the way it’s set up so they won’t be able to just sell as a short term flip, gives me the impression that it’s not a freebie entitlement program, but a program that promotes responsibility with some life changing results.

Public events are needed to show the fun aspects of farming and to kindle an initial interest in farming. Nevertheless, loving agriculture is a gradual process. For example, it begins when the seed is planted in the head of a young 4-H member giving a talk on sweet corn that he or she grew. As the crowd watches the child, it is evident that he or she is proud of being able to provide food for family as well as feel valuable. This can lead the child to aspire to raise crops and continue satisfying an inner hunger of serving

And so it is for Steve Rock. Without his yeoman’s efforts on behalf of the Variety Club Camp and Development Center, the children with disabilities that it has served for years would have missed many new learning experiences. For example, there would be no opportunity for the children of the Greater Phoenixville Area who attend the camp’s programs to learn and grow from the thriving, organically driven “vegetable producing machine” that Steve has created. There would be no opportunity for the children to learn how to plant, tend, and harvest food from the garden. There would be no opportunity for the children to learn about the benefits of greenhouse gardening. There would be no opportunity for children to learn how an aquaponics system that uses tilapia can enhance fertilization. They would not have an opportunity to learn about the health benefits of growing vegetables in a pesticide-free environment. And they would not be learning about nutrition, the science of agriculture and so many other experiences in the world of gardening and agriculture. In short, none of this would exist at the camp 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