Service Learning at a Glance



  • Karen Dizon
    "As a senior in college I can easily say that this course has impacted me the most out of all the courses that I took thus far as a student. The service learning experience definitely put topics regarding the prison system into a different perspective. With any subject, it is one thing to learn from a textbook, but it is more beneficial to discover new insights when the application is implementation through personal experience."

  • Lindsie Craven
    "This service learning has been inspirational, impacting, fun, and informative. It is a life changing experience that I am thankful to have been able to be involved in."

  • Sophie Barakat
    "I highly recommend it to students to take a service learning class because it will bring teaching to another level. I mean it is one thing to read about a topic and try to understand it right away, but when you actually go out to experience it, it just clicked in your head right away."

  • Meredith Coffey
    "Before this semester, I had not previously participated in any service learning courses, and unknowingly I signed up for two. I wish that I had taken one sooner. I have found them to be more interesting and overall a better learning experience because they provide hands-on learning. The community service involved with this course went nicely along with the subject matter, and helped reinforce the material."

Service Learning and the Lewis University Mission

The Mission of Lewis University encouraged the concept of Service Learning. “Lewis promotes the development of the complete person through the pursuit of wisdom and justice. Fundamental to its mission is a spirit of association which fosters community in all teaching, learning and service.”

Service Learning promotes the Lewis Mission: Service Learning compels our students to explore academic objectives (knowledge), learn life lessons from their experiences with the communities they serve (wisdom), and express their faith through service (fidelity). Service learning also promotes a community of caring among our students who work as a team on their projects and among the faculty and staff who facilitate their projects (association). Together faculty staff and students through service learning work to promote justice.

The Mission of the Office of Service Learning

Service Learning at Lewis University supports collaboration among Lewis colleges, student services, faculty, students and community agencies to provide opportunities for and assessment of transformative academic engagement within Service Learning courses and activities.

The Vision of the Office of Service Learning

Service Learning, a recognized component of educational excellence, is part of the scholarly culture of Lewis University.  Through the experience of service learning, students engage with the community through service, explore realities of justice and injustice, and reflect on their experiences in light of course objectives and resources.  Service learning within local, national and global communities is transformative.

What is Service Learning?

Service learning at Lewis University is an effective pedagogical tool in course design. Students engage in community service doing necessary work with community residents and organizations to address local problems. Service Learning is also as an effective means of learning academic knowledge and citizenship practices. Service learning may take several forms such as course components, whole course structures, internships, and action research projects. Though most service sites are in the school’s local community, some may be located in other cities and states, and countries. “The common denominator is the deliberate linkage of service, academic study, and structured reflection.” (AAHE Bulletin, February 1994, 11).” *

*A majority of this service-learning description was developed by Loyola University’s Center for Community Service and Justice and is being used with permission.

Service Learning Outcomes

After completion of Service Learning courses, projects or programs, students will:

  • Identify service and civic responsibility as personal and professional priorities
  • Learn academic course content in an engaged, practical setting
  • Have confidence that s/he can be an agent of change
  • Be effective, collaborative leaders
  • Be a self-reflective person in order to gain an understanding of local and global communities