Keeping it real: "not just books" -- Learning through Serving!

By Dr. Martin Hodnett

At least seven courses offered at Oakwood University during spring semester 2013 had a service-learning component, where students had an opportunity to learn in a community setting as part of the course objectives. Students in these courses (collectively) provided over 1500 hours of serving learning to community organizations, including Village of Promise, the Child Development Lab, Chapman Middle School, Oakwood Adventist Academy, the Huntsville Housing Authority, and a number of others. The courses were:

1)    NU 411/417, Community Health Nursing/Nursing Performance (Dr. K. Anderson)

2)    CO 332, Writing for Public Relations (Mrs. P. Conwell)

3)    IS 430 Web Design (Miss S. Roach)

4)    FS439 Medical Nutrition Therapy (Dr. M. Sovyanhadi)

5)    ED 318 Methods in Social Studies & Bible (Dr. I. Enniss)

6)    OU 201 Community & Service Learning (Mrs. V. Leftridge); and

7)    PSY 357 Health Psychology (Dr. M. Hodnett).

Students answer enthusiastic questions at the Health and Wellness Fair at the Huntsville Housing Authority.

In the Health Psychology course taught by Dr. Hodnett, students were divided into groups of 4-5 individuals and were given the opportunity to choose a specific focus in mental or physical heath. Each group developed a presentation, activities, and displays for either adults or children. On April 19, 2013, each of the groups gave a presentation to a group of adults or several groups of children who are residents of the Huntsville Housing Authority, the community partner of this project.

According to Hodnett, "Health promotion, an aspect of health psychology, focuses on educating and empowering individuals to take active control of their physical and psychological health. I believe that took place through the health and wellness fair conducted by our students. I'm particularly proud of our students for the exemplary work they did with children and adults from our community."

A Pre-PT student wrote:  "From engaging in this experience, I realized that people who are less fortunate are just like us but with less money and not as good resources. I also realized that I can't blame people for not being healthy because a lot of people genuinely do not understand how to eat healthy. I realized that God has blessed my Christian denomination with so much good knowledge that needs to be spread throughout the nation and the world. I always knew this last part, but it really hit me as a result of this project.  This experience also my thinking about my potential career. I thought I wanted to get my Doctorate in Physical Therapy, but as a result ofthis project and other things, (...) made me consider maybe doing something different including getting a Doctor of Public Health Preventive Specialist degree, so that I can really know that I am helping people."

Another student wrote: "This service experience really caused me to question how much is actually done for these communities by our university. This was my first service experience that was implemented in class. It should be done more often seeing that the motto of Oakwood University is 'Enter to learn, depart to serve.' Service should also be done while we are in school so it can be normal to serve when we leave."

Frederick Whitlow II, Youth and Family Services Coordinator at the Huntsville Housing Authority had this to say regarding the health and wellness coordinated by the Health Psychology class: "It is through meaningful and well planned service-learning projects such as this one that many lives in our community are impacted and empowered to achieve their lifelong goals. Together we will continue to fulfill the mission and goals of community involvement, self-sufficiency, and create a better quality of life, one family at a time. Keep up the good work OU."