2008 Woodie Awards
Community Service Learning puts education into action
Allison Smith
Issue date: 11/13/04 Section: News Stories
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When Leigh Gilmore, junior at Assumption College, arrives at Worcester Senior Center in Worcester, she's always greeted by a familiar face-Ray.
Ray, a volunteer at the center, always remarks "I've got breakfast for you, Leigh!" and hands her a piece of birthday cake and a small cup of peach juice.
But she's not in it for the cake. In fact, Gilmore prepares and serves Meals-on-Wheels as a volunteer in the kitchen at Worcester Senior Center, a community center for the elderly, every Monday and Wednesday morning from 8:30 am-10:30 am.
"Being there is really important," Gilmore said about her volunteer work, "because if someone isn't there, it takes longer to make the meals and deliver them."
Gilmore, like other Assumption students, is participating in the campus's Community Service Learning (CSL) program this semester. She has stepped out of the comfortable and familiar atmosphere of Assumption College and is lending a helping hand at one of many agencies located throughout Worcester.
This semester, about 300 Assumption College students, were given the opportunity to volunteer in order to fulfill a Community Service Learning requirement of a course.
The Community Service Learning Program is designed to introduce students to civic engagement. This entails students volunteering for a certain amount of hours, and in the case of many students this semester, it's approximately 20 hours of volunteer service at one of various suggested agencies seeking help from community members.
The agencies that students have an opportunity to volunteer at include Notre Dame du Lac Assisted Living Center, the American Red Cross, Junior Achievement of Central Mass., Henry Lee Willis Center Inc., and the Elder Service Plan. Students are given the opportunity to choose whom they would like to work with, whether it's elderly or children, and they are responsible for coordinating a time to volunteer at with a supervisor.
"The agencies love our students and they want more more more," said first year CSL Program Director Shahrayne Litchfield, who tries to visit with all suggested agencies offered to students. "The most popular agency last year was Dismas House, but this year it's the agencies with elderly and children that are receiving more attention. They ran out of room at Notre Dame for us. That one filled up like hot cakes!"