Class of 2009

Environmental Studies major

Peace Studies & Black World Studies minor

My experiential learning played a significant role in connecting what I learned inside the classroom to my experiences outside the classroom. Instead of the traditional college course, experiential learning allowed us to apply what we learned in class at our internships. We were able to explore outside of the classroom and come back and share our experiences with one another. You can sit for hours listening to a lecture about community service, but it's meaningless if you don't actually serve. Experiential learning gave us the opportunity to do both.

We were able to test the skills learned in the classroom by applying them to our internships and come back to the classroom and discuss what worked and what we struggled with. This allowed us to learn from one another and continue developing our skills. I remember struggling a bit to find my purpose with the organization I was serving, but the feedback I got from my peers helped lead me in the right direction and be successful. Experiential learning allowed us to reflect on our experiences and as the course went on I developed a deeper understanding of community-based service.

Experiential learning, and my overall experience at Loyola, has played a large role in my previous and current professional/community engagement. No matter where I have lived or worked I have been committed to serving my community in some sort of capacity. Shortly after graduating I chose to do a year of service with AmeriCorps and was able to use skills learned from experiential learning to help me better serve at my organization. I recently completed graduated school and chose to participate in a service learning program and currently I am working for a non profit where community engagement is a vital piece of my work.