Northeastern University

Service-Learning Opportunities

Service-Learning is credit-bearing, educational, experiences in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflects on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility.

Integrated learning goals (for Human Services majors):

Senior Event Planning Projects

Fall 2008
Wayside Children and Family Services

The event was held on November 19th at Kitty O'Sheas bar located in Downtown Boston. Three live bands volunteered their time to play during the evening, and a giant raffle was held to help raise money. Overall almost 2500$ was raised to help Wayside. The organization plans on using the money to help build a new campus for the teen residents. There will be a plaque recognizing the class to commemorate the gift.

Spring 2008
Youth Outreach Fights Against Domestic Violence and Homelessness

This three part project included collecting personal care products and distributing them to a domestic violence shelter (Renewal House) and an outreach program for homeless youth. .

Part 1 - The group scheduled an event at a residence hall with pizza and a movie. Residents were asked to bring an item for admittance.

Part 2 - All the items were transported to Ellis Memorial, an after school program, where the children helped assemble the bags of products and then had cake and punch to celebrate their good work.

Part 3 - The bags were delivered to Renewal house and the youth program.

What are the benefits of Service-Learning?

Service-Learning courses provide the opportunity for students to reinforce and practice the concepts, and material taught in class, in addition to skills, such as accountability on independent developments and project ideas, doing research, attention to detail, collaborative skills, respect for deadlines, program planning and execution, and the ability to analyze, make sound judgments, and ask for clarification when necessary.

Julie_Miller

Reflections from Graduating Seniors – Contributed by Julie Miller, 2009

The various connections I have made with the Service-Learning (S-L) movement at Northeastern have been deeply formative of my academic and professional experiences. My roles as a student, Service-Learning Teaching Assistant (S-L TA), and community partner have enriched my understanding of service-learning, as a whole.

As a student in multiple S-L courses, my professors and S-L TAs encouraged and expected me to participate as an active citizen in my community while simultaneously integrating classroom with real-world learning. Courses I have taken with integrated S-L have sprouted rich discussions, sincere insights, and strong foundations for cross-cultural competency. Call me biased, but I believe that educators and administrators do their students a disservice by confining them to the classroom and the library and expecting them to gain a firm grasp of complex concepts. S-L has made concepts within Human Services Professions, The Sociology of Human Service Organizations, and Research and Evaluation in Human Services tangible on several levels.

I have also served on “the other side” as a community partner. I have been involved with Social Change through Peace Games for several years, serving as the Director of Outreach. Recruiting students who are taking S-L courses, meeting with professors and S-L TA’s, collaborating with site supervisors, and advising students during their stint- or long-term stay- with our organization has been a pleasure and a challenge. I have gained invaluable skills in this role working with, as Lori Gardinier would say, “many moving parts,” and can now appreciate the S-L students in an organizational context, in addition to an academic one. This year, over fifty students in S-L courses have served in four local K-8 schools, working with youth to create peaceful and safe communities locally, nationally, and around the world. This is work that cannot be done in the library or studied realistically in a book, but can absolutely can take place in a second grade classroom.

And, as for my third “hat,” as an S-L TA, it has been a pleasure and privilege to work with two very masterful professors. For two semesters, I worked with Robert Hall and his “Politics of Poverty” course, facilitating the S-L relationships of roughly thirty students per semester with fifteen to twenty community organizations. I have also been fortunate enough to work with John Wolfe’s “Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity” course as an S-L TA. I consider myself lucky to be able to interact with such tremendous professors, students, community partners, fellow S-L TA’s, and mentors within the Center of Community Service. I value the relationships that we have forged through a commitment to academic excellence and civic responsibility, and hope to carry these values with me in the future in both personal and professional contexts!