Ask Caroline

Q: It's been two days since I emailed my community partner and I haven't heard back. What should I do? 

A: Remember most of our community partners are small nonprofits with a small very busy staff. Patience is always key but when you are in need of an immediate response try using key signal words in your subject line. It is also okay to try calling but with the expectation they may be busy. Remember they don't operate on a student schedule.

Service-Learning at Adventure Challenge

Adventure Challenge, the volunteer site that I have worked at for the past semester and a half, is an organization that was founded in order to further assist children with special needs. Mentors (who are usually college students) are partnered with a child and their family, and both parties go through initial match meetings in order to see if the mentor is a good fit for the family, and vice versa. From there, the mentor and mentee establish a bond and work together to advance the child's social skills, as well as their physical activity. I started working at Adventure Challenge because I hoped to go on to become a pediatric occupational therapist, so I thought that this would be an experience that would help expose me to my target demographic. 

I enjoy working with not only my mentee, but his family as well, week after week. We have developed a special bond, and not only was I able to understand more about a life that is drastically different from my own, but I was able to apply my Service-Learning experience to my classroom learning. This semester I am taking the Human Services Professions course with Professor Gardinier, and I have been able to apply numerous course concepts such as civic responsibility, and self-determination to my Service-Learning experience. It has been a joy to have a very different Service-Learning partner than my classmates, because I realized that although we are all working with organizations that have very different aims, we all connect our work and learn form one another's experiences. 

-Akiera Gilbert 

B.S. Human Services, Class of 2018

Who are these S-LTA leaders?

The Service-Learning Team Manager (S-LTM) program is the newest addition to Service-Learning (S-L) at Northeastern. This pilot program was created with two goals in mind: (1) to more proactively support the growth of S-L at Northeastern, and (2) to provide additional leadership opportunities to our S-L teaching assistants. Each of the five S-LTMs have a strong background in S-L and leadership so that they can manage a small cohort of fellow S-L teaching assistants by acting as mentors to discuss individual needs, challenges, and successes. This collaborative arrangement allows for more efficient communication, more individualized attention, and more measurable course management for S-LTAs and S-L staff. 

Congratulations Kathleen Collins, Deb Pacella, Sydney Palinkas, Nicole Pantano, and Barak Soreff for being selected as the first Service-Learning Team Managers! 

Meet Our Service-Learning Team Managers

Deb Pacella
Major (s): Political Science & English
Class of 2014
S-LTA: Becoming a Global Leader

  

Kathleen Collins
Major (s): English & Education
Class of 2015
S-LTA: College Writing 

Sydney Palinkas
Major (s): Human Services & Sociology
Class of 2014
S-LTA: Human Services Professions

Barak Soreff
Major (s): Sociology
Class of 2014
S-LTA: Phonetics

Nicole Pantano
Major (s): Psychology
Class of 2014
S-LTA: Child Intervention & Treatment