Faculty members at Penn State Harrisburg are challenging students to make a difference in their community, utilizing service projects and public internships. By incorporating service learning, or community-impacting coursework, into their curriculum, professors promote civic responsibility and provide students with hands-on experience applicable in the workforce.
Dr. Senel Poyrazli, associate professor of counseling psychology, keeps students engaged in the community by partnering with several organizations. Poyrazli has arranged an undergraduate internship program with the Pennsylvania Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Network (PAIRWN), whose mission is “to help refer, advocate, network, and empower [immigrant and refugee women in Pennsylvania] to live to their fullest potential.”
PAIRWN interns help organize events and workshops, volunteer for network activities, and serve on the PAIRWN Board of Directors. Poyrazli said students involved in the network build self confidence and networking skills, enhance their résumé with practical experience, and become more active in the community. “When these students get involved [with the women’s network], they stay involved for several years,” Poyrazli said.
Poyrazli had also coordinated a research internship program for three years with two schools in under-privileged areas – a Harrisburg alternative school and a Lancaster charter school. Interns helped the organizations conduct independent evaluations for grant applications, working in the schools and visiting students’ homes to collect data, interviewing parents or guardians and discussing home conditions and student involvement. “The level of poverty [interns witnessed in the homes they visited] was an eye opening experience for them,” said Poyrazli.
Dr. Kenneth Cunningham, associate professor of sociology, makes service learning accessible for students in his classes. Cunningham is co-author of the on-line Community Service Learning Handbook, which lists dozens of Central Pennsylvania sites for students in a variety of fields.
Dr. Roderick Lee, assistant professor of information systems, incorporates service learning as part of his students’ educational experience by connecting student groups with local non-profit organizations to develop web applications. “I believe students involved in community service projects are better prepared for the workforce,” said Lee.
Lee partners with groups that lack the resources or means to create or manage their own Web sites. Some of the more notable student projects have included a site to raise awareness for MECP2 Duplication Syndrome – a rare genetic disease, for the Central Pennsylvania Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, for the PHR Baseball Association, and the implementation of Twitter by Lower Paxton Township’s Friendship Community Center. Lee said the projects offer in-class benefits for students – increased academic achievement, active engagement, and better retention rates.
“By being involved in a real project, students see that the information they’re learning can make a difference in the community,” said Lee. “Students start to realize and appreciate some of the realities that they see in these organizations, most notably the digital divide between organizations with necessary resources and those without, so they develop an ethic of civic and social responsibility.”
