January 28, 2010
Learning from the community: Center for Experiential Learning brings three community-service programs together
Editor’s Note: This is part two of University Week’s four-part series describing the work of the Center for Experiential Learning. A part of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, the center includes seven programs that deal with student learning experiences beyond the classroom. This week we offer a look into the community engagement programs.
Last quarter, senior Priyam Thind really wanted to find an interesting volunteer opportunity that allowed her to apply her strengths in order to work with and help children, hopefully in a classroom. That’s when a friend suggested she look into Pipeline.
The Pipeline Project is part of the Center for Experiential Learning. It’s one of three programs that aim to connect UW students with the community through service (the other two are the Carlson Center and Jumpstart).
The project connects UW undergraduates with K-12 classrooms as tutors, explained Director Christine Stickler. The schools that Pipeline students are assigned to are primarily in under-serviced communities.
Thind is incredibly happy with her decision to join Pipeline and wants to continue next quarter. She says it’s the little things that really make it a memorable experience.
“The first day I went to John Rogers elementary, my partner and I became acquainted with our group of little 4th graders,” said Thind. “After we finished our introductions, one of the girls, Nadra, who’s a bit timid, tugged on my shirt and told me that she liked my ring. I smiled and she gave a half-smile back. Although it may not seem momentous to anyone else, her immediate warmth helped me realize that programs like Pipeline teach and benefit the tutors as much as the youngsters.”
Thind is also enrolled in an Inner Pipeline seminar, which is a class offered credit/no credit and meets weekly with students who are expected to tutor in schools for 2.5-5 hours each week.
“The class is a great way to bring creative ideas together, voice concerns about tutoring and pave an organized program for the children,” Thind said.
Thind’s seminar focuses on a project called Literacy through Photography (LTP). As part of it, she and her Pipeline volunteers are working with children on an activity they call “The Best Part of Me.”
“LTP is a program that fosters writing through the use of photography,” said Stephanie Grab, who is taking the same seminar. “For example, with the Best Part of Me, kids pick a body part like the eyes, legs, ear—sometimes you get creative ones like vocal cords or brain—and they write about why it is their favorite part. Then, together, we take a picture of the body part. The students then do a post-write.”
The Literacy through Photography project encourages children to explore their world as they capture it with photography, and then use their photos as inspiration for written and verbal expression.
Grab, who starts grad school this summer at UW’s College of Education to get a Masters in Teaching (elementary education), credits the Pipeline Project as the experience that inspired her to pursue a career in teaching. She says that she will definitely implement the Literacy through Photography program in her future classroom.
Both Grab and Thind believe UW students with an interest in children and/or education would find value in Pipeline.
The Carlson Leadership and Public Service Center, also a program within the Center for Experiential Learning, aims to deepen learning for undergraduates through civic leadership and service opportunities in the community.
The Carlson Center offers a variety of experiences for students with community-based organizations, government agencies and educational institutions.
“We basically are match-makers,” said Director Michaelann Jundt. “If a faculty member is interested in teaching a human rights course, we work with them about their objectives and match them up with an organization that fits their course. We then help the instructor and the community partner think about how students will learn through their engagement in the class and at the community organization.”
The goal of the service-learning is to seamlessly integrate community experiences with academic class work. For example, if a student enrolls in the Introduction to Labor Studies class, the Carlson Center will partner him or her with an organization in the Seattle community that focuses on issues involving labor.
“It’s a great collaboration that provides UW students with context for their community service and really brings their hands-on, outside of the classroom learning experiences back to the classroom,” said Jundt.
The Carlson Center also just wrapped-up the 2010 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. This year, more than 1,400 members of the UW community participated.
“The MLK Jr. Day of Service is a unique experience for the center because it allows us to work on volunteer projects with the entire UW community — students, staff, faculty, alumni, and friends— not just students,” said Jundt. “The day is all about embracing King’s message of service and his hope that people would come together to break down social and economic boundaries. So, it’s a good fit with the center since that’s exactly what we encourage throughout the year for students at UW.”
The Center for Experiential Learning also offers students community engagement experiences through Jumpstart. The program helps undergraduates to explore the world of early childhood education and increase their awareness of the diverse communities around Seattle.
UW students are placed into Jumpstart teams and each team serves a preschool in a low-income and often immigrant neighborhood. Jumpstart tutors work twice a week one-to-one with a student and with small groups, mainly on reading skills.
Ruby Linsao, senior site manager, said, “We are mainly interested in engaging the preschool children in dialogic reading. We want them to be able to read and to have a conversation about the reading. We aim to encourage interaction.”
As for the UW students, Linsao said she “loves watching undergraduate students grow and help the preschool kids — they advocate for the kids and the program helps them realize that there are many issues surrounding equality in education.”
While many Jumpstart volunteers come from the Early Childhood Education program, Linsao emphasizes that it is a great program for all UW undergraduates who are interested in service and want to get involved with their community.
The directors said interested students are always welcome to come in and learn more about the programs, which is convenient since they are all housed in the same office—Mary Gates 120.
