Berea College Service-Learning Program

Dr. Lisa Turner taught a Community Health Nursing (NUR 448) class this semester. The students in the class connected with several different local public health sites, from dental sites to elementary health ones. Each site had different projects and demands for pairs of students in the class. The students also each created and presented research projects at a health fair hosted in alumni. Topics ranged from the importance of managing stress and mental health to reproductive health education.

Working directly with the community can also illuminate knowledge from a different perspective than those that are just in the classroom. A student said that “Working with a community partner made me see what types of barriers community members experience that prevent them from getting an optimal healthcare experience.” Another student in the class said, “I was included in conversations at my site that would affect my intended group of focus. I felt like I made an impact.”

Dr. Laura Seroka’s Organizational Communication (COM 302) class worked with the American Association for University Women this semester. Students worked in teams to design a website, build a social media page, and create unique visual media for the organization. It was a venture for the students into digital communication, which is a valuable professional experience. Heidi Stetzer, a student in the class, said “The experiences I’ve had with communicating with our community partner would be hard to replicate in a classroom, and they’ve definitely taught me a lot about what it is to communicate with an entity that’s outside of academia.”

Service-learning classes can provide students with the space to grow and learn professional skills within the safety of a classroom. Heidi continued, “It’s great to see different aspects of professional communication at that level, especially in school where a lot of the work you do is faded by rubrics that let you know exactly what you need to do. But when you’re working with a group outside an academic setting, it's a lot more fluid.” See the page created by the class here! https://www.facebook.com/BEREA-American-Association-of-University-Women-100606075750505

BEREA American Association of University Women The American Association of University Women, officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organizatio

Service-Learning classes offer unique opportunities to expand learning beyond the textbook. They allow students to experience learning outside of what can be taught in the classroom and serve their greater community at the same time. This principle has been evident in the TAD 140 class Design Prod. in Woods, taught by Dr. Gary Mahoney this fall. As one student in the class put it, “It’s different from other design classes because in those you’re not really working with anyone in practice. But in this class, we can apply what we’re learning. We’re serving a purpose, so it’s really different. Usually, we’re doing projects for ourselves or for a grade, but now it’s for someone.”


This semester these TAD students have been working with the community organization Grow Appalachia to design beehives that can be used in the region. Dr. Mahoney emphasized how working with a community partner can provide flexible and new experiences for the students. He explained, “we research and try to figure out the best we can and figure how that fits into design, and then we meet with those experts who can say ‘Oh you’re totally off on this one, or have you thought about this? And then we try to design to that.'” Check out some of the students’ designs here!

Come out to see the stars and learn from students of the Astronomy Service-Learning class these upcoming Wednesday nights at the Forestry Outreach Center!

Each summer, CELTS hosts the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Course Design Seminar for faculty interested in developing a service-learning course or revising an existing course to incorporate civic engagement or service-learning into its design. During the intensive seminar, participating faculty engage in readings and discussions with one another, meet with staff of organizations in the community, and workshop syllabi and assignments together.

By the end of the seminar, each participant has designed a project, syllabus, or series of assignments for a course that will be taught in the near future. Dr. Jianfen Wang said about the experience, “It was eye-opening to learn about the opportunities that service-learning can open for research and scholarship.” The connections built during the summer seminar continue well beyond the intensive week.

In the Fall 2020 semester, several classes at Berea College, in collaboration with CELTS and the Service-Learning program, focused on voter empowerment issues surrounding the upcoming election season. Much of the students’ work was done virtually and occurred across multiple disciplines.

Dr. Meta Mendel-Reyes taught Women and African Americans in Politics cross-listed as PSC/AFR/PSJ/WGS 202. The students worked with KFTC (Kentuckians for the Commonwealth), focusing on reaching out to unsure voters who might not have had a plan to vote otherwise. Students used the EMPOWER app to text voters to encourage them to vote. Many students focused on encouraging people in their personal circles.

Dr. Wendy Williams taught Psychology of Women and Gender listed as PSY/WGS 230. Students collaborated with VEPAC, the Voter Empowerment and Political Awareness Coalition, to boost voter engagement. Over the course of the class, students worked online and through postcards sent in the mail to reach out to help voters make plans to vote. Students also created infographics and videos to encourage people to vote. To find out more about these efforts and see some student reflections on the experience, follow this link!
https://www.berea.edu/celts/service-learning/service-learning-stories-2/

Dr. Michelle Thornton Adler took on the task of incorporating service-learning in a creative way to work around COVID-19 pandemic safety protocols during the fall 2020 semester. For her HHP 362 course, Teaching and Evaluation in Health and Physical Education, students created videos to encourage fun and engaging activity that involve physical movement. The videos were then sent to her community partner, Ashley Hammond who is the Gear Up College & Career Navigator at Berea Community Elementary School. The partnership was creative and successful, according to Ms. Hammond.
“Service-learning has allowed me to create activities and lessons that are interactive, with the "cool" college kids, and it is a wonderful way to show our young ‘pirates’ higher ed opportunities." - Ashley Hammond

2020 Aug26 HHP video#1 An introduction to the Berea College students of HHP 362 Teaching & Evaluation in Health & Physical Education, along with a brief introduction of the 7 Habit...

This Wednesday, December 4th, Service Learning will be hosting our Fall Learning through Service Expo in Alumni from 4-6pm. Come and enjoy as classes share how they learned their content while taking on a Service project.

We at Service Learning had the privilege to join the Astronomy class at their "Starlight Party". Here we learned how to identify many constellations like Hercules. This class is one of the many Service Learning courses that you too can get involved with. One of the students, Hayes Clark, shared this with us about the class:

"I think the fact that you have to do hands on work makes you learn your content more deeply".

This past Saturday, November 9th, students from the Berea senior theater capstone course, taught by faculty member Adanma Onyedike Barton, presented their "Off the Page" program at the Madison County Public Library. Their program engaged little ones and created a fun environment. In response to their opportunity of sharing theater to children, the senior students said this:
"Presenting this program allowed me to come back to what I enjoyed in my previous community. When I was young, my community did that for me, so I am glad I was able to do the same for people here" Joy deTore
"This program broadened my idea of who theater was for. Involving kids is a good experience because it allows kids to gain a new perspective of adults acting like kids" Jake Stenson