Hispanic Studies’ Service Learning Course Broadens Students’ Community Vision

This past spring 2011 semester, Dr. Sarah Owens directed Hispanic Studies’ Spanish 400 course, Service Learning  to the Hispanic Community. After an interview process in the fall of 2010, Professor Owens selected 17 highly motivated, junior and senior Spanish majors who had studied abroad. Each student was required to complete a 45 hour internship that involved assisting the local Hispanic Community. Students were able to choose from a wide array of possibilities to include participation as interpreters in local health clinics, tutoring Hispanic children at a local elementary school, teaching English as a second language, and assisting maternity classes for expecting mothers. The students of this course also met on a weekly basis to discuss their experiences and to learn about different topics such as immigration, education, health and politics that affect the local and national Hispanic populations in the United States.