Service learning extends classroom walls

ELI student volunteers applaud Special Olympics winners in June.

"Let’s have one more round of applause for the award winners in the 50 meter freestyle.”

Carlos Villa of Colombia handled the microphone like a pro. He clearly was enjoying the role of emcee.

“It was my first option,” he said, “but it’s very hard pronouncing the last names.”

Carlos wasn’t referring to the “exotic” names ELI teachers sometimes have trouble getting their tongues around at graduation. Nor were the other ELI students in the audience applauding their peers. This was the Special Olympics, held on the University of Delaware campus. And for one full day in the bright June sun, ELI students were volunteering alongside Americans for a common cause––supporting this annual event which affords young people with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to compete and succeed in athletics.

Carlos Villa of Colombia emceed the awards ceremony.

In addition to Carlos, more than 40 other ELI students volunteered at the event. Besides cheering participants in both the track and swimming contests, ELI students played a key role in the awards ceremony for the swimming competition. They organized the medals. They escorted the winners on and off the awards podium. And, alongside participants’ families and friends, they applauded each and every medalist.

For some, like Dong-Ah Shin of South Korea, there was a personal connection. “I have a cousin who has a handicap, so I really enjoy this,” she said. “It’s just awesome.”

Others were intrigued by the novelty.

Students match Special Olympics medals with their winners

“This is very interesting,” said Sebastian Quehoga of Chile. “In my country [this kind of event] is not normal.”

The activity was the second in a series of service learning projects organized by staff members Deb Detzel and Chris Wolfe. Each had a dual goal -- engage students in community service and expand their opportunities to practice English and to learn about American culture.

“The program reflects a current trend in education in the United States,” said Detzel, citing the service learning initiative at the University of Delaware and community service requirements in many American high schools.

“At the same time, our students are always looking for ways to get involved in American life. This is a way to meet a real need and an opportunity to do some good as well.”

The new initiative was inaugurated following a suggestion made by ELI director Dr. Scott Stevens and unanimously approved by faculty at the annual retreat in April.

“The spirit of volunteerism and sense of civic duty, though not unique to America, is one of our country’s most most endearing qualities,” explained Stevens.

Hungry but happy volunteers chow down at ELI after a morning cleaning the Christina River of trash.

The first volunteer opportunity came soon after that, as two busloads of ELI volunteers joined the annual Christina River cleanup in April. That six-hour adventure had students filling hundreds of bags with trash pulled out of Churchmans Marsh.

At the beginning of the May-June session, Detzel and Wolfe surveyed students about their interests for future service projects. Each category -- working with people with special needs, with Habitat for Humanity, the elderly, the environment and the underprivileged -- was selected by a dozen or more students, said Detzel, with some receiving more than 30 responses. As a result of group discussions, visits to a local nursing home and to the Food Bank of Delaware were planned. Students helped promote the events with posters and flyers.

“There’s a universal human response when people are needy,” said Detzel, referring to the visits to the Newark Manor nursing home. “These were just old people who needed someone to talk to them. Our students were entirely comfortable there. As soon as we left, our students asked when they could come back.”

In contrast, the pace at the Food Bank was “fast and furious.” The 37 students divided into four groups, each with a different responsibility: packing school lunches, washing and drying the coolers used to deliver food, filling food boxes for families, or stocking and organizing the shelves of a walk-in supermarket.

“It was a blitz of work,” said Detzel. The experience led to an animated discussion on the role of government, charities and volunteers.

The Food Bank of Delaware welcomed ELI volunteers in the summer.

“Our students have no end of curiosity about real life issues here,” she said. Detzel admitted that the logistics of organizing such activities for ELI students were difficult.

“The problem is the number of students. Most agencies are small and can take only a small number of volunteers.

“But,” she said, “the interest students show in service learning makes it worth it.”

“To see our international students catch the spirit of volunteerism and spread it to their own communities upon returning home is a beautiful thing,” added Scott Stevens.

“I couldn’t be happier with Chris and Deb’s efforts to launch this program and with our own students’ enthusiastic response to the opportunity to serve others.” • BM