Public Health House: Learning Through Service

by David Andrew, second year biological sciences major

Hello! My name is David and I’m a second year resident of the Public Health House Learning Community. I’ll be posting about different aspects of the Learning Community experience and some of the activities my peers and I participate in through our involvement with the LC.

One of the primary aspects of the Public Health House experience is the emphasis on Service Learning. Service Learning is best defined as “a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.” Through Service Learning, students use the skills and information they have acquired in the classroom on real-world service that benefits the community. They then analyze their experiences (either through reflections or quantitative/qualitative analysis of acquired information) to reach further conclusions. This practical application of knowledge and skills informs the volunteer in a way that strict classroom or book learning could never do, and initiates a continuous cycle of enrichment.

PHH students receive information and instruction through our specially designed INTD courses, as well as guest lectures and seminars. Topics have included, to name just a few: health disparities, public policy, controversies in health care, the effects of social, economic, cultural and environmental factors on health, specific issues like food security and sex education, and extraordinary health care situations. These topics lend themselves to a great number of complex and diverse involvements and programs, just as astoundingly complex and inclusive as the field of Public Health itself. Public Health House members have participated in literally dozens of programs, several of which I will detail in coming posts, such as the Husky Programs, which focus on nutrition and health education outreach for economically disadvantaged children and parents; the Migrant Farm Workers Clinic, which attends to the health care needs of Connecticut’s migrant and seasonal farm workers, and other on and off-campus service programs.

Service Learning is the full package. It provides real world experiences and “street smarts”, benefits the state and community in valuable ways, and moves students from the University of Connecticut to Connecticut itself, revealing the subtle complexities of our world, truths both good and bad, heartening and disheartening, inspiring and unforgettable. It opens new horizons of thought and understanding to the student- it is an education in the truest sense of the word.