Service Learning
Puts Theory into Practice
Matt McGrath remembers everybody, counselors and campers, having a blast when his “Introduction to Group Counseling” class spent a weekend learning hands-on at Camp Courageous last summer.
Camp Courageous of Iowa offers camping experiences for individuals with disabilities and serves more than 5,000 people each year. The graduate students, led by Associate Professor Tarrell Portman,engaged in a service-learning project as a way to experience and reflect upon concepts they’d discussed in the classroom in a real-world setting.
Petting a guinea pig brings joy to camper. |
“The most memorable thing was getting to see the campers have fun and relax for a change,” said McGrath, who is a second-year Rehabilitation Counseling master’s student. “It was a place they could do what they wanted instead of having people tell them what they needed to do and treating them differently than other people are treated.”
The counseling students served as group leaders, mentors, and friends to campers while they participated in social interaction activities such as crafts, swimming, cooking out, and petting animals.
“It was pretty interesting,” McGrath said. “All of the campers had some form of disability and we were actually interacting and getting to see how they lived and did things. To me, that was most valuable. I’ve never gotten to do that in any other class.”
Portman said she tries to incorporate service learning into every course she teaches, but this was the first time a project has ever involved an overnight stay.
She said she was thrilled with the way her 13 students tackled the experience.
“I wanted the students to experience group work and what it’s like for a group of individuals who don’t know each other to come together and develop through the group interpersonal stages,” she said. “They gained so much by learning the theory and then putting it into practice. Their sense of contribution and altruism was well worth the extra effort.” |
