Building Healthy Communities

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Building Healthy Communities

• Service Learning at Mount Wachusett Community
  College

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Why we incorporate Service Learning

• Recognizing that community service and civic
  engagement strengthen communities and provide
  important learning opportunities and practical
  experience for students, President Daniel M.
  Asquino, under the advisement of Mount Wachusett
  Community College (MWCC) faculty, declared
  2001-2011 as the Decade of Civic Engagement. MWCC
  is aiming to provide a national model in
  encouraging students to actively participate in
  their communities and their government.

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• We are successfully applying academic lessons
  learned in the classroom to help build healthier
  and more engaged communities.
• Service Learning has a definite impact on the
  student involved not only by incorporating the
  pedagogy of experiential learning, but also by
  having a demonstrated influence on their grades,
  the likelihood that they will remain in school
  and their outlook on a number of other facets of
  life.
• Our students are providing an invaluable service
  to local nonprofits and agencies that otherwise
  would not be able to accomplish the goal that a
  particular project will provide. The nonprofit
  (or not-for-profit) agency is, in turn. able aide
  the course instructor by co-creating an
  epistemology that will impact our students in a
  number of ways, many of those beyond the walls of
  the classroom.

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Service Learning Structure
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Service Learning within courses

• Faculty and their students must make a
  semester-long commitment to the agency.
• Most service learning projects require 20 hours
  of service from each student.
• Students are required to complete a reflection
  upon completion of service.
• Reflections allow students to connect what they
  are experiencing to what they are learning in the
  classroom.

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Service Learning at MWCC is Driven by our Faculty

• Faculty design parameters for projects that meet
  the goals of their individual classes.
• In consultation with Academic Affairs, faculty
  determine which agencies will best meet the
  challenge they are presenting to their students.
• Faculty determine whether projects are on or off
  campus.

• Faculty are the best choice for determining how
  their course can incorporate service learning to
  meet not only the goals of their classes, but
  also to address very real needs in our community.
• Academic freedom remains centric in their classes.

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Impact on the Community

• During the academic year 2007-08, approximately
  425 MWCC students participated in service
  learning activities, donating 8,500 hours of
  service to the community. Since the programs
  inception, more than 1,600 students have
  dedicated more than 15,000 hours of service.

Community Scholars assist at Martin Luther King
Day Celebration in January 2008..
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Healthy Choices

• The Molly Bish Institute for Child Health and
  Safety and students in Human Biology and Anatomy
  and Physiology courses presented a Healthy
  Choices Fair on Monday, December 10, from
  400-800 PM in the North Cafeteria.  Over 56
  service learning students from Professor William
  Lefrancois' classes demonstrated the results of
  their personal research into the area of healthy
  lifestyles.
•  
• Topics covered at the event were
•     Nurtrition
•     Education
•     Physical Fitness
•     Role of the Family
•  
• Interactive exercises, posters, questions and
  answers are just a few of the many fun things
  that were offered. It was an informative and
  thought-provoking evening of enjoyment for the
  entire family.

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• Fagan R. Forhan
• Director of Civic Engagement
• Gardner Campus, 444 Green St., Gardner, MA 01440
• Tel [phone]
• Email fforhan_at_mwcc.mass.edu
• http//democracy.mwcc.edu
• AA/EEO