Let’s start off by discussing what exactly a service learning class is. A service learning class is a class in which you learn material that integrates meaningful community service with your learning and reflect on that learning to make it more impactful.

This past semester I took a service learning class called Social Media Marketing with Dr. Jodi Radosh. Throughout the semester we learned about the different strategies and practices of social media marketing and what makes a social media platform successful. Another aspect of this class was partnering with a local non-profit organization and helping them remodel their social media presence.

Throughout the semester we had meetings with our community partners and went to visit their facilities. We then split up into two groups of students, one group for each partner. I chose to work with Berks Women in Crisis, an organization offering supportive services to all affected by domestic or sexual violence. BWIC was also going through a name change that was being revealed at the end of the semester; they changed their name to Safe Berks.

My favorite part about working with an actual organization with this class was how real it was. We weren’t just going through exercises in a textbook; we were doing real-world work. We analyzed each social media platform that BWIC had and then compared that to the social medias of other similar organizations. While browsing through the other social media pages, we used that as inspiration for our ideas to present to BWIC at the end of the semester. We looked at what was working and what wasn’t, what got the most interaction and what got the least. While we were doing this, it didn’t feel like normal class work; that was the best part of the class. This type of work was the same work that we will be doing out in the real world once we all graduate. So we were doing real world work, getting graded for it, and helping out a local nonprofit, all in one service learning class.

At the end of the semester, as a group, we created a PowerPoint and wrote a paper detailing all of our findings, analyses, and ideas. Then we presented all of that to both community partners, as did the other group in the class. Both community partners were very appreciative and receptive to all of our ideas, which was one of the best parts of this class. It’s one thing to do all of the work and come up with a final product, but to know that these organizations took our ideas to heart and will implement some of our ideas makes it all worthwhile.

After the semester was over, some of the students from my group stuck around campus to attend the Celebration of Peace event that BWIC has each year, however, this year was a little different. This was where they were going to reveal the name change of Safe Berks to the community. At this event, there were tons of representatives from Alvernia ranging from administration, with Dr. Flynn (President) and Dr. Cicala (Dean), to some of our generous donors, like the Hollerans. It was a great experience to be able to share what we had been doing all semester with such important people. Overall, I loved taking a service learning class; we got real world experience while doing volunteer work and getting credits. This class was definitely the highlight of my semester.