The Azusa Pacific Blog

By: Kristine Cody

I have gotten acquainted with Service-Learning through my
work as a graduate intern in Azusa Pacific University’s Center for Academic
Service-Learning & Research. With that statement, I feel that I must also
give a disclaimer – I’ve been in this position for a month and a half. I know
my words won’t perfectly capture what Service-Learning is but I hope that they
will shed light on the journey of discovering its likeness.

Service-Learning is when service – and – learning are
equally incorporated in an institution’s efforts to address community needs. Whether
done by a department, an individual, or by educators themselves, there is a key
coordinator, such as APU’s Service-Learning office, in this process that
matches classroom curriculum with relevant service projects.

Participating students intentionally apply knowledge and
skills acquired in the classroom to assist others, which both enhances their
service and authenticates what they are learning.  Those being helped contribute to the process
also by sharing their experiences and feedback in a way that allows for
practical understanding of academic concepts as well as realization of impact.
Therefore, optimal service and learning occurs when both parties are recognized
as playing an essential role and mutual benefit is gained.

In addition, for those committed to living their life for
Christ, there is also a spiritual impact in doing Service-Learning. One of our
Service-Learning Advocates (SLA’s) shared her experience of doing Service-Learning
in India over the summer. She talked of her volunteer experiences and
interaction with the local people that taught her lessons in disregarding unjust,
societal divides and loving in a Christ-like manner. Her stories and reflection
illuminated the fact that incorporating Service-Learning into your lifestyle
has the potential to foster intellectual, moral, and spiritual development.

In my efforts to define Service-Learning I have discovered
that it is a concept better experienced than explained. You know it by doing
it. I know those statements alone will not result in an epiphany for most, but
I hope that it will at least prompt people to discover it for themselves.

~

Kristine is a graduate assistant at the Center for Academic Service-Learning and Research serving as the 2012 – 2013 Coordinator for Student Professional Development. She is working towards her Master’s of Science in College Counseling and Student Development.

Liz is a graduating senior, and has worked in the Center for Academic Service-Learning and Research (CASLR) as a Service-Learning Advocate (SLA) since the fall of her sophomore year. She hales from Rancho Cucamonga, CA and has one little sister, Katie, who is also an APU undergraduate and has just been hired as a new SLA. Liz has majored in Psychology, and is starting a Masters program in Marriage Family Therapy at Fuller Theological Seminary in the fall.

Liz has thoroughly enjoyed her time as an SLA. She loves the excellent community and support at the CASLR. The weekly staff meeting prayer times have reminded her to slow down and take interest in the lives of those around her. Liz also appreciates the professional development skills this position has increased in her own life. Even though she has always been an organized person, her organizational skills have greatly increased. Liz has also gained experience working in multiple environments and with a variety of different people, including professors, AUSD principals and teachers, and APU students. This position has also given her the ability to learn about other disciplines outside of her major in Psychology.

During Liz’s first year as an SLA, she assisted the graduate assistant with C.H.A.M.P., and has since then coordinated the Teacher Assistant Program (TAP). Each semester, this 10-week program places approximately 100 upper-division liberal studies and teacher education majors in classrooms to serve as teachers’ assistants. Students are currently serving in Azusa Unified School District as well as schools in the Covina Valley, Duarte, and Glendora school districts. Liz has coordinated these labs, helping APU students (usually sophomores) to clarify and reaffirm, through practical application, that teaching is definitely meant for them. She has also assisted in courses regarding presidential formation and the ethics of special education.

Liz enjoys most being a part of the “light-bulb” moments she often witnesses in the experiences of APU students who participate in Service-Learning, when they are able to make the connection between theory in the classroom and practice in the community. As a kinesthetic learner herself, she appreciates how Service-Learning is able to give hands-on experience to what is being taught, which allows students to learn in a different way than the normal classroom approach.

Liz’s Top 5 Strengths are Responsibility, Empathy, Restorative, Discipline, and Individualization. Utilizing her strengths, she hopes to leave this office with revamped and sustainable programs that can easily be taken up by her successor. The other SLAs definitely see her as incredibly organized, responsible, and caring. Liz will miss all the CASLR staff and her unique job, which never fails to invoke multiple questions whenever she tells someone that she is a Service-Learning Advocate. What she has learned most about herself and hopes others will be encouraged to do by her example is to never let fear stand in the way of going for their dreams.

~

Mary C. Pearce is the Coordinator for Student Professional Development Graduate Assistant at the Center for Academic Service-Learning and Research, working on her Master’s of Science in College Counseling and Student Development

Meghan is one of our newest Service-Learning Advocates (SLA) at the Center for Academic Service-Learning and Research (CASLR). She comes from Tualatin, Oregon, near Portland, where she still has a little brother and sister finishing up high school. She is a sophomore, majoring in Liberal Studies and minoring in Spanish.

Before starting work at the CASLR, Meghan had already participated in two different Service-Learning courses, where she was able to see, first-hand, the academic reciprocity and opportunity for making a difference that S-L courses were able to provide. Now Meghan gets to see the behind the scenes operations, how everything goes into making S-L courses a success, and finds the planning especially rewarding.

Meghan’s primary responsibilities this semester were to assist the C.H.A.M.P. Director graduate assistant. Each year, the College Headed and Mighty Proud (C.H.A.M.P.) semester-long program introduces the idea of college to around 700 fourth graders from six local schools in the Azusa Unified School District through various activities. The C.H.A.M.P. program is a service-learning experience for APU students enrolled in EDLS 405 Diversity in the Classroom. This education course is designed to engage prospective teachers with issues such as race and culture in the educational setting. Each semester, APU partners with three elementary schools from the Azusa Unified School District. APU students are assigned to classrooms at the designated school sites to serve as college mentors to groups of five to seven fourth grade students. The APU students facilitate activities that correspond to the C.H.A.M.P. curriculum, covering such topics as college admission, financial aid, and career exploration.

Meghan has loved seeing the enjoyment on the middle school students’ faces during Visit Days, where they were amazed to think that some day they could actually live on campus and go to college. Seeing them all dressed up for C.H.A.M.P. Graduation, knowing how much it meant to them, was Meghan’s highest anticipation throughout the semester. She has found the CASLR to be a perfect place for her to put service into practice. This has also been her first professional job, where she has learned invaluable skills in organization, effective communication, and assertiveness.

This has also been a place to continue fostering her Strengths. Her top five are Adaptability, Empathy, Developer, Includer, and Positivity. Using her strengths, she is able to adjust quickly and go with the flow during events and last minute changes. She is also able to relate well and understand the people she has to work with, and enjoys fostering those relationships. Her fellow SLAs would describe her as nice, positive, and friendly; always willing to take up the slack for everyone else when needed. Meghan hopes that her short time at the CASLR has made a worthwhile difference and that the relationships she has made will be stronger when she leaves. Next year, Meghan will be one of APU’s Resident Assistants.

~

Mary C. Pearce is the Coordinator for Student Professional Development Graduate Assistant at the Center for Academic Service-Learning and Research, working on her Master’s of Science in College Counseling and Student Development

Misha is one of our newest Service-Learning Advocates (SLA) at the Center for Academic Service-Learning and Research (CASLR). She comes from Nashville, Tennessee, an only child, and loves it. She is a Junior, majoring in International Business and minoring in Biblical Studies. Misha is also a part of APU’s Liturgical Worship Team and loves worshiping her Lord and Savior through the venue of music.

Misha especially enjoys working at the CASLR because she can see an immediate impact in the lives of others through her work, which gives her a lot of self-efficacy and fulfillment. She also enjoys the opportunity of setting goals and accomplishing them and having a clear purpose to her assignments and tasks.

She loves working with all the permanent staff, graduate assistants, and fellow SLAs in the office. She finds them all to be open and honest with each other, bearing each other’s burdens, helping each other out, and creating a warm and happy environment. Misha also looks forward to working closer with S-L Community Partners, which are connected with her courses, in the future.

One of the Community Partners Misha is working with this semester is Pilgrim Place, where APU students are interviewing elderly, retired missionaries. Misha has loved hearing their stories and sees the reciprocity first-hand as APU students are inspired by the lives of those who are blessed by the chance to share their stories.  Misha also works with Foothill Women’s Resource Center and David and Margaret House, among others.

The CASLR plans intentional programs to foster professional and personal development during weekly staff meetings. One program that was especially impactful to Misha was a Goals Exercise facilitated by Cindy, the Assistant Director at the CASLR. During this exercise, Misha realized that the work she was most interested in was work that helps people, because it makes her the happiest. She found that she also valued the opportunity for freedom and self-direction in her work.

Misha’s Top 5 Strengths are Communication, WOO, Input, Discipline, and Positivity. With these strengths, she finds being an SLA an easy fit in communicating with the different faculty, community partners, and APU students she is in charge of in sincere and personable ways. Because of her disciplined nature, she enjoys the fact that she is her own manager of how she completes her tasks, and she also loves the constant opportunity for learning more about her programs. Her fellow SLAs would most likely describe her as perky, high-functioning, loves Jesus, and loves to sing. Matthew 6:33 is her life verse, and she encourages others to seek first the Kingdom of God.

~

Mary C. Pearce is the Coordinator for Student Professional Development Graduate Assistant at the Center for Academic Service-Learning and Research, working on her Master’s of Science in College Counseling and Student Development