Faculty Flier: Soul of a Citizen
Here’s an HTML version of an online flier to pass on to fellow teachers who might be interested in Paul Loeb's Soul of a Citizen and The Impossible Will Take a Little While. It includes information on the books, on free exam copies, and links to classroom study questions and information on Paul's lectures
SUBJECT: Academic exam copies of two powerful books to get your students involved
“Soul of a Citizen has been a powerful resource to get thousands of students involved in their communities, giving them the opportunity to apply their learning in meaningful ways. This updated edition is both timely and exceptionally useful to campuses that want to reclaim higher education’s central role in educating responsible, democratic citizens.”—Carol Geary Schneider, President, Association of American Colleges & Universities
"Soul of a Citizen was the common reader for over 2500 students enrolled in Kennesaw State's 2009 first-year seminar. It introduced them to active community engagement, inspired countless service learning and advocacy projects (from literacy programs to a gay rights effort and an NRA-backed concealed weapons initiative), and strengthened their campus and community connections."—Jim Davis, chair first-year book committee, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw GA
“We had our 2010 First Year Seminar students read Soul of a Citizen's new edition and then work in small groups to generate service projects. Loeb’s book inspired them to come up with some wonderful ideas, from river clean-ups and educational efforts around female body image to working with local food banks and examining state tax policies. Soul's stories of real people from Rosa Parks to Virginia Ramirez and Angie De Soto really resonated with the students, demonstrating to them that you don’t have to be perfect to take a stand, and that anyone can make a difference. We also had some terrific conversations when we brought Loeb in to speak“—Lisa Tetzloff, Director of Student Life, University of Wisconsin Green Bay
Assigned on hundreds of campuses in every conceivable discipline and from first-year programs to graduate seminars, Paul Loeb’s Soul of a Citizen book has become a classic of civic engagement. An antidote to the sense of political powerlessness and demoralization too many students are feeling these days, the book has helped students of all backgrounds and perspectives learn to make a difference in their communities and in our country. Students in every conceivable discipline, of all political perspectives, and at every academic level found it of value, as inspired them to make their voices heard and actions count—and begin journeys of involvement that could last their entire lives.
With Soul’s original edition surpassing 100,000 copies, Paul spent a year writing a thoroughly updated new edition. It incorporates the suggestions of faculty who’ve been teaching the book in classrooms throughout the country, and includes some wonderful new stories about engaged students. Paul literally went through every sentence, paragraph, and section to make the book speak as powerfully as possible to our current time, so it could help a new generation become engaged and keep on despite all the inevitable barriers and frustrations.
Released by St Martin’s Press in spring of 2010 ($16.95 paperback), Soul’s new edition is getting even more powerful classroom responses (including several all-campus adoptions just in its first six months) and St Martin’s is making free exam copies available.
FREE ACADEMIC EXAM COPIES
To get a free academic exam copy, please email soulorders@gmail.com and include your name, campus address, academic position, and the course or program where you might assign the book. Paul has also just updated his classroom study questions and service learning examples, both available at www.soulofacitizen.org/classroom.htm If you don’t teach a relevant course, you can buy the book at your local campus or community bookstore or at www.paulloeb.org/buy.htm
If you’ve assigned Soul with success before, or would like a powerful new book to inspire your students to get involved, we hope you’ll get a copy and consider it for your courses, or for the all-campus adoptions where it’s inspired students to become engaged from their first days on campus. Visit www.soulofacitizen.org/classroom.htm for faculty responses, classroom study questions, service learning examples, and information on Paul’s campus lectures.
“Soul of a Citizen has inspired countless students, faculty, and other readers since its publication a decade ago. Amazing as that book was, this new version is even wiser, deeper, and more inspiring. Loeb has given even more soul to his wonderful work.” —Thomas Ehrlich, senior scholar, Carnegie Foundation for Education, former dean of Stanford Law School and former president of Indiana University
“Paul Loeb brings hope for a better world in a time when we so urgently need it.” —Millard Fuller, founder, Habitat for Humanity
“Few recent books have inspired more college students, faculty, and staff to get involved in critical public issues than Soul of a Citizen. Loeb’s powerful new version includes even more stories that will engage students as active and thoughtful citizens.”—Gwen Dungy, Executive Director, National Association of Student Personnel Administrators
“When my daughter asked from college how to be an effective grassroots citizen, I gave her Paul’s book.”—Josette Sheeran, executive director, United Nations World Food Program
SOUL’S POWERFUL NEW STORIES
Soul’s new edition keeps classic stories and lessons like how Maine homemaker Alison Smith helped lead a path-breaking initiative for campaign finance reform “so my kids won’t grow up in a cynical world.” How, after an elderly neighbor died of the cold, Virginia Ramirez, a middle-aged Latina with an eighth-grade education, got involved in a San Antonio community organization—and eventually testified before the U.S. Senate. And how David Lewis, an African American man who had served seventeen years in the California prison system launched a pioneering drug rehabilitation effort based on trying to give people, as he said, “the support they need, in a language they can understand.” It builds on the core analytical material that’s worked so well—like Loeb’s explorations of the perfect standard, the cynical smirk, and America’s chronic amnesia about social change. Loeb examines, for instance, how the myths surrounding the Rosa Parks story blur the reality that those who change history do so intentionally, by working together with others, and by persevering until they succeed.
Paul Loeb has mixed these classic stories with powerful new profiles and explorations of contemporary citizen involvement, on issues from the economy to global climate change. A few examples:
Soul’s new edition also includes more on Paul’s personal journey, from his own student activism to a 2008 campus election engagement project, which he created and ran in conjunction with Campus Compact to help faculty and administrators involve their students in 15 states. It includes a new exploration of political burnout, including how to prevent students from becoming cynical about democracy from possible disappointment with Obama. It includes an updated look at the world of “virtual activism”—and how new technologies can either increase face-to-face engagement or become traps to displace it. Loeb takes a classic of citizen involvement and brings it up to the present, to engage a student generation that’s wrestling with whether to become engaged in public life or surrender to despair.
“Soul of a Citizen was a valuable part of our 2009 program for several hundred first-year students. Many also participated in service projects, and the book gave them a hopeful vision of what they could accomplish. Soul is inspiring for any student eager to play a more active role in shaping their campus, their community, and their world. The new edition is even stronger.”—Kevin Waltman, Co-coordinator, Freshman Learning Communities, University of Alabama.
“We assigned Soul’s new edition to all of the students in our 2010 ACCESS summer bridge program at Prairie View A & M University, using it in our Reading, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Composition classes. At the end of the seven week program we surprised the students by bringing Paul to Prairie View to discuss the book with them. It was an amazing interaction that the participants will not soon forget. Our entering students loved the book. It spurred great class discussions and compositions, with some students even sharing it with their families. It really inspired them to get involved in their communities. One young man had resolved to leave his rough Houston neighborhood forever and now said he wanted to return to that neighborhood to work at making it better. Others weren’t sure what path they’d take but said it had inspired them to take a stand. Some of these students had never really read a book aside from text books, but they rose to the challenge and responded wonderfully. As the Director of this program for fifteen years I have never had a ‘common reading’ that had the impact of this book. It energized these students by showing them that they could use their interests, talents and education to make real change in their world. We will use the book again this next summer.—Lettie Raab, Director ACCESS program, Prairie View A&M, Prairie View Texas
“Since 2007, we’ve assigned Soul of a Citizen as the core text for our Foundations of Civic Engagement course, enrolling 700 students per year. We assign The Impossible Will Take a Little While to 250 students in our core senior seminars. Our students love these books and tell me they are among the only ones they won’t sell back. You are a household name on our campus, and the new version of Soul is even more powerful than the original.”—Maria Roca, Department of Communication, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers FL
“We assigned Soul of a Citizen for all of our First Year Experience students, and use it as a core text for our psychology internship. We believe it helps students to think beyond their own lives—personally and professionally—and to engage with a larger world, feeling that their actions can matter. They've really loved the book and found it very inspiring. The new edition should inspire them even more."—Christine Olson, Faculty Civic Engagement Coordinator, Southwest Minnesota State, Marshall, MN
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Paul Loeb has also lectured at over 400 colleges and universities. Visit www.paulloeb.org/lecture.htm for comments and his current schedule. Students respond to his new stories even more powerfully when you bring him to present them in his talks. You can also email lecture@paulloeb.org for more information.
And if you don’t teach a relevant course or supervise a relevant program, you can order Soul of a Citizen through your college or community bookstore or at www.paulloeb.org. The site also has more general information on Paul’s work including his award-winning anthology on political hope, The Impossible Will Take a Little While, Named the #3 political book of 2004 by the History Channel and the American Book Association, The Impossible has similarly inspired thousands of students nationwide, and has its own study questions and exam copy offer.
To get your free exam copy of Soul, email soulorders@gmail.com with your name, campus address, and the course or program for which you’d consider the book. And please pass on this email to colleagues who might be interested.
MORE COMMENTS ON SOUL OF A CITIZEN:
"We assigned Soul of a Citizen to all 2,000 of our freshmen, together with service-learning projects in the Philadelphia public schools. The book helps get students talking, asking questions, and thinking critically. We're looking forward to using it again." —Jackie McCurdy, Coordinator, University 101, Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA
"We taught Soul of a Citizen in our Leadership and Identity class in our residential college. The book really stimulated students' self-motivation to become social change agents. Most haven't learned to see themselves in this role. Soul of a Citizen sparked wonderful discussions and helped them look at themselves in a different light. It gave them a sense of who they could become and what they could achieve." —Peter Clecak, Professor of Sociology, Arnecia Bryant, Campus Village Housing Office, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA
"I have used Soul of a Citizen for the last two years with students taking our new required course on citizenship and social change. They've really been enthusiastic about the book. Loeb's stories of citizen engagement, coupled with his insightful commentary, help them get beyond a personal, individualistic searching for meaning and happiness. It's really inspired students who've done service with groups like Habitat for Humanity and Sierra club, and one who even did her Mission trip (she's Mormon) in the Ukraine last year. Soul of a Citizen challenges students to see that they can find meaningful living by working for the common good and living a life of community."—Melinda Dukes, Professor of Psychology, Tusculum College, Greenville, TN
"Too often, academic study leads students to doubt that their ideas and actions matter. Soul of a Citizen taught my students that ordinary people can and do change the world. They said it was the first book in their four years at school that gave them hope."—Jane Rinehart, Sociology & Women's Studies, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA
"I teach Soul of a Citizen in a freshman composition class: Writing and Research, a service-learning course for students admitted through our Academic Opportunity program for students not regularly admissible. Loeb's book works as a great rhetorical model, and inspires my students in what is, for many, their first step into the social arena. As they conduct primary and secondary research into the problems of homelessness, illiteracy, and hunger, Loeb's book reminds them that solutions to such huge systemic problems start with small actions by people like themselves."—Kathleen Dale, Senior Lecturer, Univ of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
"My students get what Paul Loeb means by "soul" and "citizen." They’ve been reading Soul’s new edition and respect it, are inspired by it, and very much appreciate the clear, succinct, and to-the-point examples throughout. The book and our related discussions help students nurture their optimism and self-confidence and bring out their own joys, frustrations, fears, and hopes as they either address major social problems or contemplate doing so."—Gordon Fellman, Professor of Sociology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
"We're assigning Soul of a Citizen to all our entering freshmen. Though a conservative group with little experience of social activism, they've responded very favorably. For the first time, they've begun to critically assess their responsibilities not just to friends and family or to themselves, but to the global community." —Sara Weinberger, Social Work, Western New England College, Springfield, MA
"I've been teaching Soul of a Citizen with great results in a general education course geared to first year students. Economists are rediscovering society and the importance of social norms. Loeb's book provides students with a tangible sense of how they can participate in the construction of society, along with inspiring examples and models to guide them."—Professor Ken Jameson, Dept of Economics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
"I've gotten wonderful responses using Soul of a Citizen in my introductory social work practice classes. Students love it. It's convinced them that change really is possible and that they as individuals can make a difference. This is even more remarkable since most came in interested primarily in direct practice--services to individuals, families, and small groups. Loeb's stories have a real impact."—Jean Kantambu Latting, Social Work Grad school, University of Houston
"I'm using this well-written, engaging investigation of ordinary citizens becoming involved in their communities and working for social change in a second semester freshman composition course. [It's encouraged] reflection and connections as students think about their roles as citizens and writers within different communities. As one of my students said, "Sometimes I feel very overwhelmed by the number and magnitude of issues I'm moved by, but Loeb has encouraged me to just start and take it one step at a time."—Glenn Hutchinson, Dept of English, University of North Carolina, Charlotte [From review in Service-Learning journal, Reflections]
"I've made Soul of a Citizen the core of my community service-based seminar: Lives, Livelihood, and Community. Loeb's works serves as an inspiration for students, helping them to connect individual and community, soul and mind, action and results. It energizes their souls and stimulates their thinking towards ensuring tomorrow's communities will be better than those of today."—Robert Hogner, Honors College Director of Community Service Learning, Florida International University, Miami, FL
"Soul of a Citizen was easily the most popular book of the semester. Students today want to know about more than just governmental institutions, policy analysis and political theory. They want to know what it all means to them as citizens. Paul Loeb does this in an insightful and inspiring way."—Stephen Zunes, Dept of Politics, University of San Francisco
"Provides a variety of excellent lenses through which community college students can view their service, work, and lives. Loeb's challenges students to see their own possibilities for involvement and to think of themselves as citizens of conviction."—Rosemary Arca, English composition, Foothill Community College, Los Altos, CA
"I assigned Soul of a Citizen to my class on race and ethnic identity. When faced with perplexing social issues, students, like many of us, often express a 'damned if you do and damned if you don't' attitude, which leads to cynicism and feelings of powerlessness. Loeb uses stories of ordinary citizens such as Rosa Parks to show that one doesn't have to be a 'great' man or woman to have a social impact. He also clearly demonstrates that no one we call 'great' ever works in a vacuum, and that sometimes great results are achieved by someone who just takes action. Soul Of A Citizen is an inspirational book."–Larry Zimmerman, American Indian Studies & Anthropology, University of Iowa [From Zimmerman's Phi Beta Kappa Key review]
"Soul of a Citizen is a compelling text we use in our first-year seminar course, Engaging the World. Loeb raises issues that ask students to think about how they will make a difference with their lives. During class discussion, students resonated with his idea that 'we become human only in the company of other human beings' and challenged themselves to embrace life journeys that have impact greater than personal reward."—Tracy Tyree, Director, First Year Experience, Mercer Univ, Macon, GA
"Loeb's book is great - thoughtful, interesting, easy to read, not preachy. I used it in my Civic Journalism course to start the discussion going about community participation and the role of story telling (and news reporting) in helping to make that happen. My mostly middle-class students seemed a little embarrassed at first to talk about community involvement - they saw it as something that "looks good on a resume" but was distant from their everyday experience. The book helps answer their concerns about personal responsibility and acknowledges both the difficulty and the joy of making that start for the first time. The discussion questions on his website were also very helpful in getting my students to talk and reflect."—Eleanor Novek, Dept of Communication, Monmouth University, Monmouth, NJ
"I used Soul of a Citizen in an undergraduate course called "The Citizen Leader," part of our leadership minor. Our experience was transformational. The stories you shared gave students the permission to share their own stories. One young African American student shared his commitment to working for gay rights, which comes out of his experiences becoming reacquainted with his absent father who, in turns out, is a gay man. Another young woman talked about her struggle this semester to grieve her recently deceased father, an environmental activist. Another young African American student talked about her siblings and her worries for them and other young people today. Her brother is incarcerated in a juvenile youth detention facility and her sister is a teenage mother. She is the first person in her family to attend college, and hopes to dedicate her career in audio production to promoting music that sends positive rather than destructive messages to youth. The students in the class represented a range of political viewpoints. Regardless of their party affiliation, however, they found valuable messages in your writing. You enabled them to set aside their ideological differences and take heed of the importance of working for social change."—Kathleen Powell, Dept of Social Work, Frostburg State, Frostburg, MD
"I assigned Soul of a Citizen in a course entitled "Social Responsibility & Personal Well-Being." My students felt the book offered very concrete and useful suggestions about how to become more involved within their own communities. By addressing common obstacles that they face in becoming involved and looking at the societal obstacles for activism, it gave them a much more realistic view of the process. It motivated them to realize that one person can, indeed, make a difference."—Stephen Kramer, Psychology Professor, Mount Union College, Mount Union, OH
"I used Loeb's book for a readings class in adult education. It helped me to make sense of the world for my students in a hopeful, useful way, and to connect complex ideas to related areas of concern, with a direction for action. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in helping their students develop a better understanding of the world we are living in today."—Marcia Leister, instructor ABE/GED, Bellingham Technical College, Bellingham, WA
"I begin every one of my community-based, urban design studios by having my architecture students read "Soul of a Citizen." It provides both an intellectual and emotional basis as they design projects aiming to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods," —Anthony J. "Tony" Costello, Irving Distinguished Professor of Architecture, Ball State University, Muncie, IN
"Our leadership seminar studied methods, style, and the biographies of well known American leaders. Soul of a Citizen provided insight into leadership with a moral purpose, teaching that anyone can become a leader for social change. It took the examples of ordinary folks who did not appear to have extraordinary abilities, but who became leaders in causes that benefited hundreds if not thousands of people. Students learned that they could make a difference."—John Bolen, Associate Dean, Simpson College, Indianola, IA
"Soul of a Citizen is a wonderful resource for teaching about social movements. The book puts real people and their stories center stage and it brings an activist's passion to a subject matter that is often taught in overly theoretical ways. My students really turn on to the course when they begin reading Loeb's book."—Steve Buechler, Dept of Sociology, Mankato State University, Mankato, MN
"We have been using your book, along with other readings, in a course called Leadership for the Advancement of Learning and Service. Soul of a Citizen provides a psychological and emotional roadmap, helping students develop themselves and become transformational leaders pursuing ethical ends in their career and life. Feedback has been excellent. I have not heard a single negative, or even neutral for that matter, comment."—Tony Middlebrook, Leadership Programs, Cardinal Stritch College, Milwuakee, WI
"My students really picked up on your ideas and rhetorical sensibility. 'Learned helplessness' was particularly useful complementing Kenneth Burke's idea of 'trained incapacity.'"—David Deifell, Dept of Rhetoric, University of Iowa
"Each year in my Citizen Advocacy and Social Movements class, students are looking for reasons to believe change is possible, that activism is worth the effort, and that 'ordinary people' like themselves can make a difference. I give copies of Soul to every new student entering our program and it opens their hearts and minds as no other that I've ever used before. They love the stories you tell, how you name the obstacles to leading committed lives, and how you describe the personal growth and excitement that comes from taking action as engaged citizens. A number have called your book 'life changing.'"—Steve Chase, Department of Environmental Studies, Antioch New England Graduate School
FACULTY COMMENTS ON THE IMPOSSIBLE WILL TAKE A LITTLE WHILE
“One of my students captured it best: 'The Impossible turns social heroes into real people.' The book's power is in letting us hear the voices of those who have struggled for change, how hard it was for them, and what kept them going. For young people working to make a difference, this kind of first-person inspiration is invaluable."—Jackie Schmidt Posner, Director of Public Service Education, Haas Center, Stanford University
My first-year students love the readings. We've had great discussions and their written responses are powerful. They said the book challenged them from different perspectives and helped them figure out what they believe and feel most passionately about."—Joan Kopperud, Dept of English, Concordia College, Moorhead, MN
“Your book has been a fantastic addition to my course "Contemporary World in Perspective," an option in our humanities core."—Elizabeth Clark, Dept of History West Texas A&M University, Canyon Texas
"My first-year seminar students thoroughly enjoyed the pieces they read from The Impossible Will Take a Little While. My colleague and I were extremely pleased with the success of the theme, "The Literature of Hope," and are interested in repeating it and using your anthology again." —Carmen Werder, first year programs, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA
"I’ve used The Impossible in three service learning classes for student athletes at the University of Central Florida. The readings stimulate interest, provoke informed and engaged discussion, and provide a meaningful context within which the student-athletes understand themselves, how they are viewed by others, and how they can use the power and appeal of sport to effect meaningful social change. We also used the book with great responses in programs with minor league players of the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets. And UCF’s civic-engagement coordinator is considering it for all-campus adoption next fall."—Richard Astro, Distinguished University Professor, Drexel University, Chief Academic Officer, National Consortium for Academics and Sports
"I use The Impossible Will Take a Little While to help students understand that politics is made up of living, breathing people, not just a bunch of abstractions. The book is truly wonderful for that. I use it in an introductory US and California government class that I'm teaching at Santa Monica Community College and at Cal State, Dominguez Hills. I cover the nuts and bolts of US governmental institutions, then complement that information with readings from your book. I have students read your chapters, then they write briefly about them and break up into pairs to discuss what they wrote with a partner. That way even the shyest students in a class of 56 students get to talk. The students really seem to 'get' your readings--the idea that activists don't have to be saints comes through very effectively. It really is a great book."—Brian Lawson, Department of Social Sciences, Santa Monica College & Cal State, Dominguez Hills
"I’m eighteen years old, watching those at least twenty years older than I am making a difference in the world. Protecting their families, providing aid in natural disasters, dying serving their countries, or fighting for human rights. The Impossible Will Take A Little While has encouraged me to stop kicking the rocks on the road out of my way and to start re-paving the world for change. If I wait until I’m twenty years older it may be too late to start anything...After turning the last page of The Impossible, I wanted to do something, and I spoke to a friend of mine who has always been interested in social reform. We came to the conclusion that even the smallest action can spark change – even if the change occurs centuries after the spark "—Brandon Touhey, student reading reading the book along with all the other first-year students at Adelphi University, Long Island New York [Adelphi is now looking at Soul for an upcoming first-year class]
“My students found these stories of ordinary people striving to maintain hope inspiring and motivating. Even conservative students responded well. The selections were great for discussion and even better for journaling."—Brian Stiltner, Dept of Religious Studies, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT
“I am using The Impossible Will Take A Little While in an online course with adult students. Each student presents a paper on part of the book and the rest of the class discusses his or her ideas on the online discussion board. So far the reactions have been terrific. As one student said, ‘The idea that change can begin with one person, as a seed, is a simple yet powerful analogy. We must begin to believe that this is true and act as change-agents for those causes that we believe in.’"—Karen Mitchell, Dept of Political Science, Ottawa University, Overland Park, Kansas
“My Social Problems students have been reading your books for several years. We used to read Soul of a Citizen and they are now enjoying The Impossible Will Take a Little While. Studying the causes and consequences of social problems can be very challenging, so it is essential to balance the frustration students feel with examples of hope and courage. The Impossible inspires our students in their quest for solutions by exploring how we can create community, nourish our spirits, and make a difference through actions, large and small." —Kim Smith, Department of Sociology, Portland Community College, Portland OR
“We used The Impossible in a leadership book group that brought together honors program students, faculty and staff. Each person had a 'favorite essay' that really spoke to them in a unique way. For one it was ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail.’ Reading that essay while other Martin Luther King events were going on really strengthened the message. Another had visited Robben Island two summers before—the essay by Nelson Mandela made a strong personal impact. For another, Havel's essay was the most meaningful. Being in a group where we could share experiences and thoughts about the readings helped significantly. It's a great collection of powerful essays."—Kate Bruce, Dept of Psychology, Honors Program Director, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Finally, here’s an example of an amazing cross-campus adoption of The Impossible Will Take a Little While at Rochester Community & Technical College, in Rochester, Minnesota. I’ve never seen a school use one of my books in as many different ways. So I thought their experience might be useful for other colleges assigning either one of the books. The school has mix of rural farm kids, children of lower-level Mayo Clinic employees, older workers returning for retraining, and Cambodian and Somali immigrants. The college assigned The Impossible as a common reading across the curriculum. It was assigned, in whole or part, in freshman composition, sociology, communications, political science, leadership, English, philosophy, psychology, public speaking, interpersonal and intercultural communications, oral interpretation, developmental reading and writing, general humanities classes, and even some art and music courses. Nursing and chemistry sponsored related events. The college’s music and digital arts students created an installation opposite the college bookstore where people could touch various tiles and hear students reading favorite quotes from the book. The quotes were backed with music that the students had composed. The college’s speech students did dramatic interpretative readings of the poems in public performances. Art and design students crafted invitations, programs and posters for my lecture and created art shows taking off from various essays. The school's health classes used the Terry Tempest Williams essay for Breast Cancer Awareness week and the Diane Ackerman piece for discussions of youth suicide prevention. Other students linked their classroom work with outside community service projects at schools, nursing homes, a Boys and Girls Club, and other local nonprofit groups. Speech and education majors teamed up to create learning units to help teach the book’s themes of hope in local schools. Dance students taught classes at the Boys and Girls club and talked about the value of small acts of involvement. Students also helped register and engage local voters.
One group made the book’s themes the centerpiece of a service learning trip to Cambodia, where they gathered and brought donations of uniforms, educational, medical, and dental supplies, and financial contributions. They worked side by side with Youth Service Cambodia, the first indigenous Non Governmental Organization of its kind in Cambodia. Together the students dug wells, built toilets, planted gardens, worked with schools and orphanages, and distributed food and supplies to the poorest of the poor. The trip’s facilitators taught lessons around the book’s themes to both the U.S. and Cambodian students. You can read more on the college’s designated website.
Please pass this flier on to anyone who might be interested in using Soul or The Impossible in the classroom.