Student volunteers lend a helping hand while earning course credit.By: Kurt Oberreither
– Staff Writer –
For 13 years, the service learning program has provided students with opportunities to give back to the community, both locally and nationally.
Service learning at STLCCMeramec was established by Donna Halsband, coordinator of service learning at Meramec, as a small project and has grown over the years into an award-winning program. It emphasizes class projects and interdisciplinary collaboration.
“It is important to understand the distinction between community service and service learning,” said Linda Krull, service learning office manager. “Community service is just volunteering while service learning offers the applied educational aspect as well as the opportunity to give back.”
While it is not required that the students complete service learning projects, professors may choose to require so many hours or offer incentives for participation. “In the classroom we try to match up our instructors with community partners whereby they can do community service in conjunction with what they’re learning,” Krull said.
Service learning also brings together different departments throughout the campus for events like the Hunger Awareness food drive and Cancer Awareness Day. Krull said other schools within STLCC like Forest Park have service learning, but none of them are as extensive as Meramec’s, and it is because of Halsband’s dedication that the program has developed into what it is today.
Service Learning has also extended beyond the classroom.
“It’s a great team builder, and it’s also a way to give back,” Krull said.
Marina Allen, vice president of service for Phi Theta Kappa, has participated in numerous service learning projects through classes and said it gives a broader picture of your surroundings. “Each person giving a little bit of time, the combined effort of that, is phenomenal,” Allen said.
Krull said she has witnessed friendships spark through service learning as well.
Allen and Trevor Martin, another student active in the program, developed a lasting friendship while on a service learning trip to New Orleans to gut houses destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. “You share this experience and you become friends in a week with people you’ve never met before,” Allen said.
Meramec is the only community college in the state to be recognized in the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll and has met the criteria for the past two years. Service learning hopes to do the same this year, Krull said.
Allen and Martin both said service learning has made their college experience more engaging. “Once you get involved with doing some kind of service learning, you get to contribute, and it just makes you feel good that you’re giving back,” Allen said.
