Service-learning shapes student experiences

Just weeks into her first semester, Christine Schaad, ’09, called her mother and told her she was driving a Loyola van downtown. She was on her way to volunteer as an English as a Second Language teacher for the service-learning component of her Spanish 201 class.

“I think my mom was a little bit worried,” Schaad said. But the experience inspired Schaad to integrate service-learning into her Loyola career. “That was my first entry point into the Latino community in Baltimore. Seeing the new faces helped me realize the complexity and the diversity of the people.”

A double major in political science and Spanish, Schaad has embraced service-learning opportunities through courses in Spanish, Travel Literature, and Apartheid and Its Demise in South Africa. “A lot of people have heard of service-learning, but they don’t think it’s so easy to do,” said the Medford, N.J., resident.

At Loyola, professors work with the Center for Community Service and Justice (CCSJ) to develop service-learning courses, with approximately 35 classes planned for the Fall 2009 semester. The courses typically offer the service-learning component as an option rather than a requirement, as students perform at least 20 hours of service with a community partner while engaging in structured reflection about their experience.

“It’s an opportunity for students to learn experientially. They get involved in their community, learn about Baltimore and civic engagement and what it means to be involved in the community in which you live,” said Megan Linz Dickinson, ’01, assistant director of service-learning for the CCSJ. “They learn skills that are transferrable—and they also learn a lot about themselves. They may be in an environment they’ve never been in before. They get a chance to see where they come from, what values and beliefs they hold, and look at them in relation to other experiences.”

Service-learning has an established history at Loyola, where courses with a service component have been offered for at least 15 years. More recently, the university has developed criteria for classes to be designated service-learning courses.

Students may want to consider service-learning courses early in their Loyola career. By enrolling in a service-learning class during their freshman or sophomore year, business majors, for example, can fulfill their experiential learning requirement.

Although some courses lend themselves to service for community partners more easily than others, many courses are adaptable to service-learning, Dickinson said.
Initially Elizabeth Schmidt, Ph.D., professor of history, wasn’t sure Baltimore offered an appropriate community partner for students of her African history courses. Then she started Googling “African refugees Baltimore” and discovered a number of organizations in the city.

Schmidt selected Baltimore City Community College’s Refugee Youth Project, where she offers students the option of writing a paper or spending two hours a week tutoring children who are African refugees. About one-third of each class chooses the service-learning option.

“I don’t want people to do it unless they really want to do it. I want people to be committed because it’s a lot of work,” Schmidt said.

Many of her students say they registered for the course because of the service-learning, while other students tell her they are unable to commit to the service because of other commitments, such as jobs or athletics. Schmidt assures them that service-learning is an option, not a requirement, and that they can write a paper instead. “Quite frankly, service-learning takes a lot more time than writing a paper,” she said.

Schmidt has discovered, however, that the students involved in the service-learning tend to be more engaged. In their weekly reflections, students not only describe their service experiences, but also incorporate the ideas they’re learning in class.

Her students tend to be struck by how multilingual the children are, coming from areas where multiple African languages are spoken and quickly becoming translators for their parents in the United States. “They may go in thinking, ‘I’m going to go help these poor people,’” and come out thinking, ‘Oh! These people are pretty impressive!’” Schmidt said. “It makes African history that much more real to them.”

Even students who don’t participate in service-learning benefit from the experience through discussions with classmates who are volunteering.

“The hope is that even if it’s just a little bit, they’re hearing the excitement in the students’ voices and they’re hearing the stories,” Schmidt said. “Even for me, in terms of teaching, it has given me a shot in the arm. I feel like I’m doing something new, and I’ve really felt rewarded.”

Through Loyola’s motor pool, students can borrow vehicles to drive to the service sites. For students’ safety, each community partner must meet certain criteria—including being within a set proximity to campus—and Loyola staff members perform site visits.

As a student in Schmidt’s Apartheid class, Schaad is tutoring African refugees. “I was taking a class about indigenous texts. They’re obviously really old and kind of far removed,” she said. “When my refugee friends started speaking Swahili or even French, I was definitely challenged in new ways. That contact helps me to grow.”

Last year she spent a semester abroad in El Salvador at Casa de la Solidaridad, a service-learning program, and she is an enthusiastic advocate of service-learning.

“I would absolutely recommend it because I think it’s a way to get the true Jesuit mission,” Schaad said. “Sometimes if you’re having trouble relating to a text or a concept, it can be a great way to make the subject come alive and get to know Baltimore too.”