USD Magazine, Spring 1993

volunteer activities. "That's the beauti– ful part of campus-based programs," she says, comparing her USD experience to previous volunteer experiences. "I never before had the opportunity to become a coordinator or play a larger role. That gave me the resources and the tools to continue my commitment to the commu– nity at a new level of involvement." Kristin also agrees wholeheartedly with the concept that service should be linked to learning. "By integrating ser– vice and learning, you are taking every– thing you learn in the classroom and linking it to reality," she asserts. "So many courses have a natural connection. I would advocate, for example, that biol– ogy classes include a service component in the environment so the students can experience the issues in action." USD students can get academic cred– it for volunteering by developing an approved internship with a community agency or by serving as a project coordi– nator or volunteer in one of four com– munity service programs that are linked to seminars. Students also can earn cer– tification through the 20-unit American Humanics program, which prepares stu– dents for leadership careers in human service (see related story on page 9). Even without the formal classroom– to-service link, students find that volun– teering increases their interest in and awareness of the world around them. Every semester, for example, campus ministry takes a group of 30 students across the border for a weekend to build houses in Tijuana. The experience never fails to open their eyes, says MaryEllen Pitard, associate campus minister. "When they go out into these colonias and see these incredibly poor people, see maybe six children and two or three adults living in areas that are smaller than their dorm room, the floors are dirt and the walls are cardboard and plastic, it's life-changing. No one is untouched by spending the weekend down there." "The whole part of education that you spend in the classroom is great," says junior Jason Orlando, a project coordinator for the Volunteers for Youth mentoring project. "You develop these theories and ideas. But really con– necting them to what's going on in the outside world is the hump you need to get over before you have been truly edu– cated."

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Robert jokes with a quick smile as he takes the pack. The equipment room reflects the state of the neighborhood: in disrepair, but serviceable. The window itself is simply a rectangular opening in a con– crete wall, nothing more. A rusted gro– cery cart holds an eclectic collection of old basketballs, four-square balls and a football; many of the shelves are missing or askew; seemingly abandoned and mis– matched tennis shoes are stacked in a cubbyhole; a shovel, rake and ladder are piled in a corner; and, for some reason, a single bowling pin rests on a box. When it seems most of the students have checked out the equipment they need for the afternoon, the volunteers join the games in progress on the play– ground. Calling most of the students by name, the volunteers work up a sweat in the afternoon heat. "Hopefully, we're giving them another way to see things," Jason says, while explaining why he is involved in volunteering. "I can't live my life with my head in a book. This is how I get away from campus. It's total reward." For students such as Jason who take on coordinator and other management posi– tions, USD's community services pro– gram fosters leadership development. Kristin (Hale) Parrish '92, credits this leadership experience with helping her land her current job as executive direc– tor of Campus Outreach Opportunity League, a national non-profit organiza– tion that promotes and supports college . student involvement in community ser– vice. During her years at USD, Kristin served as project coordinator for the family learning center and director of the student literacy corps, among other

Jason assembles USD volunteers to serve as a recreation staff for two hours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters. The junior high students often are newly arrived immigrant or refugee youths and many of the students have experienced great hardship and violence. They have unsupervised time after school and frequently are exposed to gang influence. Jason and the other vol– unteers provide a refuge of sorts through recreation while they exhibit a stable, positive influence for the young stu– dents. On another level, the volunteers hope to open the students' eyes to col– lege and career opportunities that may seem out of reach to them now. The program appears to be working, though the junior high students seemed skeptical initially. "At first," Jason says of the beginning of the year, "a group of six kids hung around the outskirts of the playground. One day they asked if they could play." Now, if there are fewer than 30 students on the playground, it's a slow day. Students come to the equipment room window in groups of two or three to check out equipment, to sign in as credit for a missed gym class, to store their backpacks for safekeeping or sim– ply to banter with the volunteers - some in fluent English, some in broken English, but all in earnest. "I want to leave my backpack in here," announces one Montgomery stu– dent to USD student Robert Grasso. "But can I trust you people?" "You can't trust anyone in life,"

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