Lumina project will incorporate service into curriculum

IU will receive $100,000 from the Lumina Foundation to fund service learning projects aimed at reaching first-generation students and students of color.\nThe Lumina Foundation is an Indianapolis based organization, and provides funding for secondary education through grants.\nThe first of its kind at any university, the project will incorporate community service into the curriculum of many introductory courses next fall, in order to bridge the gap between the classroom and the community. The project is primarily focused on first generation students and minorities.\n"Many students of color feel isolated on large college campuses," Lumina Foundation senior program officer Sam Cargile said. "Indiana University's service-learning project plans to break down this social isolation."\nProject coordinators are also targeting first-generation students who have little to no family history in college in order to help them make a smooth transition.\n"Many students who are the first in their families to go to college, do not have the same expectations to live up to," said Mike Wilkerson, communications coordinator for the Office of Student Development and Diversity. "My father was a college professor, so I know in my family it was expected that I would go to college and graduate, but not everyone comes from that background. By trying to target the classes many first-generation students take, we hope to get them involved in the community."\nThe Community Outreach and Partnerships in Service-Learning office will administer the project and hopes to have 17 classes in 11 departments participate in involving service learning into the coursework. Students who sign up for these courses will be required to fulfill a service learning project to be evaluated for a grade. \nJoAnn Campbell, Director of COPSL, hopes the project will help under-represented groups adjust to life on campus.\n"It will help students feel a sense of community, not just here at IU, but in Bloomington as well," Campbell said. "Students also get to know other students in their classes more quickly because they spend so much time together going to service projects."\nCampbell also said studies have shown community service projects are directly linked to a student's academic success.\n"When students participate in service-learning along with a course, they understand the course context on a deeper level because they've seen how it works in the real world," Campbell said.\nAdvocates for Community Engagement, a paid group of service-learning student coordinators will be in charge of organizing participation at different locations. One of COPSL's goals is to add 5-10 new service sites each year as an expansion of the project. \nCurrently there are 10 sites where a student can complete one's service requirement with locations such as the Boy's and Girl's Club, Girl's Inc., and Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department. \nIn order to carry out the project, student mentors, undergraduates who have previously completed the course, will assist the professors in preparing the service-projects and help students become oriented in their community.\n"With their previous experience in the course, the mentors will be able to help students make a connection between the community and the classroom," Campbell said.\nIU Vice President for Student Development and Diversity Charlie Nelms said in a statement that the program will also "enable those students selected as academic mentors and community liaisons to gain important leadership experience." \nStudents who are interested in enrolling in these service-related courses only need to simply enroll in those classes for Fall 2003. According to COPSL, the classes they are attempting to involve will most likely include courses such as introductory English, Psychology or Foreign Language courses which require no prerequisites.\nParticipation by students and service sites have increased every year since IU has organized its ACE program, and leaders at COPSL hope the new Lumina grant provides greater opportunities for students to integrate themselves into Bloomington's community.\n"I've had students involved in service-projects tell me that they didn't know their place beforehand," Campbell said. "And after they got involved in this program they really felt like they were a part of the community"