Volunteer Experience Impacts Life Direction

When Brianna Kelly ’18 was recruited to play hockey here, she had never heard of St. Norbert College. But she signed on anyway, eventually declaring psychology as her major. 

Two years in, Kelly was on a waitlist for Childhood Adversity and Resilience, an academic service-learning class taught by Raquel Cowell (Psychology). She got in, despite the demands of being on a traveling hockey team, and ended up volunteering with the after-school program at Green Bay’s Howe Elementary School under the guidance of Shannon Haggerty.

In “Hockey to Hope,” a service reflection by Kelly and Haggerty, the women discuss Kelly’s powerful experience at the school and how it caused her to change plans and pursue a master’s degree in social work after graduation. 

“My goal as of now is to specifically pursue school social work,” she says.

Academic service-learning at St. Norbert
The service-learning approach balances learning goals and service outcomes, addressing human and community needs while providing structured educational opportunities for the student. It’s a philosophy that aligns well with the St. Norbert College emphasis on the development of the whole person. Academic service-learning – student community service integrated into an academic course – utilizes the service experience as a course “text” for both academic learning and civic learning.

Aug. 16, 2018