SERVICE LEARNING AT ST. AMBROSE UNIVERSITY 

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

     The mission of the Service Learning Department is to reinforce and implement the mission of St. Ambrose University to encourage Ambrosians to actively engage in service, and to enable students to “enrich their own lives and the lives of others.” Service Learning allows students to enhance their academic learning through direct service to the larger community, and helps enhance an ethic of service within the students who are participating.

     How is Service Learning different from community service?

•  Community service is services volunteered by individuals or an organization to benefit a community or its institutions.

• Service Learning allows students to apply their academic learning in a service setting,   enabling them to earn college credit.

     Why is Service Learning beneficial?

• Service Learning affirms our identity as Christians to serve the community in a variety of different ways while learning.

• Service Learning offers students the chance to develop personally while obtaining and enhancing life and career skills learned in the classrooms, such as confidence, communication and time management skills.

• Service Learning provides students with a way to develop social and interpersonal skills by allowing students to work in groups and connecting them with different generations. Other important aspects include learning the responsibility of civic duties and developing a sensitivity to other cultures and diverse socioeconomic populations.

• Service Learning promotes the application of academic learning. Many service opportunities are directly related to students' classes. Furthermore, many situations encountered in the community allow students to develop problem solving skills while thinking ethically.

• Service Learning enriches the local community by meeting the needs of the community by engaging students in opportunities outside of campus.

New for 2009!!!

     Check out the Community Partners blog to read about potential service sites for your   classes or student organizations!  See http://saucommpartners.livejournal.com/.