General Information for Students

Ongoing Projects

Ongoing projects are student-initiated and student-coordinated activities which occur on a regular basis throughout the school year. These projects allow you, as a student, to develop real relationships within the organizations you work with while fostering and strenghtening BSC's partnerships with the surrounding community. If you're interested in getting involved with one of these projects, please contact the student coordinator listed on the project's page.

Alternative Spring Break

Alternative Spring Break is a time of serving and learning. Building houses, providing medical outreach, and many more activities allow students to gain an understanding of another culture and to learn about themselves as they give to others. Participants take time prior to the trip to grow together as a team and to prepare for the project. Teams have traveled to Puerto Rico, San Francisco, Boston, Appalachia, Washington, DC, and most recently, to Moss Point, Mississippi to participate in Hurricane Katrina Relief efforts.

Applications for the 2007 Alternative Spring Break will be available in late fall/early spring.

Interims in Service Learning

Each new hour holds new chances/For new beginnings/do not be wedded forever/to fear, yoked eternally/to brutishness/The horizon leans forward,/Offering you space to place new steps of change” Maya Angelou

Since 1987, students, faculty and staff have served locally, nationally and internationally in places like Woodlawn, Harlem, San Francisco, Honduras, Calcutta, Zimbabwe, Brazil, and Mozambique. Students are selected in the spring through an application process and spend the fall attending weekly meetings of intense orientation as well as fundraising. They research topics related to the host country, its people, culture, and religion, and engage in training and team-building exercises. Evaluation is based on participation in the orientation sessions, a pre-trip presentation on some aspect of the host civilization, and on-site performance.

This year, Service-Learning will provide two interim opportunities. The international interim will be to Ecuador. This team will be looking at the economy, gender issues, as well as environmental issues in Ecuador. They will be working with the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD). For more information on FSD, visit http://www.fsdinternational.org.

The second interim we are offering this year is the local Alabama interim project. This interim will give students an opportunity to see and experience the poverty in their own community as well as other Alabama communities in the Black Belt. The group will look at the issues behind poverty in Alabama and be provided with a sense of the role civic engagement can play in the poverty of the Black Belt.

Students can also find assistance in the Office of Service-Learning for contracting individualized interim projects serving in communities around the city, nation, and world. For more information, contact the staff in the Office of Service-Learning.

View Student Journals from past Interims.

Classes

The Office of Service-Learning is a resource for faculty members who want to integrate service-learning component into their courses. Adding service-learning options and reflection can enrich students’ theoretical exploration of a topic.

Some courses that have included a service-learning component are:

EH 220 - Literature and the Social Experience – Tatter
MU 150 - Fundamentals of Music – Hindman
PL 205 - Community: Civil Society Today – Hendley
SN 350 - Latinos in the US – Domcekova
PY 217 - Drugs, Brain & Behavior – Trench

Other Opportunities

Orientation Service Day
During orientation week, first-year students have the option to spend an afternoon meeting our neighbors working in the College Hills community.

Resource Center
Service-Learning staff assists students with research materials on service-related issues, assists with brainstorming for contracted classes, and works with individuals and groups to reflect on service experiences.

Student Leaders in Service
Rising high school juniors and seniors examine theoretical issues of leadership and practical applications of service during this weeklong residential summer program.

Holiday Sharing
BSC students, faculty, and staff work with the Office of Service-Learning and families to ensure that the children of our community enjoy the holidays.

Meal Card Drives
Each semester thousands of pounds of food are donated to local soup kitchens, homeless daycares and families in Birmingham.

Advocacy
Students may attend regional conferences to network with other campuses or work locally with Alabama Arise to learn about social issues concerning poverty in Alabama. After learning about these issues, students may then become involved in lobbying to promote public policy.

Safety in Service-Learning

The Service-Learning office encourages students to participate in projects which engage them in new and different communities throughout the Birmingham area. As a result, Service-Learning participants may travel to places that are unfamiliar to them. In these situations, we encourage all students to take the same safety precautions they would around campus, at the mall, or when traveling to any new environment.

Please keep the following tips in mind when visiting a new site:

When possible, travel in pairs;
Stand and walk on well-lit, well-traveled roads;
Park your car in a well-lit area or close to other cars;
Be sure to remove any valuables (purses, CD players, bookbags) from plain view. If possible, lock them in your trunk or place them under a seat or in the glove compartment;
Bring only what you need to a site—if you can help it, do not bring valuables;
If you have car trouble, your car battery dies, or you lock your keys inside of your car, call Campus Police (4700) for assistance.
Ask your site contact where you can safely store your personal belongings while you work;
Do not give out your phone number or other personal information to anyone other than agency contacts, if they need it;
If it’s dark, ask the agency staff or several other students to walk with you to your car;
Be aware of your surroundings;
Respect your instincts.

If at any time you feel nervous or unsafe, talk to your student coordinator, your agency contact, or the Service-Learning staff. Please report any incidents to the Office of Service-Learning.

Kristin Harper (205) 226-4720
Coordinator of Service-Learning

Sara Doughton (205) 226-4993
Assistant Coordinator for Service-Learning

Campus Police (205) 226-4700

Service Reporting

Have you participated in service recently?

Please use the e-mail link below on the BSC Web site to log your service with the Service Learning office. We want to know how you have been serving!

Make sure to include in your email:

the service site,
the length of time you worked, and
any comments about how you think your experience in service could have been improved or made more meaningful.

Service Reporting email Address:
sdoughto@bsc.edu

The Hess Center acknowledges generous support from the following:

Joseph S. Bruno Charitable Foundation
Chatlos Foundation
Caring Foundation
Home Depot Foundation
Hess Foundation