Dan Martin, Ph.D., knows how to incorporate the Jesuit spirit of service into his English composition class. For the past several years, students in Martin’s class have served between 20 and 25 hours each at reStart Inc.
Rockhurst University has partnered with reStart for several years through the university’s annual Finucane Service Project and Martin’s service learning oriented English composition class.
ReStart recognized Rockhurst’s efforts with this year’s Youth Service Award for student service provided to homeless men, women and families in the Kansas City community. Students from Martin’s class and Alicia Douglas, director of community relations and outreach, were on hand to accept the award at the organization’s annual celebration dinner Oct. 22.
“ReStart is a homeless shelter, but it is definitely not just your average homeless shelter,” said Rockhurst student Amanda Burian. The program is committed to providing shelter and supportive services to homeless men, women, youth and families with the goal of helping them move toward independence and self-sufficiency.
“The goal of service learning in my composition class is to give students a concrete experience to link to a research project,” Martin said. “My hope is that students choose a service site that interests them and then work on a research paper that helps them make their service more effective and more meaningful.
“Rockhurst is a Jesuit institution, and the Jesuit tradition discourages isolated contemplation and encourages involvement with others and with practical matters,” Martin said. “The tradition asks us to engage the intellect but to do so in a way that leads to action in the world, including action for justice.”
Burian reflected on her experience with the reStart Arts Program for her research paper on child homelessness. She discovered that “the aim of the program is to take the children’s minds off the reality of their stressful lives, giving them a sense of accomplishment through participation in art projects. It’s the simple things like creating their very own book or taking a trip to the library, things that many take for granted as children, that give the children at reStart hope – hope that they can rise above the homeless lives they currently live.”
“ReStart gives homeless families a chance to do just that – to literally re-start their lives over again,” Burian said. “The children at reStart will never forget this part of their lives, but hopefully one day they will look back at reStart as the place that helped them and their family find their way out of poverty and homelessness.” |
