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SERVICE LEARNING AT LOYOLA:
CURA PERSONALIS
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Service learning at Loyola University New Orleans supports the Jesuit ideal CURA PERSONALIS—the education of the whole person. A holistic Jesuit education includes understanding and committing to those around us, especially the disadvantaged and oppressed. Through cultivating what former Superior General of the Society of Jesus Father PeterHans Kolvenbach, S.J., calls a “well-educated solidarity” with the broader world, Loyola students learn to let the world into their lives, “to feel it, think about it critically, respond to its suffering, and engage it constructively.” Service learning at Loyola supports the Jesuit belief that college is not only about what you learn but WHO YOU BECOME.
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“IT’S LIFE AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, TOO.” Emily Crochet, a psychology sophomore, has found that talking to five-year-olds can significantly help her Spanish. The thirdsemester Spanish student does service learning work at the Louise Head Start program, a bi-lingual center in New Orleans that prepares low-income Latino and other children to enter primary school. Crochet says talking to the children with whom she works forces her to articulate herself in ways she never would in the classroom, because of the distinction in age and culture between her and the children. The service component of Crochet’s work, and knowing that she is assisting members of a marginalized community, makes the experience more meaningful: “It makes it so it’s not just a class,” Crochet says. “It’s life and character development, too.”
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BUILDING NEW ORLEANS SMALL BUSINESSES The Good Work Network provides assistance to women- and minority-owned businesses in New Orleans, helping them with tasks like developing business plans and composing financial statements. Loyola service learning students in upper-level accounting classes taught by Jean Meyer, Ph.D., help Good Work Network’s clients prepare applications and streamline financial information in order to access capital. This year, Good Work Network began a partnership with Kiva, an international microlending agency that provides funding to Good Work Network clients assisted by Loyola students. Service learning cultivates in Meyer’s students a sense of the human element involved in accounting—along with hands-on experience and skills—while providing valuable services to Good Work Network and its clients and helping the city of New Orleans as it grows its small business economy.
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SCIENCE, EXCITEMENT, AND IMAGINATION “It’s amazing how easy it is to get kids’ attention when you’re making liquid nitrogen ice cream in front of them,” says Kurt Birdwhistell, Ph.D., whose students perform science demonstrations for children in New Orleans public schools. Middle school teachers spend much of their time repeating facts, figures, and formulas to prepare students for mandatory standardized tests. In the hours in front of chalkboards, the magic and excitement of science is often lost. Birdwhistell’s students present after-school demonstrations—like making liquid nitrogen ice cream, slime, or crushing cans with air pressure—that at once illustrate fundamental principles and inspire a love of science in young people. Through service learning, Birdwhistell’s students gain a deep understanding of the science they present. They also gain an awareness of the challenges facing science education in America’s public schools and the gratification of helping children overcome them.
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SERVICE LEARNING UPDATE •
U.S. News & World Report ranked Loyola’s service learning programs among the top 29 in the nation.
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712 students in 72 courses documented 21,132 hours of service learning at 62 partner agencies.
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According to Independent Sector and the Corporation for National and Community Service, Loyola’s service learning provided $395,379 in-kind value to our partners.
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74 percent of service learning students said the experience encouraged them to be involved in efforts for social change.
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76 percent of service learning faculty report that service learning gave them new teaching ideas.
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81 percent of our community partners said service learning students made valuable contributions to their agencies.
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OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 6363 St. Charles Avenue Campus Box 9 New Orleans, LA 70118 www.loyno.edu