Honors College Service Learning

As part of their Honors College commitment, members are required to complete 60 hours of service learning in order to graduate with an Honors College Diploma or certificate. Students will begin to develop their service learning projects as a component of the Honors College Cornerstone Seminar that they will take within their first year at SPC. Service learning varies from regular community service in that it requires an active engagement from students, using academic achievement and skills to serve their communities. Service learning projects should include the following goals, components and outcomes:

• Learning through service: Students should apply the leadership and critical thinking skills that they have honed as honors students to a specific problem or need within their communities.
• Reflection: Students should keep a journal or take notes of their service learning activities in order to chart both their own development and the effectiveness of the program that they are involved in. They should be able to demonstrate the benefits of their program by writing a paper or making an in-class presentation.
• Community involvement: Besides being able to practically apply classroom discoveries to real-world situations, students should also be able to see exactly how this knowledge is needed in their community. Service learning should foster a sense that all members of the community are interdependent, bolstering students’ sense of civic duty and engagement.

To obtain the proper forms to document your service learning project and hours, please log in to the Angel Honors College Commons.

Service Learning vs. Community Service

A great example of the differences between community service and service learning is illustrated by a recent service learning project that was undertaken by the students of one of our Honors Elementary Statistics classes. Working closely with their professor, they helped to survey, collect and analyze data from several volunteer organizations throughout Pinellas County. The students were able to help address a need within the community and to apply the techniques learned in their statistics class by collecting and disseminating information about volunteer agencies in their county.

Many organizations ask volunteers to help them collect information by administering surveys. What makes this project service learning is that the students also helped with analyzing the data, and helped to prepare a final report for the organizations involved. They went beyond doing a simple task to integrating their classroom experience with their community involvement.

Service Learning FAQ's