Assumption’s Annual CSL Colloquium

Julia Forest

Copy Editor

On March 20th, Assumption University held its 16th annual Community Service-Learning (CSL) Student Colloquium.

Professor Land, who teaches English and is the CSL director, began the event by highlighting the importance of CSL and how valuable these experiences are to students. He introduced Sara Flayhan, Yaire Hernandez, and Matthew Willar, along with briefly explaining their community service.

Sara Flayhan is a senior and an Organizational Communications major. For her Literature minor, she took Literature and Social Responsibility as an independent study with Professor Land.

The class consisted of reading “Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor,” “Random Family,” and “Just Mercy.” Flayhan also watched and analyzed “The Wire,” specifically, season four.

From studying this media, Flayhan gained insight on the unfair treatment of people in the justice system and people who are immigrants. “It was very inspiring to hear how these people try to get ahead in a systemic society where they are not in a position where they can be as successful as others,” Flayhan said.

She then applied these ideas of understanding other’s backgrounds to her work at African Community Education (ACE). “It’s a non -for -profit organization that aims mostly on helping African and Haitian refugees with connecting to legal services, like immigration legal services, and after-school homework for students. This is one of the biggest things that ACE does, and English language learning.”

“There is a really great staff at ACE, all of the classroom facilitators care about the kids…All the staff know the kids by name. I think that’s very important because it makes them feel validated as children,” Flayhan said.

Flayhan shared many stories, but one story focused on how one child got frustrated after not having a turn on an iPad, even despite waiting all day. “…I have a cell phone, and I’ve had a cell phone since I was 13 years old, so this it’s like a normal item for me. For him, the iPad that he gets to play on for an hour at Ace Mondays through Thursdays, that’s as much as a luxury as a new car would be for me. So that’s another way I use that soft eyes approach and realize I really need to start being more conscious about what are things in my life that are needs, but are really not needs, like a fancy cell phone,” she said.

 “…these kids are so different from me, yet I have such a connection with them,”  Flayhan said.

Yaire Hernandez, a senior, went on a SEND trip to El Paso through Assumption University’s campus ministry. “It was a life-changing experience to say the least. There are no words to express how the mission went and meeting everyone.”

“It is a week-long opportunity to provide service and develop relationships to those in need and explain as to why poverty happens within immigration. As a Political Science major, it is very apparent that policy is consistently changing every four years, if not every year, regardless of whichever administration is in office…going on the SEND trip really helps to develop your own opinion, rather than just hearing others’,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez highlighted what Deacon Paul said throughout the trip. “This is a mission trip so we’re here to learn, it’s not a vacation. And I think that is a beautiful point to emphasize because we are there to help people and inform ourselves because as much as we hear everything up here in New England, it is a completely different experience to go down there in person and personally meet all these families that have crossed the border,” she said.

Hernandez’s parents are both first generation Americans and crossed the border from El Salvador. “It took a lot for them to come over, so it’s one thing to hear stories from my parents, but it’s another thing to go in person and talk to everyone that has such similar experiences to them. They were my driving force in applying. The SEND Trip is more than just a trip, it is a trip where you develop bonds that will forever stick with you.”

Hernandez brought up many stories, from meeting families who crossed the border to sisters in New Mexico who are helping immigrants. She brought up one experience where a child was very emotionally attached to his mother, and yet she helped him to let down his guard and laugh. “When I finally got him to laugh, it warmed my heart up so much and seeing him laugh was the highlight of my whole entire day,” she said.

“…we get the misconception that kids crossing over don’t really remember anything or don’t really know anything. And that is completely false…A lot of these kids will throw ‘tantrums,’ as we call it, but a lot of the time, it’s because they don’t know how to express their emotions. They have gone through weeks and weeks of just walking and so much worse that they don’t really know how to express those frustrations. They don’t know how to express everything that they’ve been through,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez concluded her presentation by highlighting the importance of keeping ourselves informed. “Just remember that they are human too. They deserve opportunity as much as us.”

Matthew Willar, a junior, Communication and Media major, and the News Editor for Le Provocateur at Assumption, has taken two CSL classes, Introduction to Journalism and Teaching Students with Special Needs.

For Introduction to Journalism, Willar volunteered at In the Hour of Need, which is a homeless shelter in Worcester. “The whole purpose of this assignment was to inform people that there are resources for you if you are homeless, and that asking for help is immensely important to getting homeless people the support they need,” Willar said.

He interviewed the Program Director, Sherri Linn, who also experienced homelessness when she was younger. “She highlighted how her experience prepared her and allowed her to relate to the work she does today, saying that she never thought she would have this position, but knows she is meant to be in it,” he said.

Then, Willar shared some of the quotes from his interview with Linn and connected them to the fact that all humans deserve respect. “I want to put my best foot forward and make sure that all humans are treated as humans and this is a place where that is really done with love and grace and kindness,” Linn said in her interview with Willar.

In Teaching Students with Special Needs, Willar volunteered and observed an elementary classroom, working alongside a general education and special education teacher.

“By going into classrooms every week, students see how teachers include students of all different learning styles in their class instruction, and are able to apply that knowledge to their course work,” Willar said.