Religion & Refugees: A Service-Learning Partnership

In Fall 2016, the Department of Philosophy & World Religions offered its Senior Seminar for its Religion majors and minors. Newly re-designed as a result of the inaugural Service Learning Institute, this Senior Seminar utilized critical service-learning to provide a high-impact capstone experience in order to prepare students for their transition from college to career. Partnering with Ethnic Minorities of Burma Resource and Advocacy Center (EMBARC), the Senior Seminar required students to participate in either indirect or direct service. Students choosing direct service served as a workforce readiness mentors while students choosing indirect service worked together to create a workforce readiness curriculum for future EMBARC mentors to use. Volunteering 1.5 hours per week to EMBARC, students in both service options engaged with and experienced the local impact of the global refugee crisis. Through in-class discussions, course reading materials, and assignments, students gained content knowledge related to the role of religion in refugee resettlement and career readiness while also synthesizing their application of this knowledge through their service responsibilities. At the end of the semester, the class presented information about the course as well as their reflections on service-learning during a public presentation at the Cedar Falls Public Library. As a whole, the class valued the service-learning experience, noting how it felt like a "real" job, requiring professionalism and dedication they did not attribute to "normal" courses. Their commitment to the class was evidence to all who attended, as was their understanding of the value of their major to career preparation and community involvement.