BEFORE THEY’RE GONE

Hundreds of Western students learn mentoring and leadership skills in
Compass 2 Campus, a program encouraging youngsters to chart a course for
higher education.
Continued from page 13
says Drickey, who hopes to continue the library partnership.
“One student told me she liked it so much she’s volunteering to
work with orphans in Peru this summer.”
Management Assistant Professor Mary Sass has watched
her students blossom while helping area nonprofits manage
change. It can be pretty difficult explaining organizational
theory to young people without much experience in the world
of work, Sass says.
“I can’t think of a better way of giving them an opportunity
to understand how theory is applied,” Sass says. “And I can’t believe
how much confidence students will build over one quarter.
They’re no longer in the student role, but in the teacher role.”
All these skills – leadership, communication, teamwork and
applying knowledge – make service-learning experience
attractive to future employers, says Jennifer Dorr, executive
director of Western-based Washington Campus Compact, a
coalition of colleges and universities that provides funding and
technical assistance to service-learning programs throughout
Washington state.
The motivational aspects of service-learning – helping
students see that what they’re learning can make a difference in
the world – has also drawn the interest of organizations hoping
to encourage more first-generation college students to pursue
higher education, Dorr says. The same holds true for those
hoping to attract students to the fields of science, technology,
engineering and mathematics.
There are a lot of economic advantages to service-learning,
in the form of better job skills for students and more interest
in academic fields that feed the state’s high-tech economy. But
service-learning offers more than an economic payoff, Dorr says.
When students learn that applying their knowledge can help
others, “they begin to see their role as part of the solution, not
just as economic drivers,” Dorr says. They learn that they can do
more than write a check to support a cause; they can use their
expertise to contribute to the common good in their workplaces,
communities and beyond.
Natalie Mickey, 22, of Hockinson, says she knew very little
about the community until she joined Saunders’ Economic
Anthropology class and gleaned enough carrots to fill a whole
truck. She says the experience opened her eyes to economic inequality.
Right after taking the class, Mickey studied abroad in
Israel, where she volunteered at a community garden producing
fresh food for low-income people and teaching neighbors about
composting. When she graduates, Mickey hopes to return to
Israel and work in environmental education.
“Once you’re educated about something, you can’t get it out
of your knowledge,” Mickey says. “It’s so easy to have it get you
down. But when we went out and did something about it, it was
much easier to handle. The world became a little smaller, and we
can handle a little bit at a time.”
National Recognition
Service-learning was a big reason Western received a 2010 Community Engagement
Certification Classification from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching, says Tim Costello, director of Western’s Center for Service-Learning.
The foundation grants the classification to universities whose community outreach
meets a need, deepens students’ civic and academic learning, enhances community
well-being and enriches scholarship.
14 WINDOW • Spring 2011 • Western Washington University