Berea College Service-Learning Program

Each summer, CELTS hosts the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Course Design Seminar for faculty interested in developing a service-learning course or revising an existing course to incorporate civic engagement or service-learning into its design. During the intensive seminar, participating faculty engage in readings and discussions with one another, meet with staff of organizations in the community, and workshop syllabi and assignments together.

By the end of the seminar, each participant has designed a project, syllabus, or series of assignments for a course that will be taught in the near future. Dr. Jianfen Wang said about the experience, “It was eye-opening to learn about the opportunities that service-learning can open for research and scholarship.” The connections built during the summer seminar continue well beyond the intensive week.

Dr. Michelle Thornton Adler took on the task of incorporating service-learning in a creative way to work around COVID-19 pandemic safety protocols during the fall 2020 semester. For her HHP 362 course, Teaching and Evaluation in Health and Physical Education, students created videos to encourage fun and engaging activity that involve physical movement. The videos were then sent to her community partner, Ashley Hammond who is the Gear Up College & Career Navigator at Berea Community Elementary School. The partnership was creative and successful, according to Ms. Hammond.
“Service-learning has allowed me to create activities and lessons that are interactive, with the "cool" college kids, and it is a wonderful way to show our young ‘pirates’ higher ed opportunities." - Ashley Hammond

2020 Aug26 HHP video#1 An introduction to the Berea College students of HHP 362 Teaching & Evaluation in Health & Physical Education, along with a brief introduction of the 7 Habit...

This past Saturday, November 9th, students from the Berea senior theater capstone course, taught by faculty member Adanma Onyedike Barton, presented their "Off the Page" program at the Madison County Public Library. Their program engaged little ones and created a fun environment. In response to their opportunity of sharing theater to children, the senior students said this:
"Presenting this program allowed me to come back to what I enjoyed in my previous community. When I was young, my community did that for me, so I am glad I was able to do the same for people here" Joy deTore
"This program broadened my idea of who theater was for. Involving kids is a good experience because it allows kids to gain a new perspective of adults acting like kids" Jake Stenson