By Diane Podolske, Assistant Director for
Student Involvement
challenge.
Change a life.
Honor diversity.
Promote positive
values.
Make a difference.
Connect with your
world.
Be a volunteer!
Exciting changes are unfolding in volunteer
service at colleges and universities across the country,
and if you want to serve the public good, I am happy to
say you have arrived at just the right time to join in.
Opportunities for you to engage in tremendously chal
lenging, important and rewarding volunteer service
while you are at NU are becoming available like never
before. Whatever issue motivates you, whatever level of
commitment you bring, whatever your personal style anc
unique talents, there is a place for you to contribute, to
truly make a difference, to have a real impact in people’s
lives and in your own. - ~ '
Better still, you will find at NU that volunteer
service is no longer limited to co-curricular activities
undertaken in your free time. Service is increasingly
being integrated with academic programs in ways that
make the service more effective and the learning more
profound. This powerful trend in education, called ser
vice-learning, is breaking down the wall that separates
campuses from communities and is a major element in
the national explosion of volunteer service. Service
learning represents a merger of the movement for educa
tion reform, which among other things holds that educa
tion can be improved through combining active learning
with the movement for responsible citizenship. These
two movements agree that engaged citizenship in a
democratic society is a learned behavior, a lifelong
"habit of the heart,” that can be acquired in part through
service-learning.
w nai is service-iearmng ana now is n amereni
than volunteerism? Service-learning is a process that
moves beyond the act of volunteering through the addi
tion of learning components. We have developed a five
step "SERVE" model to illustrate the steps of service
learning:
1. Select the service according to community needs.
If you have ever experienced a time when someone did
something for you that they thought you wanted, you wil
understand why carefully asking questions is an impor
tant first step for service-learning. It is not helpful to
build play-ground equipment for 10 year olds when all o
the kids in the neighborhood are 5 years old. Asking
questions of community agency staff, teachers, or of the
service recipients themselves is the best way to under
stand what the needs are.
2. Educate and inform yourself before the service.
What is the history and mission of the agency where you
will be volunteering? Is there any equipment that you
will need to know how to use? What is helpful to say to
person who calls on a crisis hotline? Educating yourself
about your community and how it responds to the needs
of its citizens will lead to a better understanding of the
people you serve and the problems they face.
3. Respond to the need. This is the action step of ser
vice-learning. Responding to the need is what most peo
ple call volunteering, which is doing a job for free that
you could have been paid to do.
4. Value the significance and reflect. This step of the
service-learning process is taking an introspective look
at the service you just completed. Reflection can take
place in a journal entry, talking with friends about your
service project, or discussing your experiences in a class.
Taking the time to really think about the people you saw,
the lessons you learned, and the reasons behind the diffi
culties in the community enhances your education and
makes the service meaningful. Reflection can bring
some pretty tough questions to light, such as "why did
of Nebraska-Keamey, and faculty, staff and students
from NU are invited to attend to learn how service and
leadership can make a difference in the community.
Students attending the conference will also participate in
a cool service project for underprivileged children.
Please stop by the Student Involvement offices at 200
Nebraska Union or 300 East Campus Union or call 472
2454 if you are interested in attending this conference!
Student Involvement also offers a variety of
programs and services focused on volun
teensm and service-learning.
The College Bound program is a fall out
reach program in elementary classrooms focused on edu
cating at-risk children that higher education is an option
for everyone. Volunteers discuss types of higher educa
tion, academic majors, financial aid, co-curricular activi
ties, and campus life, and at the end of the program the
children come to campus for a tour.
1999 Pepsi Service Scholars after a campus cleanup service project.
we need to build a second domestic violence shelter in
Lincoln?" or "why where there so many children at the
mission?" It is a part of the learning process to feel
uncomfortable about the answers to these questions, but
it is this uncomfortable feeling that will create a desire to
find positive answers for the future.
5. Evaluate and celebrate. That’s right, throw yourself
a party! The people/environment/animals you are serv
ing might not thank you in so many words, so find ways
to thank yourself for caring about your community. You
can look yourself in the mirror that night and feel proud
of your actions to help meet the needs of others. Don’t
skip this step of the process, as it is the key in motivating
you to start the next service-learning project!
Student Involvement is leading the service
learning movement on this campus by consulting with
faculty who wish to add service-learning in their courses,
assisting student organizations, Greek houses and resi
dence hall floors in developing service-learning projects,
and meeting with individual students who want to make
1 a difference in the community. We have a resource
library and filing cabinets filled with successful projects
from other universities and Lincoln community needs for
* potential new projects. Our staff will be happy to assist
you in finding a service-learning project that meets your
needs.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is a mem
ber of the Nebraska Consortium for Service-Learning in
Higher Education, which is a consortium of higher edu
cation institutions across the state building an infrastruc
ture for academic and co-curricular service-learning.
The Consortium is sponsoring a state-wide conference
1 on service-learning on October 28-30th at the University
The SWAT (Students Working Actively
Together) Team is a group of students who participate
in a variety of short-term service projects in Lincoln.
The goals of the program are to provide a fun, social,
low-commitment introduction to service and to identify a
pool of students to respond to emergency community
needs. The SWAT Team meets every Thursday at 6:00
pm and members decide on a service project for that
week. We always need new members, and we welcome
anyone who is interested in trying a variety of service
options!
Make a Difference Day is a national service
day sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation to
encourage people to volunteer in their communities. We
will promote children’s literacy at the "Big Red Book
Bash" for at-risk elementary school children at the
Lincoln Children’s Museum. The Big Red Book Bash
will include storytelling, crafts about children’s books,
appearances by costumed book characters, face painting,
and lessons on sign language. NU students will plan and
volunteer at the event. The student planning committee
has publicized the event at local community centers,
human service agencies, schools and other programs for
at-risk kindergarten through third grade children. We
have received numerous positive replies, and we antici
pate over 200 children will attend the event! Please con
tact Student Involvement at 472-2454 if you would like
to help with this fun event!
The Pepsi Scholarship for Outstanding
Leadership and Service is a program for forty incom
ing Nebraskan freshmen that have devoted their time in
Sponsors for the
Volunteer Pages
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high school to volunteer service. Student Involvement
provides a semester-long program for scholarship recipi
ents to orient them to the service community in Lincoln
and train them to develop service-learning projects.
Pepsi Service Scholars will plan a campus-wide service
project for spring semester, so take advantage of the
opportunity to meet and serve with these amazing stu
dents!
The Involvement Fair provides an opportuni
ty for the NU campus community to meet service agency
representatives and talk about potential volunteer and
service-learning projects. If you missed this year’s Fair,
don’t despair! We have collected volunteer needs and
information from the agencies that participated in the
Fair, so stop by 200 Nebraska Union or 300 East Campus
Union and check out the latest from the Lincoln vol
unteer world.
Be sure to click on our new web-based
database! You can search for service opportunities that
meet your, interests and needs, including short-term or
long-term positions, day of the week, and focus of the
agency. Our web site is www.unl.edu/sinvolve then click
on Programs and Resources. Agencies will constantly
update this site, so check back if you don’t find an oppor
tunity that fits your needs!
Already doing service?
1 We strongly encourage you to record your ser
vice hours toward the completion of the President’s
Student Service Challenge award. The President’s
Student Service Challenge award is intended to reward
and encourage students who have a significant impact in
meeting the needs of local communities. Students are
challenged to complete 100 hours of service during a one
year period, for which they will receive a certificate/pin
and a letter from the President. The 100-hour award level
wa$i«0§tablished by tl^J^sidenyp encourage
students to complete ongoing service projects. Student
Involvement will provide you with information on a vari
ety of service opportunities in your interest area(s), help
ydtt Select projects, tmd provide time sheets to record '
your service hours.
You or your organization could also be recog
nized for your service through the Volunteer of the
Month recognition program! The Volunteers of the
Month for August are the Alpha Phi Omega service fra
ternity. Alpha Phi Omega, along with the Pepsi Service
Scholars, organized a Crazy Carnival for low-income
children to celebrate the beginning of the school year.
The children played carnival games and won tickets that
could be redeemed for school supplies. They also had a
water balloon fight and a hot dog supper for everyone
that participated. Kent Henning, the Program Director at
the Salvation Army Center said, "The volunteers did an
excellent job of interacting and spending quality time
with the kids...the kids had a blast thanks to this group!"
Congratulations to Alpha Phi Omega, our Volunteers of
the Month!
Students, faculty and staff at NU are eligible to
apply for the Spirit of Service awards and receive recog
nition for their service efforts. The Spirit of Service
awards are for those "unsung heroes" who unselfishly
give their time and talents to help others and our commu
nity. Spirit of Service awards are presented in April at
the Chancellor’s Leadership and Service Recognition
Reception. The award application will be available in
January, so please consider nominating yourself or others
for this recognition. Remember, an important part of ser
vice-learning is celebrating your service efforts!
Although the efforts of one person may seem
small, college students throughout the United States con
tinue to discover that millions of individual volunteers
can create a revolution of sorts. As public, private and
corporate funding declines, volunteering may help to
save vital community programs and services. Whatever
your reason for yqhinteering, once you start it is easy to
catch the spirit of community involvement. Volunteering
can expand your Hpi&ons and become a satisfying, life
long commitment I encourage you to reach beyond the
NU campus and address the needs of the Lincoln com
munity through service.
L____
Got the skills but don’t
know where to use them?
Here are some examples of Lincoln
community agencies that need your
help! You can also check out our
web site at www.unl.edu/sinvolve for
volunteer job listings and agency
information.
Homelessness/Poverty
The Gathering Place
People’s City Mission
Matt Talbot Kitchen
Goodwill
Day Watch
Elderly
Arthritis Foundation
Lincoln Area Agency on Aging
Lincoln/Lancaster Senior Center
Alzheimer’s Association
Women’s Issues
Homestead Girl Scout Council
YWCA
Fresh Start Home
I
^TedareYoutti Services
The Women’s Center (on campus)
Environment
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Environmental Resource Center
(on campus)
Wachiska - Audubon Society
Health Care
Community Blood Bank
Nebraska Stroke Foundation
Tabitha - Meals on Wheels
American Red Cross
CenterPointe
Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital
Bryan LGH Medical Centers -
East and West
American Heart Association
Recreation
Lighthouse
Lincoln Community Playhouse
Lincoln/Lancaster County Health
Department - Safe Nights Program
Lincoln Park and Recreation Department
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Monte Michelsen, Lincoln Community Playhouse representative, with students
at the Involvement Fair.
Office Assistance/Technology
Goodwill Industries
Catholic Social Services
YWCA
Fresh Start Home
Nebraska State Historical Society
Disabilities
Nebraska Library Commission - Talking
Book and Braille Service
Services for Students with Disabilities
(on campus)
Hotline for the Handicapped
The ARC of Lincoln
Special Olympics
Diversity Issues
Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender
Resource Center (on campus)
Lincoln Action Program
Lincoln Literacy
Asian Community and Cultural Center
Catholic Social Services
Culture Center (on campus)
Education/Mentoring/Tutoring
Lincoln Action Program
Lincoln Literacy
Lincoln Public Schools
TeamMates Program
Cedars Youth Services
Big Brothers/ Big Sisters
Nebraska Human Resources Institute
(on campus)
Mary Riepma Ross Film Theatre
(on campus)
Children
Girl Scouts
Attention Center for Youth
Mourning Hope
West Lincoln Family Resource Center
Lincoln Public Schools
University Childcare (on campus)
Crisis Response and Prevention
Lighthouse
Campus Escort Service (on campus)
American Red Cross
Lincoln Action Program
Rape/Spouse Abuse Crisis Center
Animal Needs
Capital Humane Society