OVER , ABOVE , BEYOND
members of the Board of Trustees , and talking with campus and community leaders to learn about leadership in practice .
SERVICE SCHOLARS : PASSION AND PURPOSE
The Service Scholars program was the first Scholars program established at SU , as is fitting for a campus with a long legacy of service and dedication to its community . Faculty Director for Service Scholars , Holly Lentz-Schiller , Ph . D ., Director , Service Scholars Program Associate Professor of Marketing and Lead Faculty , Fashion Merchandising , describes students who come to the Service Scholars program as “ thoughtful in multiple ways , considerate , and inclusive in their thinking and the way they treat others . Service is at their core and they live that .” Beginning in their first semester , students are introduced to the concept of service and meet local community partners . Of paramount importance is the ability to listen and understand the needs of the community partner so that service hours can be put to the best possible use . Among the many community partners working with the SU Service Scholars are the Maryland SPCA , Casa Latina , the Maryland Toolbank , Warm Up America , and Irvine Nature Center .
Ben Fertig , Visiting Senior Lecturer in Biology and former Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator at Irvine Nature Center in Owings Mills , has had the opportunity to work with SU students as both an instructor for service-learning courses and as a community partner . At Irvine , Fertig worked with a number of SU Service Scholars across Irvine ’ s various departments on projects involving animal care , land stewardship , and education . He notes how exciting it is when students develop sustained relationships with their service sites and find their passion , becoming integral parts of the organizations they serve . In addition to making connections with the staff at Irvine , student volunteers also
First-year Honors , Leadership , and Service Scholars participate in an Outward Bound experience as part of a three-day Pre-Orientation prior to the start of the fall semester . From ropes courses to sailing the Baltimore Harbor , these activities give the students a chance to meet , connect , and build a community with the other first-year Scholars as they learn team building and leadership skills together .
connect with the community members served by Irvine — more than 95,000 visitors per year . As both a community partner and now a faculty member at SU , Fertig emphasizes the “ learning part of service-learning ” in his courses , finding the teachable moments when students learn how to analyze the needs of their community partners and raise their own expectations of themselves .
Students in the Service Scholars program complete at least 100 hours of service each academic year . They are introduced to a range of service sites in their first semester through SVC 101 : Foundations of Service-Learning , a required course in which students meet various partners and learn about the basics of service-learning through discussion , activities , and academic reading . Students then take additional service-learning courses within their major or through their general education requirements . The university ’ s commitment to this program is evident in the wide range of service-learning courses offered each semester in academic areas including Graphic Design , Communication , Biology , Nursing , Marketing , Psychology , History , and English . Service-learning courses , explains Lentz- Schiller , allow students to “ combine passion and purpose .” Students develop new skills by bringing the principles of servicelearning to bear on the content of the courses in their major and participating in experiential learning outside the classroom .
THE MANY STEPS TO LEADERSHIP Developed on the model of the Service Scholars program , Stevenson ’ s Leadership Scholars program offers students with a
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