benefit their community and earn a grade for their services. In October, her classes took a field trip to San Pedro Park with children from the SAMM Shelter.

Alex Esquivel, a Pre-Nursing major who participated in the field trip said, “It was fun, and I would do it again.”

Rangel’s Psychology class has also teamed up with the American Red Cross and sponsored a coin collection drive. Students collect coins off campus where all donations will be given to the hurricane victims in Florida at the end of November.

“It feels good to help others,” said Elvia F. Martinez, a Pre-Nursing major at Palo Alto. Martinez also helped coordinate the collection drive for the classes. From watching the news, she realized that these victims were in great need of help.

“I know if we had a tragedy, we would appreciate others who volunteer to help,” said Martinez.

The Corporation for National and Community Service also provides the chance for Americans of any age and background to volunteer time to their country.

According to their website, www.nationalservice.org, there are three programs to choose from: Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America.

SeniorCorps provides experience of more than 500,000 Americans who are age 55 and older. Various programs are set up to help serve and protect their community, with everything from safety patrols to helping seniors maintain independence in their homes.

AmeriCorps assists the community through many organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the American Red Cross and Boys and Girls Club of America. In exchange for a year of service, members earn up to $4,725 for their college education. Half of the members receive living allowance and benefits when they serve.

The Learn and Serve America program provides schools and colleges with grants to engage students in community service while gaining academic achievement in the classroom.

In 2000, the Alamo Community College District received a grant from the Corporation for National Service to help create a Service Learning program at the four colleges.

“You live the learning, and it stays with you throughout your life,” said Mariana Ornelas, Assistant Professor of Humanities and IDST at Palo Alto. “By combining both, students participate in their community and understand why it’s important to be involved.”

Palo Alto offers courses where service learning is applied. Ornelas teaches IDST 2370: Individual, Family & Community and IDST 2371: Society and Social Issues. Both courses offer this type of mentorship from the instructors where students can apply their education in the community where they live. IDST 2371 focuses on Chicana women so that students may gain an appreciation of the role that these women play in our community. As a semester project, students are encouraged to interview and research local Chicana professionals in the San Antonio area.

“I strongly believe in this kind of learning,” said Ornelas. “Students are able to see the concepts of classroom learning and how it applies to the real world.”

The Criminal Justice Department also applies this type of learning with their students. Each student in the class has the opportunity to tie their volunteer work in with their career goal.

“I want each student to have a better understanding how the correctional systems operate,” said Steve Mardock, assistant professor of Criminal Justice at Palo Alto. Each student may intern at probation departments or the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, depending on which class they are taking. Some students who have volunteered at various facilities have been offered jobs. While others have found that this was not the career of their choice, they did learn from the experience of community service.

The desire to make positive changes in this world starts with local community service.

For more information about professors who offer Service Learning opportunities in their classes, contact Dr. Thomas Baynum, Vice President of Academic Affairs, at 921-5533 or <tbaynum@accd.edu>.