The meaning of Service Learning

Service Learning is a great way to benefit several people at once. When you participate in a service learning program, not only are you helping others and improving their lives, but you are improving your life by doing good and learning from the experience. Just because you are supposed to be the one teaching or the one helping does not mean you cannot be the one who learns a valuable lesson. By interacting with the people or organizations you are serving, you learn about situations and how to deal with them. You learn how to accomplish new tasks.
For instance, in our program we'll be mentoring 6th graders. We'll get a chance to see how they feel about middle school; their point of view. We may be faced with the challenge of trying to help them develop a study schedule or learning method that works best for them. We may be faced with the challenge of addressing important issues and finding the right advice to give. We can learn things by interacting with these kids that could help us in the future. At the same time, we are helping them succeed.