In the Community, Students Are Working Smarter and More Effectively
Students say they're working closer with community groups in doing volunteer work
Thursday, May 6, 2004
"It's something I've been doing since I was 7 years old," said Anderson, 22, a graduating senior from Bethesda, Md. "It comes from strong personal commitment and a belief that I belong to a larger community and that I have a responsibility to be an active and positive participant in that community."
Anderson is hardly alone at Duke.
About 75 percent of the Class of 2004 performed some community service while at Duke, through the Community Service Center (CSC), the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership and service-learning courses. Beyond Durham, students volunteer nationally and internationally through programs such as the Kenan Institute for Ethics, the Hart Leadership Program and Duke Chapel.
"For a lot of students, it's about getting a connection to the 'real world,'" said Elaine Madison, director of the CSC. "Many students are also looking for volunteer opportunities related to their planned vocational fields. For them, it is an opportunity to get a taste of work life and to get a better understanding of the field they think they want to work in after completing their educations."
Heidi Schumacher: A career built on serviceSenior Heidi Schumacher, a pre-med student graduating with honors in history, said she believes her community service work has been essential to choosing her planned career as a pediatric oncologist and to becoming the person she is today.
"It is through service that we find a firmer grounding in ourselves and our communities," said the 21-year-old from Albany, N.Y. "The self-awareness that accompanies service helps us to recognize why we make the career and life decisions we do. It assures that we are prepared for life after college. And it reminds us of our purpose in our work: to benefit others and to work to change our communities."
Schumacher spent three summers of her college career working one-on-one with chronically and terminally ill children through the Catholic Charities Disabilities Services in her hometown and the Double "H" - Hole in the Woods Ranch in Lake Luzerne, N.Y.
During the school year, Schumacher coordinated and recruited for service projects, organized projects on and off campus, tutored, worked with children and ushered at Duke Chapel. As a senior, she co-directed the CSC as a senior, overseeing 22 student service groups and a 20-person staff.
A Change for the Better
Support for community service from faculty and administrators at Duke has undergone "a real sea change" during President Nannerl O. Keohane's tenure as she publicly and repeatedly encouraged such efforts, according to Madison.
"Because of the formal, institutional commitment that President Keohane supported over the past decade, there is tremendous support for students and their endeavors in the community," she said.
The commitment to community service can be measured in many ways, from the inception of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership in 1996 to the $10 million that Duke has generated in the past six years from individuals, foundations, corporations and government sources to support public education in the Durham Public Schools.
"We're living out President Keohane's vision," said Sam Miglarese, assistant director of the Office of Community Affairs. "The Duke-Durham relationship has, from my perspective, never been healthier. I see that health in the quality and quantity of student projects, in the growing financial support for the Duke-Durham Campaign [which supports the Neighborhood Partnership] and the increased commitment to civic engagement and a higher sense of citizenship. Duke and Durham people want to participate in to the dynamic of these partnerships."
That dynamism can be seen in the university's service-learning program, which oversees the efforts of about 500 students each year in 30 academic courses to perform course-related service with 27 community partners.
For example, "Scholarship with a Civic Mission: Research Service Learning at Duke," a program begun last year and funded by a $454,000 U.S. Department of Education grant, provides funding for undergraduates and faculty to conduct field research, collaborate with community partners and complete independent research projects.
"There are now many more opportunities for students to become involved," said Betsy Alden, the university's service learning coordinator. "This is an opportunity for students to, in an extended way, be a part of the solution."
Jessica Rutter: Politically and socially active
Jessica Rutter, a 22-year-old graduating senior from Plainview, N.Y., took advantage of one of those opportunities when she participated in Service Opportunities in Leadership (SOL), coordinated by the Sanford Institute of Public Policy's Hart Leadership Program.
Rutter, who was involved with the CSC as a freshman and sophomore, spent a summer working with youth in Chicago and women in prison. The experience prompted her to shift her focus from "Band-Aid" projects, such as volunteering in a soup kitchen or tutoring programs, to becoming more politically and socially active.
She joined various campus groups, including Students Against Sweatshops, and organized protests, marches, teach-ins and demonstrations against Mt. Olive pickles, outsourcing of campus jobs and the sale of the Duke University Health System laundry facility to Angelica Corporation. She has accepted a job as a national organizer with United Students Against Sweatshops based in Washington, D.C.
"I would never say today that I'm helping people," said Rutter, who majored in African and African-American Studies. "I would say that I'm working with people."
Mandy Anderson: Duke has more work to doAnderson, a public policy major and political science minor, took part in a wide range of community service projects during her four years at Duke -- from teaching HIV/AIDS prevention while studying abroad in South Africa to developing and team teaching for two years a house course on social justice issues that has raised more than $24,000 for 26 Durham-area non-profit organizations. She also worked for the university's Office of Community Affairs and coordinated hundreds of volunteers this past fall during the Habitat for Humanity Blitz Build on East Campus.
The work by Schumacher and Anderson was acknowledged this spring when both women received William J. Griffith University Service awards, which are presented to students "whose contributions to the Duke and larger communities have made a significant impact on university life."
Duke has more work ahead if it is truly to live up to its community service potential, according to Anderson. "The breadth of service is great," she said. "I'm concerned about the depth. Does Duke inspire a belief in the value of a lifetime of service? That's what I'm concerned about." Schumacher agrees.
"Because Duke is such an elite academic institution, a lot of students think academics must come first, to the detriment of other activities and opportunities, including community service," she said. "The university needs to work harder to produce social justice-minded individuals who will leave the university with the skills and background to enact change in their communities."
