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Ann
Schwartz
Ann helps Carlos attach his new
necklace.
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In August
of 2006, when Heart House was in the midst of beginning a new
academic year, we were short on volunteers to help tutor the
students. The beginning of the school year is a pivotal time for
the children to stay on top of their studies and not fall
behind. With few volunteers, that is a difficult task.
Heart House was
contacted by Ann Schwartz, a professor at Concordia University, a local
private Lutheran school in central Austin. Ann teaches sociology to the
incoming freshman at Concordia. When creating her syllabus, Ann decided
that she wanted to add a service learning component to encourage her
students to become active within the local community. Ann found out
about the afterschool program at Heart House and contacted our
Volunteer Coordinator to set up an orientation.
After a brief and
fun volunteer orientation, Ann’s freshman sociology class began
volunteering at Heart House once a week for three months. The sociology
class became very familiar with the children, as well as the program at
heart house. Within two weeks they were working hands on with the
children and assisting the program leaders with homework time and
activity time.
Ann Schwartz’s
college class donated over fifteen hours per student to Heart House.
This is an invaluable resource for the students and the staff at Heart
House. Each semester the children at Heart House plan and implement a
community service project. This year, the students from Concordia
assisted the students at Heart House in planning their service project.
This is service learning at its best: Volunteers helping Heart House
children volunteer in the local community.
Several of Ann’s
students will continue to volunteer with Heart House next spring, as
they enjoyed working with the children and making connections with them.
Her class learned a great deal about working with children and
interacting with the local community. And the children of Heart House
learned about an entirely new group of committed volunteers and enjoyed
spending time with their new mentors.
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