A diverse group of 19 students and faculty engaged in the first service learning opportunity of the semester on Friday, Feb. 7, at the Tarrant Area Food Bank (TAFB). Collectively, they assisted in sorting over 19,000 pounds of mostly refrigerated items donated to the TAFB by Amazon. According to the TAFB, this will provide nearly 16,500 meals to the diverse communities served by the TAFB.

Students in classes across the university are participating in service learning, a teaching and learning strategy that enhances student learning experiences through opportunities for community service. The students participating came from as many as five different classes offered by Dr. Brenda Matthews and Dr. Christopher Ohan this semester.

According to Ohan, "It's not the fact that volunteering at the TAFB adds specific content to the US history course I'm teaching; it's the fact that service has been at the heart of the American experience for over a century. The US has been the most generous country in the world, so modeling servanthood is important for me as an instructor." One of the students, Jodie Holmes, added, "I started doing this last semester and it's just fun!"  

Ohan is requiring that all 92 of his students this semester participate in at least one service opportunity. "Many of them will come again and again," said Ohan, adding, "seeing that is the best reward of service learning."