RELATED LINKS
Alternative Spring Break
Community Service Opportunities
Dowling Mentor Program
M3C Fellows Program
Mission and Vision
Resources for Faculty and Staff
Resources for Students
Service-Learning and Community Service Form
Upcoming Events
What is Service Learning
CONTACT
Amanda Espenschied-Reilly
E-mail: espensal@muc.edu
Phone: (330) 829-8168
Fax: (330) 829-8104
Welcome to Service-Learning and Community Service at Mount Union College!
The Office of Service-Learning and Community Service welcomes you to our website! We hope you will take a few moments to enjoy all the information contained in these pages about Service-Learning and Community Service at Mount Union College.
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. More specifically, service-learning combines service objectives with learning objectives with the intent that the activity changes both the recipient and the provider of the service. This is accomplished by combining service tasks with structured opportunities that link the task to self-reflection, self-discovery, and the acquisition and comprehension of values, skills, and knowledge content (Learn and Serve America, 2007). It differs from traditional community service because the benefits are reciprocal rather than simply focused on the recipient. The student learns by applying classroom knowledge in a way that benefits the recipient of service and fulfils a community need. Some examples of service-learning projects at Mount Union are:
- Students travel to El Salvador, live in rural villages and help residents build latrines in order to learn about social responsibility and global consciousness.
- Students help at the YMCA afterschool program in order to learn about class structure, culture and race issues.
- Students teach French language and culture to students needing enrichment at Rockhill Elementary in order to gain experience in teaching language to elementary age students.
- Students travel to Clinton, Maryland to work at Poplar Hill on His Lordships’s Kindness, a historical plantation, in order to learn about slavery.
Our office also helps students and student organizations find community service opportunities locally and sponsors several community service events.
Annual Service Events at Mount Union College
- National Neighborhood Day
- Community Service Fair
- Make a Difference Week
- Fair Trade Holiday Market
- Martin Luther King Day of Service
- Alternative Spring Break
- Trick or Treat for Canned Goods
- Moving Out Clothing and Food Drive