Service Trip #3

In less than 24 hours, I will be with 8 other participants of the 2010 Service Learning Trip traveling to Negril, Jamaica.  Months of preparation and planning will soon be rewarded with smiles, sunshine, and life changing experiences.


The best part of the Northcentral Technical Colleges Service Learning Trip, for me, is to see the faces of our learners as they embrace each experience in a new country.  I have literally shed tears watching a student look out the window of an airplane gliding above crystal blue waters of an ocean that she might have never seen before had it not been for the Service Learning class taken through Northcentral Technical College.  What exactly is service learning?


Service learning is taking the skills learned in the classroom into real life situations.  It is living NTC's motto of "Real Life, Real Learning".  In the Human Services Program at NTC, students routinely participate in activities such as community service work and other volunteer experiences that allow them reflect and utilize the knowledge that they have gained through their education into real life experiences.  The Service Learning class accomplishes the same task, but from an international perspective.  For example, upon leaving the airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica, the chaporones for the trip will encourage reflection upon what students are seeing during the 90 minute drive to Negril, Jamaica.  Students routinely comment that the people are "so laid back" as we venture along the route to our loding.  It is through discussion that the students realize that this "laid back" approach is partially due to unemployment and  lack of a place to go. According to the U.S. Department of State, " Jamaica's political system is stable. However, the country's serious economic problems have exacerbated social problems and have become the subject of political debate. High unemployment--averaging 12.5%--rampant underemployment, growing debt, and high interest rates are the most serious economic problems. "

Service learning is an important part of the educational and life experience.  Thank you for your support as we embark on our journey. Please feel free to make comments/ask questions/ etc. as we are abroad.  We want YOU to be part of our learning experience.