Mission Statement

The mission of Bristol Community College’s (BCC’s) Service-Learning Program is to enhance student learning through the integration of academic learning in courses and related service experiences with our community partners, while encouraging civic engagement, social responsibility, and development of workforce and community leadership skills.

How is this mission accomplished?

• A student’s learning is enhanced by gaining theoretical knowledge from participation in an academic course in which the instructor offers a service-learning option in lieu of other academic activities, performing a needed service that is related to the course content at a nonprofit agency or organization in the community, and reflecting upon how the work is conceptually linked to the course material, the service work, and implications for social change.
• Instructors may contact community partners and arrange for individual or group placements for students in their courses.
• The community partner supervisor trains, supervises, and mentors the student when serving onsite and evaluates his or her work performance.
• Instructors who incorporate service-learning into their courses help students apply theoretical learning to their practical service experiences through class discussions and reflection activities, foster their own and students' engagement in the learning process, and help develop an engaged citizenry.
• The instructor of the course offering service-learning designs a reflection assignment that supports course objectives, evaluates the student’s work, and reports satisfactory completion of it to the Service-Learning Coordinator who arranges for the notation “Service-Learning Component” to be included under the course title on the student’s academic transcript.
• Upon completion, the student evaluates all aspects of his or her service-learning experience.
• A student who performs service-learning has an opportunity to gain community leadership skills through training and mentoring provided by either the Service-Learning Program Staff, Director of Student Life, faculty, or students who are trained Community Service-Learning Leaders and by gaining leadership skills and experience from supervising and mentoring other service-learning students engaged in community service projects.
• The Service-Learning Program Staff provide the following services:
  • Recruits non-profit agencies and organizations throughout the Bristol County Community who are willing to form a mutually beneficial partnership with the college for the purpose of educating our students by providing them with meaningful course-related community service experiences that address real community needs that would otherwise go unmet;
  • Encourages BCC faculty to offer a service-learning option to students in their courses and assists them with course redesign efforts to integrate community service and the required reflection activity;
  • Provides pre-service-learning trainings for students in classes at the invitation of faculty;
  • Encourages students to engage in meaningful course-related community service, assists them in finding suitable placements in non-profit agencies and organizations throughout the Bristol County Community, and provides onsite supervision when staffing permits;
  • Trains, mentors, and supervises students who are interested in becoming Community Service-Learning Leaders who will recruit, supervise, and mentor peers who are engaged in a specific community service project; and
  • Writes grants to secure funding for special projects and educational programs on civic engagement.
• The BCC Administration provides the following services:
  • Provides administrative oversight, human resources, and financial support for the service-learning and community service program.
  • Provides opportunities and incentives for students, faculty, staff and administrators at the college to learn about the pedagogy of civic engagement and to participate in service-learning and community service experiences.
  • Provides opportunities for faculty, staff, and administrators to be community partners and to develop service-learning and community service activities in their professional areas of responsibility.

How does Service-Learning support BCC’s mission?

The mission of the Service-Learning Program is consistent with and supports the following aspects of BCC’s mission, vision statement, and core values concerning community: