Service Learning Newsletter
Spring 2009

 

The Business Of Making A Difference

The Sawyer Business School Challenges Students to Think About Social Responsibility

 

Last semester, a few students in Laurie Levesque’s Leadership and Social Responsibility (MGT200) class, figured out how dodgeball could help disadvantaged high school students.

Well, dodgeball and basketball. Baseball, too. A month of team competitions, with a new event every week. “It was a simple idea,” says Cara Koenigsburg, a sophomore who took the course last semester. “And it was something that we thought could really happen.”

The class was charged with planning a fundraiser for a local non-profit as part of a project. Koenigsburg’s group proposed their sports plan, with a $10 registration fee to raise money, and prizes for the winners and some lucky audience members courtesy of American Eagle and Starbucks.

It wasn’t all fun and games, though. Koenigsburg’s project entailed securing American Eagle’s and Starbuck’s corporate sponsorship for the non-profit fundraiser, an experience which allowed the students to interact in some very high places.

“I think that part of the project was very empowering,” says Levesque.

The class didn’t lack in creativity or enthusiasm. One group suggested a “polar plunge,” and even obtained copies of the necessary permits. Another group suggested partnering a local mentoring non-profit with the education departments of regional colleges and universities. Yet another suggested a program in which students donate the refund money from their used books to a non-profit, even clearing it with the bookstore and recruiting Suffolk athletes to pick up the books from donation locations.

One of the major non-profits that the student projects planned to aid was Jumpstart, a local organization that serves at-risk pre-school children. “They really did a wonderful job of trying to find projects that align with what we do,” says Kelly Furtado, Suffolk’s Jumpstart site manager.

And even though all the plans were hypothetical, at least one student was able to raise real money for Jumpstart. Koenigsburg—building on her MGT200 experience—decided to turn a communications course project about running a business into a moneymaking fundraiser. After buying chocolate bars from her parents’ business (a Rocky Mountain Chocolate store in New Jersey), Keonigsburg printed out simple wrappers and charged $2 a piece. Her plan raised about $250 for Jumpstart, making the name of Koenigsburg’s proposed business all the more appropriate: Sweet Tooth.

• Read more about Laurie Levesque’s Leadership and Social Responsibility (MGT200) class

• Learn more about Jumpstart

Solving The Equation

The Math Department Introduces Service Learning to Students

 

Tanya Tavares was nervous. As a case manager at Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD), she works with at-risk Boston Public high school students, and it was time to check the results of their MCAS math scores. For several students, a failing grade on the MCAS Math wouldn’t be their first. Or their second.

So when she got the results and found 11 passing grades, it was cause for celebration. “Oh, I was very happy with it,” says Tavares. So too, were the students who passed the test, greeting the good news with cheers.
Besides passing, these 11 students shared a common experience that made this test different from the rest: All of them had tutors from Suffolk Professor Adam Glesser’s calculus class.

Glesser came to Suffolk from California last year after completing his PhD at UC Santa Cruz and doing post-doctoral work in Aberdeen, Scotland, and UC Berkeley. After a new faculty orientation meeting with Shirley Consuegra from S.O.U.L.S., Glesser decided to add a service-learning component to his calculus course. As an alternative to presenting a final project, he offered students the chance to spend 10 hours tutoring ABCD students in math. “I don’t remember 99 percent of what I was supposed to learn, but I remember everything I had to teach,” says Glesser.

Ten of Glesser’s students chose this option, and they were deployed to ABCD’s office at 200 Tremont to help teach the MCAS curriculum: Algebra I, Advanced Algebra, and Geometry. Sophomore biochemistry/forensics major Christina McCarthy has two students, both 16-year-old girls. Initially, McCarthy says, she was excited by the prospect of tutoring “because I thought it would be an easy way out of looking up information.” She was wrong. The tutoring could be frustrating, even annoying. But she loved the results. “Every time I left I felt like I accomplished something—and it made me feel good being able to teach someone else something I know,” McCarthy says. She was excited to hear that her pair of students passed the MCAS, but wasn’t necessarily that surprised. “I had faith in the both of them, but I don’t know if they had much faith in themselves sometimes,” she says. “I think they just needed the extra push.”

Not only did all of them pass the test, but Tavares says the ABCD students had a great experience with the Suffolk students. “They were just really into it,” says Tavares. For Glesser, it was great to see his Suffolk students in a position to advocate for the vitality of mathematics. “What’s really wonderful is that the students have to explain ‘Hey, this is important,’” says Glesser.

• Watch videos of Glesser’s students discussing their experience as tutors

• Visit Adam Glesser’s home page

Connecting Theory To Practice

With the Expanded Classroom Requirement (ECR)

 

The newest element of the College of Arts & Sciences’ core curriculum is the Expanded Classroom Requirement (ECR). The ECR is designed to challenge both students and teachers to integrate what happens in the classroom and the library to real-world conditions, and, conversely, how the actual application of skills can illuminate the ideas studied in class.

The ECR draws on Suffolk’s long history of involvement with the greater Boston community. Suffolk’s roots in law, civic engagement, and empowerment through education set the precedent, in spirit, for the ECR.

For students, the overarching goal is to learn how to relate academic theory and skills dynamically to the reality of the world beyond the traditional classroom. For faculty, the goal is to encourage creative and inspiring teaching techniques.

Students may fulfill the ECR in a variety of ways, including service learning, internships, field work, study tours, and study abroad. Our hope is that the expanded classroom will expand our students’ love of lifelong learning.

Greg Fried, Associate Professor and Chair,
Philosophy Department

All Sealed Up

Suffolk’s service recognized

 

Suffolk’s commitment to service learning received some welcome notice in January, when the University was cited with an Excellence In Service Learning Seal in the 2008– 09 edition of the Guide To Service Learning Colleges and Universities.

The annual award is given to one or more service-learning resources recognized nationally by practitioners for effective and valuable contributions to the field. Fewer than 300 colleges and universities throughout North America have an Excellence In Service Learning Seal distinction.

“We are very proud to have received this distinction,” said Suffolk University Vice President for Student Affairs Nancy C. Stoll. “It confirms the wonderful work that our students do through the S.O.U.L.S. program under the leadership of a talented and creative staff. Our community service and service learning efforts provide tremendous benefits to our students’ educational experience and to our neighborhood and the city of Boston.”

Making Service Learning Part Of The Academic Experience

 

This issue is dedicated to celebrating the impact our students are making on the community. Both the College of Arts & Sciences (through the Expanded Classroom Requirement) and the Sawyer Business School (through a one-credit course on leadership and social responsibility) have committed to providing students with opportunities to engage and apply academic theory and concepts to real-world issues.

During the fall semester, 30 Suffolk classes from across all academic disciplines worked with the S.O.U.L.S. Center to incorporate service learning into their coursework. In one of these classes—a special topics sociology course titled “Homelessness”—students explored issues affecting the homeless population by volunteering with community agencies, such as the Boston Rescue Mission, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, and Horizons for Homeless Children.

This special issue details a few other great faculty and student experiences with service learning that we hope will inspire you to get involved. We believe service learning courses can provide the perfect venue for students to connect academic models to practice, while providing Suffolk faculty and students with meaningful ways to contribute to the larger Boston community and address the needs of our community partners.

Community Partners In Need

Local Organizations Looking for a Match

 

These community partners need your help. If you would like to partner with any of them, please contact the S.O.U.L.S. Center. If you do not see a match for your class on this list, we can work with you to identify the right partner.

Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD)
ABCD’s Youth Exploration’s Math/Science Acceleration Program supports high school students at University High and Ostiguy High School who have either “aged-out” of their traditional school and/or are recovering from addiction. ABCD seeks to assist these youth in obtaining a high school degree while developing strong math and science skills that will empower them to join the workforce. Volunteers are needed to serve as math/science tutors, while serving as mentors to high school students Monday– Friday from 8am to 3pm.
www.bostonabcd.org

YWCA Malden Mentoring/Tutoring
This program empowers at-risk youth in our community within a structured group setting to make positive life choices that enable them to maximize their personal potential. The program is looking for female adult mentors to work as a team to mentor 7th grade girls from 3:30– 5pm one day a week and for math tutors (females and males) on Tuesdays from 12:30– 2pm.
www.ywcamalden.org

Boston Living Center (BLC)
BLC is a non-profit community and resource center whose mission is to foster the wellness of all HIV positive people and respond to the changing needs of the HIV/AIDS community. Volunteers are needed to help prepare and serve meals for the Meals Program. Lunch volunteers are needed Tuesdays through Fridays, 10am– 2:30pm, and dinner volunteers are needed Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5:30– 8pm.
www.bostonlivingcenter.org

The Food Project
The mission of the Food Project is to create a thoughtful and productive community of youth and adults from diverse backgrounds who work together to build a sustainable food system. The Food Project grows 250,000 pounds of vegetables each year, and depends on over 2,000 youth and adults to assist us in growing food at our city lots and rural farmland in Eastern Massachusetts. Volunteers are needed to work on the farm in Roxbury during the months of September– November on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 9:30am– 12:30pm.
www.thefoodproject.org