Reflection is an integral part of Service Learning and attendance for at least one session is HIGHLY encouraged.
Many professors have made attendance mandatory for their classes. You are welcome to attend as many sessions as you would like. Mark your calendars now and be sure to save the date for the topic(s) that spark your interest. These reflections are specifically geared towards service learning experiences.
It should be noted that attendance will be taken at each reflection session in order to inform professors of your participation. We hope to see you there!
PDF of the Reflection Session Schedule
NOTE: Topics listed below will be used for the Spring 2012 semester.
Journey: A Pre-Service Reflection
Wednesday, February 1, 6:30-8pm, AMU 227
Service Learning is like no academic assignment that you have had before. Through service we are asked to confront our own values and vulnerabilities, the inequality of our society, and harshness of marginalization. We will be asked to learn from the city and apply our new knowledge to coursework. Instead of only reading about theories and concepts in class, we will be asked to test, feel, and observe those concepts in real life. This new experience is bound to take you out of your comfort zone. Veteran service learning students will share some of their own reflections of how they made sense of their experience. Participants in this session will explore their own emotions, reservations, prejudices, hopes, and goals for this semester of service.
Listen: This is Where I'm Coming From
Tuesday, February 21, 12:30-2pm, AMU 227
Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. That’s all you have to do to achieve the “American Dream”, right? Well, what if your bootstraps aren’t long enough? What if the gaps in the system are too large to overcome? Sometimes the cards you are dealt just don’t allow you to play the game of life. In this reflection, students will hear from community members from various service agencies. These Marquette neighbors will share their stories: what they’ve been through and how they continue to fight to overcome the obstacles presented to them by society. Students and community members will share and discuss ways to move past cultural and societal frictions, in order to live and work in solidarity with our neighbors.
Enhance: Diving Deeper
Friday, March 23, 11:00-12:30pm, AMU 227
Have you ever been given an assignment where you were told to reflect on your service learning experiences, but found it difficult to expand past thinking, “It made me feel good about myself,” or “It made me appreciate what I have”? We are often asked to move past surface-level responses in reflection, but what does it mean to dig “deeper”? How do I do it? What difficult questions do I need to ask? This session will explore ways to expand personal reflection and connect our experiences and ideas discovered in service to those of a “bigger picture”. Using the Ignatian examen, participants will learn to better embrace and fully understand the greater significance of their experiences, and how it connects to our Jesuit mission.
Seek: Could There Be an End?
Tuesday, April 3, 5:00-6:30pm
Note this reflection is exclusively for veteran service learners (on your 3rd or more semester of SL) and will be held at Redeemer Church on 19th and Wisconsin Ave.
How has participating in multiple service learning courses at multiple service learning agencies impacted your Marquette education? Veteran service learning students should join us for this session that will be co-facilitated by Dr. Rev. Lisa Bates Froiland, pastor of Redemmer Lutheran Church and Director of the Zeidler Center for Public Discussion as we discuss poverty as a macro level issue. What have you learned about poverty in your cumulative experiences? So what does this mean to you and your vocational path? And what is your role and responsibility in taking action? Is poverty a social justice issue that can be eliminated?
Change: From Charity to Justice
Monday, April 16, 4:30-6pm, AMU 227
While it is important to meet our community members’ immediate needs by providing them with necessities like food or shelter, it is also important to take a step back and ask why those people are in need of our assistance. What about society keeps these people in their present situation? What are some of the root causes of the issues they are facing? How can I, as a student, make a real and lasting impact? This reflection session will discuss and answer some of these questions. We define both “charity” and “justice” and then work to understand the balance of the two. We will analyze the root causes of a number of social justice concerns and discuss how we can move beyond providing charity and begin working for justice.
Discern: The Paths Before Us
Wednesday, April 25, 4:30-6:00pm AMU 227
-OR-
Monday, April 30, 6:30-8pm, AMU 227
Please note that you should only attend one of these two sessions, you will not receive double credit for attending both
*Each of these reflections will be limited to the first 100 student attendees
Vocation is our call to live life with intention, integrity and generosity in the context of the world around us. This reflection session is meant to encourage Service Learners to take a real look inside the socially-aware individuals they are becoming through their service. In the session, students will reflect on their semester of service and the larger impact it will have on their lives. With the semester ending, we will ask the questions: Now what? How do I take my experiences from service learning and incorporate them into who I am and who do I want to be? How can my unique skills, gifts, talents and passions address community needs? Previous service learners will share their story of how service learning has affected their vocation, whether their job is centered around being socially-aware and socially-active or whether they simply incorporate service into their lifestyle outside of work.
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