Not just another day

The AmeriCorps VISTA program sponsors many service initiatives outside service learning. In addition to the MLK Day of Service (which Campbell already does) and the AmeriCorps Week of Service, this year we'll join VISTA campuses across the country in celebrating a day of service I didn't know existed until recently, despite being a news junkie.


Last year President Obama declared 9/11 a day of service in order to reflect on the period of history that prompted "...Americans to come together in a remarkable spirit of unity and compassion," according his call to service last August.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, a partner organization of AmeriCorps, supports the 9/11 Day of Service along with many others service organizations. 


I'm really excited about Campbell's first 9/11 Day of Service. Not only does Campbell have a strong military presence in its student body through the ROTC program, but we have three extended campuses on three bases: Fort Bragg, Campe Lejeune, and Pope Air Force Base.


This year's 9/11 Day of Service is just beginning to take shape, but here are a few highlights to peak your interest:

• The day will begin with an opening ceremony at the flagpole on campus.
• We're offering up the idea to students to commit to a service project in honor of a soldier they know.
• The service projects are local and diverse.

Below is a public service announcement from the September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance promoting the day.


Lots of links to many different sites all about service, but the common thread is focusing to serve others on 9/11 in honor of those who serve us the other 364 days of the year.

In the beginning...

This real camel from
Welcome Week '09
is really pumped about
helping the community!

I'm proud to announce that Service Learning @ Campbell has arrived!


Mind you it's my first day on the job and all I've done is schedule meetings and try to figure out how to transfer calls. Baby steps.


We (Campus Ministries and myself) have spent the summer hammering out details and preparing as much as possible to take off on this adventure. We've read the books, Googled a few things and attended the workshops. 


Perhaps the most monumental baby step was attending AmeriCorps VISTA Pre-Service Orientation, four days of ice breakers, info sessions and really good food. It provided many points of clarity on a few questions Faithe and I had about this undertaking.


The one huge lesson with which I returned to Raleigh was this:


Our work is bigger than ourselves.


This year's goals are more than just convincing college students to want to help out. It's not just being nice to our Spanish-speaking neighbors.


On the local level the work we do in the coming months and years will ripple out in ways we may never discover. In an even bigger picture, over 7,000 VISTAs all over the country are executing anti-poverty initiatives that together will weave a cloth of hope and success for our fellow Americans, impoverished or not.


Check back for more frequent updates to the life and times of Service Learning @ Campbell.

Two scoops of service, please.

Tonight the university is wrapping up orientation season. Every incoming freshman has learned very briefly how to find the library, how to find dinner, and most importantly-- how to serve.


We had 500 smiling faces and eager hands preparing 20,000 meals for Stop Hunger Now. New to the orientation line up was a special local project to assemble backpacks full of food and school supplies for elementary school students under the wings of the Baptist Fellowship of Angier.


While the service projects aren't the definition of service learning, they give students a taste of service and get them thinking about it. The projects are the tip of the service learning iceberg.


The Class of 2014 will be the first class to enter Campbell with the service learning program. Together, the students and program will grow up together in Buies Creek. I've watched the incoming class and am incredibly hopeful that service learning at Campbell will flourish through these 1,000 bright and passionate students.


I spoke to the parents again and offered the same words I did at the first orientation session. My shaky public speaking abilities always extinguish any fantasies that parents will run up to me, asking for my autograph and rounding off questions about service learning. A few parents, however, did catch me during lunch to say they appreciated my schpiel. I don't say that to brag about myself-- I say it to point out that when parents think something is important, they're going to tell their kids about it.


Now that the entire freshman class knows kind of what service learning is, the next step is to develop the concept among them and tend to our mustard seed of a program.

Above (left to right) incoming  Campbell freshmen pack food bags for Stop Hunger now, prepare backpacks, and seal the bags for Stop Hunger Now. The 500 students packed 20,000 bags and prepared 200 bags of food and 40 backpacks to touch people across town and around the world.

Here ye, here ye: service learning @ orientation

Today Campbell hosted 500 incoming freshman and 1,000 of their parents at the summer's first orientation session. As part of the Campus Ministry presentation, I spoke (a million miles a minute) about the service learning program and how it will benefit the incoming freshman. Below is what I prepared to write and stuck to mostly.

Good morning, tired and overheated parents. I’m going to tell you a little bit about myself and then give you some details about a new Campus Ministries program your child will be hearing a lot about in the coming months and years.

I spent the first 18 years of life in rural Massachusetts before ending up at Campbell thanks to a fruitful Google search. I graduated in May with a degree in Communication Studies, and how I ended up staying at Campbell is a story for another day.

So, down to business. This freshman class has arrived in Buies Creek at a pivotal time in Campbell history. While the physical landscape of Campbell is more obviously changing, behind the scenes is a brand new program designed to give your young adult the opportunity to serve the community while participating in hands-on application of his or her studies.

Service learning at Campbell is a result of years of various members of the Campbell community reaching out to Harnett County. Serving others in combination with excellence in education is an inherent Campbell characteristic, so much so that it’s in our mission statement. I’d like to give you an example from Scripture that fuels my heart for service and passion for the fledgling service learning program.

As I read from Mark 10, keep in mind the ideas of service and note what we can learn from this passage.

The Request of James and John



Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask."


"What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.

They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory."

When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

There are two big lessons here, the more obvious and more common being that we should exemplify Jesus’ message of servant leadership. In looking at James and John, however, we can see that they wanted to benefit from their association with Jesus. Instead they should have looked to benefit others through their association with Jesus.

So, what does this millennia-old conversation have to do with Campbell’s new service learning program? Later this afternoon I’m going to offer a challenge to your children that they seek to serve others through their association with Campbell instead of serving just themselves. Your child is here to receive an education that someone is paying for your child to appreciate and take advantage of. That education, however, can be more than text books, exams, and developing an addiction to coffee. It can include your son or daughter reaching out to the Campbell community to use their gifts to leave Harnett County better than when they arrived here today.

To learn more about the service learning program, you can speak with me or check out whereserviceexcels.blogspot.com. Thank you for your time and I’ll be seeing you around!

After today's activities I'm reflecting on how to most efficiently "orient" someone to the concept of and ideas behind service learning. Its purpose is simple but its history and how we accomplish it successfuly are intricate. Then again, so are all the other great ideas I can think of. Recycling, salvation, baking bread-- all accomplish a to-the-point result but require an advanced understanding of the process.

Above, some of the 500 students help pack meals for Stop Hunger Now. Over two hours, the students packed a total of 20,00 meals. Picture by Tyler Cashwell.

Faith, learning... and mustard?

Think about a high point in your life. Chances are that event or phase was a result of ideal conditions that coalesced at just the right time. In the life of Campbell University, its new service learning program is one of those rare, magical advents that has the opportunity to take advantage of perfect conditions for growth.

In case you hadn't noticed, this isn't an educational post like the first two, but you should keep reading anyway. I'm going to tell you how Campbell is the perfect institution for service learning to take seed and flourish. More importantly, hopefully my handy dandy list will further persuade you to shout from the rooftops and write happy jingles about the service learning program and the impact it will make on the community.

1. Service is nothing new at Campbell. Ask around and you'll find out about clubs, departments, and individual students who have endeavored and succeeded in applying their studies to serving and changing the community. We like service so much it's in the mission statement.

2. Service learning at Campbell is organic. It wasn't a demand from someone in a tailored suit. It's been a hopeful whisper over the last few years, but now we're preaching it for all to hear. It's a centralized effort executed by the students and faculty with leadership by the students and faculty.

3. Campbell is a liberal arts institution. That doesn't mean we paint and vote for Democrats all day. It means Campbell wants students to receive a holistic education that includes knowledge outside the classroom, including how to use a moral and ethical compass.

4. Campbell is a faith-based institution. If you speak Christian-ese, you know exactly what this part means. If you haven't picked up the slang of the Christian sub-culture, No. 4 means Campbell's goals are motivated by spiritual endeavors. For example, following Jesus' many challenges to serve others.

Those are just the most obvious beneficial conditions that come to mind. Others include willing students, selfless faculty, and a culture of inward and outward change.

I pray we can plant our mustard seed successfuly and patiently watch the mustard tree grow in beauty and grace.

Let's make Merriam and Webster proud

What words or images do you associate with service learning? I initially linked it to helping in a soup kitchen, picking up trash, and other "work for free" and service-heavy ideas.

While service learning certainly is akin to other service-related concepts, it's a lion of its own and I'd like to take you through a few definitions (from this book) that will clarify what service learning is and how it's unique from other kinds of service.

Volunteerism: activities carried out by individuals of their own free will that benefit others and that are not compensated.

- The emphasis in volunteerism is placed on service, not learning.

Community service: a contribution of time and labor to address human and community needs. It may be based on a mandated requirement or extrinsic reward.

- The emphasis in community service is on service, not learning.

As you can see, the terms we easily associate with service learning are similar in concept but very different in application.

Service learning: a strategy for learning course content and developing social consciousness.

- Themes in the world of service learning are: collaboration with the community, reflection on service, active learning, explicit connections between service and the curriculum, and the development of students' civic and social responsibility.

In short, service learning at its best is a perfectly balanced melding of a hands-on lesson from the curriculum that betters the community through the students' service.

The basics

Campbell's brand spankin' new service learning program is tearing open a new chapter in university history. How service learning came to be and how it ended up at Campbell is a long story that probably requires colorful illustrations, so I'll brief you.

Service learning is the ultimate way to accomplish two intertwined goals:

1. Community engagement

2. Hands-on academic lesson

Basically, service learning is taking lessons from a class and applying them in a sustainable service project. By "sustainable," I mean long-term and self-replenishing.

Campbell has a history of service that any proud Camel will be happy to tell you about. The new service learning program is a culmination of years of clubs, departments, and individual students reaching out to touch the untouchables of Harnett County.

A program in its infancy has a lot to gain and a lot to lose, but I have complete confidence that the program will flourish and prove to onlookers the impact a dedicated university can have on one rural county in the Sandhills of North Carolina.

- Sara McCarthy
Campbell University Service Learning VISTA
sara.melinda.mccarthy@gmail.com