Service Learning

A portion of Communication Arts 101 classes incorporate a service-learning component, where students participate in a local service agency and then write and speak about their experiences. The service-learning component was initiated as part of a national effort to help students connect academic experiences with the needs of surrounding communities and, in return, serve the community from which they learn.

Goals of the Program

• Encourage students to begin a lifetime of service
• Provide experiences with people of different backgrounds, ages, etc.
• Help students understand the social conditions that contribute to individual problems
• Help students understand the role that communication plays in identifying and solving social problems
• Make a positive contribution to the Birmingham community
• Promote lasting university-community partnerships

Community Partner Contributions

• Provide information about the work of the agency
• Provide brochures, guest speakers, or video
• Help with arrangements for student visits
• See the value in reaching college students
• Provide feedback about students and the program

Partner Agencies

Church of the Reconciler After-School Tutoring
Tutoring at-risk K-6 children

Exceptional Foundation
Interacting with mentally and physically disabled children

Five-Mile Creek Greenway Partnership
Restoring historical sites and providing research data to an environmental justice coalition

Focus First
Screening children for vision problems in rural and inner-city Alabama

Greenwood Elementary School
Tutoring children

Hall-Kent Elementary School
Working with K-5 students, one-on-one or in small groups of two to three, listening to students read or reading to students

Hands on Birmingham
Contributing to a wide variety of projects arranged with many of the organizations CA has partnered with over the past six years

Kid One Transport
Assisting in office duties, joining Kid One drivers on calls, and working with a haunted house as part of an annual fundraiser

Lakeshore Foundation
Interacting with physically disabled individuals

M-POWER Ministries
Tutoring in an after-school program at an M-POWER site Monday through Thursday

The Nature Conservancy
Building fire breaks and removing invasive species at nature preserves around central Alabama

Pathways
Sitting with children whose mothers are in job-readiness training

P.E.E.R., Inc.
Tutoring children, interacting with senior adults at Fair Haven, community gardening, recycling, creative dramatics, and much more

Resident Council of Southtown
Tutoring K-8 children in an after-school program

Restoration Academy
Tutoring and supervising playtime at an urban, private Christian school

Ruffner Mountain Nature Center
Specially arranged environmental or animal care projects

Special Equestrians
Assisting mentally/physically disabled children and teens with horseback riding sessions, as well as maintaining horses and equipment

Veterans' Administration Hospital
Interviewing veterans and helping compile an oral history of war experiences

Youth Serve's First Look High School Program
Teaching workshops on various topics related to volunteering and self-improvement to 9th graders in five-week sessions

For more information, please visit the Service Learning at Samford Web site.