During the fall semester at Westminster College, a section of first-year Inquiry students participated in service learning to enable students to increase their personal knowledge about social issues in the local community as well as the efforts made to address these needs.

"Inquiry 111 is designed to introduce students to the value of a liberal arts education and to provide students with opportunities to connect their educational experiences at Westminster to contemporary challenges in the real world," said Dr. Sherri Pataki, service learning faculty fellow and assistant professor of psychology.

In addition to course reading and discussion of social issues related to poverty, all students were given the opportunity to work with Lawrence County Community Action Partnership (LCCAP) on several projects. LCCAP is composed of three agencies that seek to involve the community in assessing local needs and attacking the causes and conditions of poverty.

Inquiry students partnered with both the Housing Department and the Employment and Education Department of LCCAP. First-year students Jordan Early, Shannon Richter, and Stephanie Chaffee job shadowed and provided office support in the Housing Department. Jill Campbell, Hannah Earl, Jordan Early, Kevin Mack, Chris Madeira, Jason McCauslin, Carly Neal, and Hillary Patterson went to residential homes in the local community and completed maintenance projects. Joie Faust, Emily Fink, Gabriela Hills, and Carly Neal partnered with the Employment and Education Department and worked with preschoolers enrolled in Head Start at the New Castle Family Development Center.

As a class, students completed a total of 69 hours in service learning through Inquiry. At the end of the semester, students completed an anonymous written evaluation of their experiences. As one student wrote, "I feel highly enlightened. My reaction was shock. I recommend (service learning) because it opened my eyes to a whole new reality that I wasn't aware of before. I think increasing awareness among college students about important societal issues is crucial&" Similar comments included "I'm glad I was able to be part of this different experience&it's something you take with you as you continue to go through college", and "Service learning opened my eyes... I loved it because I feel like I made a difference."

Contact Pataki at (724) 946-7361 or e-mail patakisp@westminster.edu for more information.

Chris Madeira, Jordan Early, Carly Neal, Jason McCauslin and Kevin Mack