Service Learning Projects: Life Changing For Students

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.

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,

If I am a Service Learning project coordinator, I would pick taking care of elderly. When people willing to invest a lot of time in taking care of elderly, they receive unimaginable knowledge in return. For college students who participate, this project will help them developing patience, seeing things differently, and learning another's perspective. When I was taking care of my grandma, she taught me principles that I couldn't learn it myself. Because they lived longer and experienced things we never experience which take their whole life to learn, and saved me many time to learn so. The purpose of Service Learning is to combine learning with community service activities that get students involved and applying the experiences to their academic.

The meaning this service learning project provided me with was how important it is for us, the Hamline University, to build a meaningful relationship with Hamline Elementary. This was invoked because of the impact the students seemed to have due to us being there and working with them. The students were excited for a communal learning experience, and I think that is going to help encourage them to pursue a college career. Because I work at Hamline Elementary and have been doing so for the past 2 years, I have made strong connections with the students and faculty and think highly of them all. The experience was very similar to what I do at Hamline Elementary on a daily basis. Given this, I had a feeling that the content may have been a bit of

Recap your service-learning project. What do you do? When or for how long? Where? With what issue did your service-learning project connect? Did you work with others in any way? How? In other words, give full, specific details about your amazing work!

My service learning experience with the non-profit organization, Off the Front has contributed to my professional development and prepared me more for the business would by enhancing my leadership and communication skills. At every bike repair location, I enhanced my leadership skills by leading other volunteers on what they should work on depending on their level of skills on bike repairs and if they wanted to learn something new, and I knew how to do a repair on the bike, I would gladly teach them. It also enhanced my communication skills by knowing how to communicate to other volunteers and that each individual may require a different communication style and leadership style. It also helped me improve my writing and analysis skills. My writing skills has enhanced by being able to write my service learning marketing plan with my group and making smooth transitions since we got different part. Using my analysis skills to evaluate four years of Off the Front financials through Forms 990 and created balance sheets for years 2013-2016 and broke down the salaries amount by each staff.

In her article entitled " Using service learning to teach classic learning theories ", Sheafer (2014) tells us about a research project of a psychology course at the LeTourneau University which required 19 enrolled students to participate in service learning assignment. Service learning is an educational approach that contributes to the learning of students through involving them in providing an organized voluntary services to the community. The project aims at letting students see empirically verified service learning concepts and related learning theories in actions and reflect on their experience with applying them to real life situations. The project included a three-hour community service followed by a survey of services provided as well

My service learning project is about helping my community by volunteering at my local pumpkin patch with my nana. My nana asked one day if I could help with something and I said okay and come to find out I was helping at the pumpkin patch. I started Volunteering when I was 16 and I helped by driving the train around for the kids to ride in, put the pumpkins where they needed to go, and be a cashier. I absolutely love helping out there because I got to meet new people and see the faces of little kids smile every time they saw a pumpkin. What I learned from working there was how to be a cashier which I have never done before and also learn how to be more involved with my community by meeting new people. I feel so happy and grateful knowing that

Service learning is defined as the student’s involvement in community service activities and applies the experiment to personal, professional, and academic development. The main objectives of service learning are related to community needs that planned in support with community partners and service recipients. Service-learning engages students in a three-part process: learning process according to classroom context, services activity according to classroom context, and reflection relate to service experience to specific learning goals. Service learning allows students to develop skills of team working, communication, and responsibility.

Service learning is a way of combining learning objectives with community service to enhance their skills throughout an organization or community. However, I admired myself as I took on the position in the registration office as a student worker. Many would say filing papers, running errands, and assisting others is a basic job for a young man, but honestly, it was the one of the best experiences I have ever had. As the days traveled along, I never knew what to expect next or what I might learn. Perhaps having an adventurous mind and harmonious heart, growing out of the comfort zone was manifest. Working in the registration office was a way to accomplish great opportunities, seek learning experiences, and improve academic skills.

On October 20, 2015, I went to the Wood County Park District to do tree inventory as my service learning field trip. During the service-learning trip, I was sent to a certain spot in the park to count and identify the different kinds of trees in the forest. I was handed a tree identification key and with my group we had to figure out if the trees were under the coniferous tree key or the deciduous tree key. In my group, I helped identify the types of leaves, bark, and the place where it was growing.

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

Additionally, it encourages student’s growth, the common good, and for the greater good of one’s self and others. Service learning requires intelligence to solve existing issues within our community. Meanwhile, service learning present students with the opportunity to be actively involved in their learning experience and keeps students aware of problematic concerns on a daily. Because of this advantage, service learning students get to practice social concerns and issues prior to the work force. As a young mother of two boys, I believe knowledge is power and it can change the thinking process and as a result change the ways or actions of being, it did for me. Lastly, service learning deepens the understanding of the complex issues surrounding our society and to do this the students must attain

Service-learning is a new phenomenon that many colleges, communities, and organizations are becoming deeply involved with. With this being so new there are many definitions and perceptions about service-learning. With multiple perspectives on this community-building program there is one outcome; students gain insightful experience into the workforce in building their communities up. Often this is also referred to as experiential learning. By coupling classroom instruction to the real world experiences the students gains a much better viewing point than ever before. This provides a pathway to success for the student in the community. Service-learning has helped and will continue to help students find the work that they like to build a future for themselves. This

A very popular Beetles song states “All you need you need is love (Edwards, 2014).” This author contends that showing care and kindness to each other through giving back to our local communities and neighbors around the globe is what we really need for society. “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, 2017).” This paper will discuss this author’s experience with service learning projects, her final nursing school service learning project, and what the service learning project taught the author about