Service Learning

Service-Learning


Connecting service and learning experiences

Service-Learning combines academic instruction with meaningful service, allowing you to reach your educational goals while making a contribution to your community and the world at large.


Why is Service-Learning important?

It connects you to your curriculum in a way that goes beyond theory. You gain a deeper understanding of your studies, enhancing your ability to evaluate your learning and then apply that learning in the real world. You get to contribute to the needs at the local, national and even global levels, which is celebrated by the college and the community.


A rewarding way to learn

Service-Learning increases higher-order thinking skills such as critical analysis and problem solving. It also has a way of increasing your motivation to learn, and your ability to retain the knowledge you gain. Service-Learning often gives you skills you never knew you had, while raising your awareness and concern for the community. It even broadens your career possibilities! Best of all, we've found that being helpful and engaged through Service-Learning often raises self-esteem and a sense of personal accomplishment, encouraging you to cultivate a healthy relationship with yourself and the people around you.


Service-Learning experiences

Faculty members lead students through different community-based learning opportunities, depending on course curriculum, including:

  • Class projects: An assignment for an entire class at an agency that fits the course focus.
  • Group projects: Students work together in smaller groups to complete Service-Learning hours/projects at an agency that fits the course focus and assignment.
  • Individual placements: Students can serve at any of CGCC’s approved agencies.
  • Honors contracts: Students enrolled in Honors courses may choose to include a Service-Learning project in their Honors Contract for that course with their faculty member's permission. If you are an Honors student interested in learning more about this, please contact the Service-Learning & Civic Engagement Program.
  • Early childhood and teacher education placements: Students in CGCC’s Early Childhood and Teacher Education Program (ECTEP) can serve in local schools and early care centers as a part of their curriculum.
  • One-day/signature events: Service events that rally students to get out into the community in a focused and energized way, planned and organized by faculty and the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Program

Have a service idea? Tell us about it! Contact our Service-Learning & Civic Engagement Program  at service.learning@cgc.edu.


Recognition

 

Carnegie Foundation

Carnegie Foundation Elective Community Engagement Classification

Launched in 2006, the Carnegie Foundation Elective Community Engagement Classification recognizes higher education institutions and their communities for their partnerships.


Innovation of the Year:

Teacher Education + Service-Learning + Online = Success

The CGCC Teacher Education Program has service-learning as a core component of its curriculum. That means each semester, 375 to 425 students are individually placed in local classrooms for 20 to 30 hours of service. In 2009, the Service-Learning Office, in partnership with the Technology Support Services Department and Teacher Education faculty, implemented a web-based system for placing and monitoring students' service in the schools. The program and process have earned the respect and praise of local school districts, which have increased confidence in CGCC's systems for fingerprint management, placement, and monitoring of our students in their schools.


The President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll

The President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll

CGCC has been a proud recipient of this award since its inaugural year, 2006. The President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll annually recognizes institutions of higher education for their commitment to and achievement in community service. 


Get involved with Service-Learning and Civic Engagement

Looking for other ways to get involved on campus or in your community? Check out these opportunities.