-
1 of 10
-
2 of 10
-
3 of 10
-
4 of 10
-
5 of 10
-
6 of 10
-
7 of 10
-
8 of 10
-
9 of 10
-
10 of 10
Service Learning takes education beyond the classroom
Archive
Comments
Story
Last Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on the third floor of the Interactive Learning Center hosted a poster exhibition of all the Service-Learning Program projects that were completed this semester at Boise State University.
The topics the different groups of students chose to work on ranged from art displays to complicated biochemical science.
The main concepts the students researched were politics, governmental processes and the effect of federal and local government in passing laws.
Boise State offers two ways for students to get involved in the Service-Learning program.
Students can sign up for an integrated course, which requires 10-25 hours of service relevant to class requirements or for a Service-Learning lab which requires 40 hours of service and gives the student one extra academic credit.
“The idea is that they learn while filling a community need,” Service-Learning Student Support Coordinator Jillana Finnegan said.
This semester students worked with approximately 82 agencies, along with about 969 students from 50 different classes. This totals to approximately 22,361 service hours.
The organization that many Service Learning students worked with was the Snake River Alliance.
“They are a grass roots company, which means they are for pro-green issues, anti-nuclear reactor, solar, wind, biomass etc.,” Brett Chesney, an English literature major and participant in the Service-Learning project with the SRA, said. “Right now they are working against the building of the Bruno Nuclear Reactor near Marsing, Idaho and the Payette Reactor near Payette, Idaho.”
They also came to a better understanding of the effects of nuclear power, alternative energy sources, and how to present those facts as an organization. These students learned about the concerns that many residents of Idaho have about the reactor.
“It was different than previous experiences. Working with non-profit organizations such as the Snake River Alliance, you get to see a lot of the changes that are happening instantly. As soon as new information is brought up for or against the issues they’re going for everything can change. It was kind of stressful at times, but interesting,” Chesney said.
A key point that the Service Learning Center focuses on is that students see the correlation between what they are learning in class and how it applies to an organization.
“This process has been entirely vital to my education at BSU. It’s been important for me as a person, as a citizen of Idaho and as a human being. I think everyone should be aware of the effects of nuclear waste and the lie that it’s a green energy source. The word ‘green’ is becoming such a loaded term,” Chesney said. “But raising awareness of what nuclear energy’s impact is on the environment and to communities is what’s important. The health effects of which a lot of people are unaware of. There is a lot of statistics and figures out there that are not researched accurately and people tend to get in the habit of quoting bad facts and misconstrued data. A lot of companies are using this as a way to make money with not so much care for the environment and these communities.”
Another group of students worked with briquettes to try to find an alternative fuel source.
“We wanted to make sure there aren’t risks such as carcinogens or acid rain associated with the different briquettes,” biochemistry major Trevers Bennett, who worked on the project, said.
Another group of students worked to determine if there was a cheaper, more practical way to find out where fish have live and reveal their migration patterns.
“We hope to help [Rocky Mountain] Wildlife determine what is happening with fish populations,” Konrad Billetz, biochemistry major, said.
Another group determined Boise State students’ attitudes of the homeless population here in Boise.
“We made a survey about attitudes of homelessness and administered it to BSU students. Women were more OK with donating money and men were more okay with donating clothes,” group member Patrick Olsen, double-major in psychology and philosophy, said. “Liberals were more likely to be OK with the government taking $25 out their taxes for the homeless whereas conservatives wanted charities and organizations to help.”
Finnegan noted that many of the students go on and continue to work with their organization either by volunteering or obtaining jobs with the companies.
For more information on Service-Learning projects go to
www.servicelearning.boisestate.edu or call 426-1004.
RYAN RASMUSSEN AND MATTHEW BOYLE
Culture Writers
