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More than 8,200 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in the Philippines since the first Volunteers arrived there in 1961.
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What’s the difference between community service and service learning? Aren’t they different terms for the same kind of work? The answer is: Not exactly. They’re closely related. Community service entails helping a segment of a town or village or city with assistance, such as social support, environmental cleanup, working in day care. Service learning also involves service to a community, but it differs from community service or volunteerism in that the service activity is integrated with academic curriculum and content.
Thus, service learning is more likely to be the kind of community service sponsored by schools, so that participants—students—study and learn about the constituents they are helping, and about the infrastructure involved in providing assistance.
Around the time that the United States celebrates and remembers the life and inspiration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., encourage students to follow his example by going out and providing assistance to an individual, group, or organization in your community.
 Go to the Service Learning Page |
World Wise Viewing:
A Community Far From Everywhere
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This month, we highlight a slide show that showcases the experience of a Peace Corps Volunteer who did community service in an isolated town in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Roger Hirschland went to a remote village in hilly grasslands to work in construction, health issues, and agricultural practices. While aiding the community, he learned things about another world that he’s retained over the 40 years since his return. |
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Subscribe and listen to stories written and read by Peace Corps Volunteers who served around the world, from Bulgaria to Uzbekistan.
01.31.08
Reasons for Joy
by Victoria Derr
Gambia, 1990–1992
Listen | Read
01.24.08
Drip Diplomacy
by Keith Talbot
Dominican Republic, 1993–1995
Listen | Read | Lesson Plan
01.17.08
Environmental Solutions Come Slowly
by Keba Fitzgerald
Suriname, 2000–2002
Listen | Read
01.10.08
One Day in the Rainy Season
by Noah Jackson
Philippines, 1999–2001
Listen | Read |
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Q: What advice would you offer to U.S. teachers who are developing service-learning programs?
A: Allow your students to take part in [developing] your service-learning initiative. If students choose the issue most important to them, they are more likely to follow through, than if the issue they are working on is simply assigned to them. If they choose a local issue, for example something affecting [their] school community, the students are more likely to see results, [which will encourage] them to expand their work into the larger community. Success breeds success.
—Sharon Hakim,
Urban Youth Development,
Peace Corps Volunteer, Moldova
A: Try brainstorming with students on topics relevant to them, [such as environment, HIV/AIDS, bias, etc.] [Using] that list, have them form groups to network with community groups and to develop their own small-scale service projects.
Over time, the youth groups might collaborate on larger-scale projects that address multi-dimensional social concerns.
World Wise Schools Correspondence Match students may also create "sister" projects that parallel the work of their Peace Corps Volunteer correspondent and then exchange stories. Service learning can be both fun and meaningful!
— Cheryl Frances,
Urban Youth Development,
Peace Corps Volunteer,
Belize
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