SERVING APART BUT TOGETHER FOR CHANGE


FALL 2020


Bridging that gap certainly appeals to Hanna, a psychology major.


“I didn’t have service-learning experience,” Hanna explained. “[Apart But Together For Change] gives me an opportunity to practice a foreign language.”


Hanna will be working with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to assist students who have limited English proficiency with their learning.


For Stephanie Vasquez Loaeza, it’s also about helping others. She had previously volunteered at an animal shelter and loved the experience. Now, she’s helping children from underserved communities who are navigating virtual learning for the first time with their homework.


The COVID-19 pandemic may have changed the way people do things, but that doesn’t change the fact that people can, and should, help one another.


Apart But Together For Change, a fall 2020 Winthrop initiative, makes it possible. The program is an ideal compromise for students who feel more comfortable learning remotely this semester, yet still want to make a difference and add value to their degrees.


Spearheaded by Jeannie Haubert, chair of the Department of Sociology, Criminology and Anthropology, the initiative pairs four courses — Intro to Language and Culture; Principles of Sociology; Intro to the Criminal Justice System; and Sociology of Health and Illness — with one-hour service-learning projects. This nearly completes a sociology minor or puts a student halfway to a sociology major, Haubert noted.


“In each class, students propose a service project,” she explained. “The faculty member will have some starting points for potential projects that connect to the course, but the thought is that the student best knows the needs in his or her community. We want to empower them to be creative problem-solvers and active citizens in their own communities.”


Assistant Professor of Anthropology Brent Woodfill is supervising one of the program’s students, Orion


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Hanna, as well as teaching the Intro to Language and Culture course. He appreciates the program’s ability to apply the learning to everyday life.


“College students and faculty have a tendency to separate academic inquiry and everyday life to the detriment of both,” Woodfill said.


“I wanted to be of use to people who need it,” said the psychology major. “I enjoy trying to make others feel better, and a way to do that is to lift a weight off their shoulders. By helping out these students with homework, they are able to focus and do their work ahead of time so they do not have to worry about deadlines coming up so fast.”


SERVING APART BUT TOGETHER FOR CHANGE


She hopes she’ll have more chances to help others, and she sees a huge benefit to volunteer work and service learning.


“People should get involved with volunteer work because some of us are more fortunate than others,” she said. “If we have the privilege of offering time to people who would greatly appreciate it, then we should offer it. There are children who go home to an empty house because their parents have to work, so if we can be there to help with some basic needs, they could really benefit from that. It’s important for children to know that they matter.”


Interested in participating in Apart But Together For Change? Contact Jeannie Haubert at haubertj@winthrop.edu.


Interested in service learning? Contact the Center for Career Development and Internships at 803/323-2141.


“What’s in the classroom often just stays there, and it’s hard to really think about our own experiences and how they relate to what we’re learning from books and lectures. Service learning blows that all up and can help bridge the gap between academia and ‘real life.’” - Brent Woodfill


Service


Learning in Action


Service learning has always been an integral part of the Winthrop experience, from volunteering at homework clinics to working in gardens, from packing lunches to celebrating the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., from volunteering for Alternative Spring Break projects to spending time with, and putting smiles on the faces of, local senior citizens.


Close Scholars, who commit to 112 hours of community service each semester, and faculty paused for a photo after cleaning and clearing garden plots.


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