Service Learning Programs and Benchmarks
Our mission is to enhance learning and deepen civic responsibility by integrating community service with reflection and study.
Service learning activities at Virginia Tech are continually reinventing themselves based upon community need and campus initiatives. Each semester, the Service Learning program supports a variety of courses that include a community service component. In addition, we participate in many university-community partnerships, foster opportunities for student leadership, and collaborate with other programs across campus that engage students in putting their knowledge to work for the community. See our photo gallery.
To reserve the Hokie Hands trailer for a service project or any of the tools it contains, go to: http://www.vtserves.vt.edu/hokiehands/.
Questions? Contact Michele James-Deramo, 540-231-6947.
Programs
Cedar Crest Learning Center is a partnership with Community Housing Partners whereby Virginia Tech students and faculty provide after school and workforce development programming for residents of the Cedar Crest complex in Blacksburg.
Community Literacy Corps is a service-learning partnership with the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid. Students enrolled in the federal work study program are hired to serve as reading and math tutors to children in Montgomery County and Roanoke City elementary schools. The Literacy Corps also sponsors Reading Day in March for children in grades K-2, and Winter Festival in December for children in grades 3-5. Literacy Corps tutors are required to attend a day-long orientation at the start of the school year, and weekly training sessions thereafter. Only students approved for federal work study funding may apply to be Literacy Corps tutors.
Global Citizen Partners Program is a bi-lateral service-learning exchange with Tec de Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico. Students can elect to live in Monterrey during first summer session and work with the university's Semillita program, which provides programming for children in neighboring impoverished communities. Or, VT students can take the first summer session course, Community Service and Volunteerism, and study and serve alongside international students who are studying at Virginia Tech. Read the reflection, Planting Little Seeds in Alianza, by Amanda Davis (VT 07) on her experience with the Global Citizen Partners Exchange.
Information Sheet
Preliminary Application
Pilot Street Project is a partnership with Refugee and Immigration Services. Together RIS and the Service-Learning Center rent an apartment at Maple Grove Apartments in Roanoke that serves as a community school for the families living there. The Pilot Street Project provides a range of programming for children and adults with the goal of building English language proficiency and assisting the families (90% of which are recent refugees, currently from various countries in Africa) in successfully resettling into their new culture.
Service-Learning Expo is an annual event occurring at the end of the academic year. The Expo is a poster exhibit showcasing selected service-learning projects and an opportunity to recognize outstanding students, partners, faculty, and supporters.
Stroubles Creek Watershed Initiative is an interdisciplinary project led by the Water Resources Research Center that monitors the health of Stroubles Creek and takes action to remove portions of the creek from the Virginia impaired waters list.
Student to Student is an adolescent tutoring initiative developed by SCALE (Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education). College students are trained and matched with youth aged 12-17 for a one-on-one tutoring relationship that lasts 8 months and covers reading and writing strategies. Student to Student sites include the Boys and Girls Clubs at Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Shawsville Middle Schools.
Benchmarks
Since its establishment in 1995, the Service Learning program has:
Engaged over 13,000 students in registered service learning activities.
Raised over $1,171,000 in private and federal dollars to support service learning, including three multi-year grants from the Corporation for national and Community Service.
Garnered national recognition from the Corporation for National and Community Service, Campus Compact, the President's Honor Roll for National and Community Service.
Received the Governor's Award for Community Service for our Appal Corps program (now named Hometown Industries) in 2001.
Prepared over 500 students to be in literacy tutors in schools and after school programs through the Literacy Corps, a partnership with the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid.
Established partnerships with Refugee and Immigration Services, Community Housing Partners, Inc., SCALE, and Tec de Monterrey, Mexico.
Hosted a University-Community Partnership Conference from 2004-2006.