CSUCI week to make service-learning a focus

Learn and Serve Challenge Week will be from Sept. 17 to 23 at California State University Channel Islands. The week is intended to raise awareness of the benefits of service-learning.

Servicelearning is a teaching method that incorporates community work into the curriculum, giving students realworld experience in their field while meeting community needs.

CSUCI has established partnerships with more than 25 community-based organizations and schools in Ventura County.

CSUCI students have tutored at-risk youth in reading and writing, created art classes for the children of Meta Street Housing Development, captured oral histories of evicted farmworkers in Oxnard, worked to bring electricity to the homes of orphans in Rwanda and conducted field research in La Manzanilla, Mexico, to address ecosystem issues caused by the rise in tourism. Studentcollected data will be used to inform local restoration and educational initiatives.

Last year at CSUCI, more than 400 students participated in 30 service-learning courses, providing more than 6,500 hours of service and an economic benefit of $133,000 to surrounding communities.

In addition, CSUCI is working in partnership with Moorpark, Oxnard, Ventura colleges, and with Santa Barbara City College to train more faculty to teach service-learning courses.

For more information about CSUCI's servicelearning activities, call Ceal Potts, CSUCI communications specialist, at (805) 437-8490 or e-mail cecilia.potts@ csuci.edu.