Service Learning

StFX was the first university in Canada to develop and offer a dedicated experiential learning program to undergraduate students. As an academic program under the stewardship of the Academic Vice President and Provost, Service Learning provides opportunities to approximately 27% of the student population each year.

SERVICE LEARNING STREAMS

Course Based Service Learning (CBSL) is an experiential educational component within existing academic courses. Student placements are designed in collaboration with Community Partners to address specific needs within their organizations. CBSL students spend approximately 20 hours per semester working with local non-profit community agencies while completing course assignments that help them link practical experience and theoretical learning.

Immersion Service Learning (ISL) is an intense cross‐cultural travel experience offered during Reading Week, the end of winter term or over the summer months. ISL students provide service in their host community, attend lectures, and visit local sites of historical, cultural or political importance, developing a framework for reflection on global social justice and community development issues.

 

 TESTIMONIALS

  • The solution to problems such as the eradication of poverty are not in our hands. Through the years, however, we have recognized that our strength also relies on connecting humans and communities that would never have done so without our program.

    Nexos Comunitarios, Peru

  • Service Learning changed how I think about community involvement. Being a Student Leader puts you in a position to make a difference in the community, on campus and for individuals.

    Jenn Richards, Service Learning Student Leader

  • The students who have participated in our program have been great assets. They have all brought enthusiasm and energy to the lessons.

    Antigonish Therapeutic Riding

  • Because of the preparation that students do before arriving, they realize they are committing to a serious endeavour. They arrive with a remarkable willingness to learning from physically, emotionally and intellectually demanding experiences, whether the focus is on human rights, reconstruction from natural disaster or the economics of coffee.

    Community Partner in Guatemala

  • The Immersion Service Learning experience has helped me to recognize the value of community and especially the small things that each one of us can do to help build a global community.

    Professor Marian MacLellan, Nursing

  • Immersion Service Learning has been one of my most memorable experiences at X. It opened my eyes to issues that are happening throughout the world, was truly inspiring, and taught me the value of how people can make a positive impact on the world. It made me a more interested student who tries to see the bigger picture.

    Alanna Ray, 2007

     

     

     

  • Through Immersion Service Learning, I really learned the value of community engaged learning. The program provides a common ground for people to work together.

    Kristine  Johnston, 2013

  • In focusing on global citizenship and what it means to be an active member of my community, I realized the small impacts and how important they are. Things like exercising my right to vote, or understanding and discussing global and communal issues.

    Grace Campbell, 2022

  • This Immersion Service Learning trip was an amazing time and I now realize that there is so much more to life than what my immediate surroundings and social life can offer. By learning about other cultures and other ways of life, the possibility of a positive global community becomes more of a reality. You have to experience other cultures; it is not enough to read about them in a textbook

     

  • My Immersion Service Learning experience gave the word "community" new importance. This reflection has pushed me to become more involved in my many communities. It was an opportunity to become an active and educated global citizen.

    Asia van Buuren, 2013

     

  • The Immersion program provided a unique opportunity to gain first-hand insight into the factors contributing to inequality. The staff at the partner agency did an excellent job of enabling our students to learn about what life is like in Mexico and to reconsider their own socio-economic environment, in light of their experience

    - Professor Monica Lent, Business

  • In my view the (Immersion) experience both for myself and everyone else was delightfully memorable. Students learned as they had never learned before --- about issues of social justice and historical injustices, about another culture, about their own world and about themselves

    - Professor Jim Taylor, English

  • Many of the programs that the students assisted with during their placement would not have been possible without their assistance.

    AEC

  • Students researched projects, analyzed and presented information that needed to be done, but which were beyond the abilities and time of our volunteers…The students offered us valuable information to assist our decision-making about the future.

     Non-profit organization, Antigonish

  • The combination of course-work and hands-on service forced me to examine certain preconceptions I held and reevaluate the way I look at certain issues.

    Course based Service Learning student

  • This experience helped me to apply my academic learning to a real situation in a natural setting. By being able to apply theory to an actual setting, I feel that my understanding of theory is improved and more defined.

    Course based Service Learning student