I have personally never focused on community service or service learning as an important part of my life. I have always had “bigger” (and in my mind “better”) things to do with my time. I have, like most high school students in Missouri, volunteered with tutoring programs and other similar services. To me, however, it wasn’t about the service itself: it was about the scholarship I would get at the end. I have not volunteered since. Recently, through the experiences of several close friends, I have come to see the value service learning can add to an education. That is why I am so excited to volunteer with the Engaged Citizen Corps.
The ECC is a new program for first-year students at Drake that incorporates academic courses with service experiences. It is an opportunity for students who value service to work in the Des Moines community while also earning college credit. These students are partnered with an organization in Des Moines, who they work with for an entire academic year. This year, there are nine ECC students and eight community partners. The ECC students take four class together throughout the year, which are used to inform their service experiences. One of these classes is a Writing Seminar, which they take alongside other Drake students. The writing seminar challenges students to use their writing abilities in service of a community organization.
As a student in that writing seminar, I have volunteered my time to running a series of blog posts written by the students in the course about their service experiences throughout the semester. Each student in the class will be responsible for two posts throughout the semester, and there will be a total of three posts a week: one each on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. These posts will explore the situations that the students find themselves in throughout the week. They will share the accomplishments each student achieves with their respective community partners. Most importantly, they will serve as proof that participating in community service is not only beneficial to the community, but also to the individual.
I have never before focused on community service as an important part of my life. I am looking forward rectifying that situation throughout the course of the semester, and I hope my experiences and those of my peers adequately show how important service learning is.
written by Hannah Thomas, Sophomore, English Major
