Ohio State encourages community service, service-learning

COLUMBUS – Undergraduate student Ruchi Singla worried about the success of the inaugural BuckeyeThon, a dance marathon to raise funds for Children’s Hospital. After months of planning, Singla wondered if enough students would volunteer to raise funds or to take part in the 26-hour event. After the two-day marathon, Singla realized the hard work of the student volunteers at The Ohio State University paid off – they raised more than $32,000 for the behavioral department at Children’s Hospital.

This is just one example of how Ohio State students are making a difference.

Serving the community is one of Ohio State’s founding principles and its commitment to service trickles down to its student body.

According to Ohio State’s Office of Strategic Analysis and Planning, nearly 47 percent of Ohio State undergraduate students do volunteer work each week and more than 85 percent of students in fraternities or sororities take part in community service either individually or through their chapters.

Don Stenta, director of the Leadership & Service-Learning Programs, said the focus on service-learning initiatives and community-service projects is an important part of the educational experience at Ohio State.

“The roots of this land-grant university were founded on the principle of service to the community,” he said.

Community service is a part of campus life for many students at Ohio State, Stenta said. During the first week of Autumn Quarter, freshman students first learn about service opportunities through Community Commitment Day. More than 80 community organizations or schools benefit from the nearly 1,500 students that take part in this annual service project. The National Association of Campus Activities in 1998 named Community Commitment Day the Outstanding Service Project.

Ohio State is also incorporating community service into classroom education. The university created in 1998 the Service-Learning Scholars Roundtable, a forum of faculty members interested in community-based scholarship. Faculty scholars work to improve the success of P-12 education, community-based organizations and service agencies in meeting the needs of the area’s residents. The forum led the university in launching its Service-Learning Initiative (SLI) to integrate service-learning into the curricula of the university’s colleges.

Golden Jackson, co-director of the Service Learning Initiative, said students gain valuable experience from service-learning programs.
“Service learning is a key teaching tool that allows the university to enhance its students’ academic skills while also preparing them to be engaged citizens in their communities,” Jackson said.

To keep students informed, Ohio State has Project Community at the Ohio Union, which is clearinghouse that provides information for interested students on community service programs. Along with a reference center, Project Community has a web-based database called Community Connection, which is also supported by the colleges of Education and Human Ecology. Community Connection allows agencies to post service opportunities online, and allows students to search the database for opportunities based on their interests and availability to serve.

Project Community focuses on four areas: to get students involved in service; to reach out to student organizations that are planning service projects; to plan large-scale campus programs that focus on service; and to develop relationships with community-based organizations and schools.

Stenta said Project Community is just one of the ways students can learn about service opportunities at Ohio State. The offices of Academic Affairs and Student Affairs are working together to create awareness of service-learning initiatives and community-service projects.

“The university has been working hard to bring all areas of campus together to keep service to the community as an institutional reality,” Stenta said.
Here are just a few of the significant projects involving the Ohio State community:

Ohio State partnering with local schools
·Adopt-A-School tutoring – honors students volunteer as tutors and teacher assistants at Indianola Middle School.
·Wonders of Our World (WOW) program – Central Ohio elementary teachers learn simple science experiments and are assisted in the classroom with these experiments by university volunteers. Serves more than 2,500 students in five local elementary schools.
·Science education – Biological Sciences faculty and students work with Columbus high school students to create an interest in science through DNA analysis techniques. After a three-day workshop, the high school students try to solve a murder mystery produced by Ohio State theater students.

Ohio State is serving the community
·Neighborhood Revitalization Day – Members from the College of Human Ecology teamed up with Lowe’s to repair homes in a university-area neighborhood.
·Greek Week – members of Ohio State’s fraternities and sororities volunteer for service projects during a week in May. Among the projects are: a Fireman’s Pancake Breakfast, which involved 300 students who were raising money for local firehouses; the Blood Drive that had 175 student volunteers; and a PB Jam, which involved 2,000 students making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for local homeless agencies.

Ohio State is inspiring interest in public service
The John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy gets students involved in service-learning programs. Institute programs include an Academic Internship Program in Washington, D.C., for university students; an internship program for high school seniors in state government, the media and nonprofit organizations; an orientation program for new state legislators; and community service initiatives that offer expertise and evaluation of human service programs.
·Mount Leadership Society – More than 150 first- and second-year scholar students volunteer for regular service projects in the community. First-year students also organize a community-service event during Mount Legacy Week in May and second-year students are required to volunteer 75 hours during the year.

Ohio State links community service with academic learning
·Service-Learning Initiative – Through projects in new and existing courses, students have provided about 3,300 hours of service in the University District. In 2001, more than 1,100 students were enrolled in the university’s service-learning courses. These programs allow students to serve the community while mastering academic and life skills. Recent Service Learning Initiative grants through Ohio State include:
--A program to mentor and tutor K-6 students in Marion in reading and writing.
--Nursing students volunteer at La Clinica Latina, serving medical needs of Latinos.
--Dental students and faculty provide services at two area health centers.
--Veterinary students assist the animal shelter in spay/neuter education and surgery.
--Education students are helping teachers integrate technology into the classroom.
·Leadership in Community Service – Since 1998, undergraduate and graduate students have provided more than 13,000 hours of service