Service learning is community work with a clear academic component, but class credits earned may be the least of rewards gained. Through reciprocal relationships between IU students and community organizations, community needs are identified and fulfilled, and academic learning is made relevant, leaving all participants enriched.

While service learning on the Bloomington campus is not new, the Office of Community Partnerships in Service-Learning (OCPSL) as a full-time entity was created in August 1998 to support quality service learning classes at IU and to help the community find entry to the university's resources. Director JoAnn Campbell says that service learning is a growing national trend.

"I think one reason service learning is growing is that challenges in our communities are more complex than ever," she said, "and higher education, with its many human, intellectual and financial resources, has both the capacity and the responsibility to articulate problems of living and propose possible solutions."

According to Campbell, who notes that more grant money is being set aside for service learning nationally, Bloomington's increased focus comes in part from the interest and support of Ken Gros Louis, IU vice president for academic affairs and Bloomington campus chancellor, and a core group of IUB staff, faculty and community members who have worked for years to this end. But the wind also blows from another direction‹students. "Studies indicate that 75 percent of incoming students have done community service in high school, so demand for these opportunities is increasing," Campbell said.

With energies channeled through OCPSL, several new service-learning opportunities are now available to students, faculty and community organizations in Bloomington, in addition to those school-based volunteer programs that have existed previously, such as the 10-year-old community service effort in the Kelley School of Business, or those in the Student Activities Office or the Residence Hall Association.

Instead of soaking up rays in tanning booths in preparation for spring break at the beach, numerous IUB students have signed on for one of three service-learning opportunities. The brainchild of Carl Ziegler, director of Collins Living Learning Center, this program was made possible by a $77,000 grant over three years from Lilly retention monies and collaborations between OCPSL and the Division of Residential Programs and Services. Each alternative spring break course lasts for six weeks‹three weeks of studying theoretical, social and cultural issues enhanced by the service, a week of on site work, and a two-week reflection. Initial sites are: Posoltega, Nicaragua (pending approval from the International Studies Advisory Council), South Bend and Bloomington.

"Students in the Posoltega project will study Latin American politics and history before going to help Blooming-ton's Sister City recover from the mudslide of 1998," said Catherine Gray, project coordinator. "Students in the South Bend course will study the effects of poverty on children and creativity before working at 'There Are Children Here,' a camp for inner-city children. Students in the Bloomington class will study adventure literature, its history and appeal and then will take children from the Rise, transitional housing, and Shelter, Inc. on excursions and adventures."