Learning Service

New England Journal of Higher Education, The, Fall 2006

As the fall term began, 35 Amherst College freshmen, 10 student trip leaders and two trip coordinators left the safe brick and rolling hills of their campus for three days of intense service work in gritty downtown Holyoke, 15 miles to the south. There, they built houses, harvested vegetables, sorted donations at a food pantry and hosted an ice cream social for war veterans through organizations ranging from the YMCA to the community development group Nuestras Raices. They also attended presentations and interactive workshops focused on community empowerment, poverty and institutional racism.

The idea behind the project, Amtierst officials say, is to start a dialogue about how college students can help communities in need.

In July, Amherst received a sevenyear, $13 million grant from the Argosy Foundation to establish a Center for Community Engagement, which will link such action-oriented public service programs to academics at Amherst. In addition to providing paid public service internships for students, I the center will help Amherst faculty develop community-based learning courses to connect students' hands-on service experiences to the college's liberal arts curriculum.

The Argosy Foundation was created I by Boston Scientific founder John E. Abele, a 1959 Amherst graduate.