240 students to participate in fall break service-learning projects

Author: Dennis Brown

Students from the University of Notre Dame will venture to rural and urban areas across the United States during the University’s fall break (Oct. 21-26) to take part in a wide array of experiential and service-learning programs.p. Some 240 undergraduates will participate in six seminars conducted by Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns. While community service is an integral part of the program, the students also earn academic credit for the research, writing and classroom work that complement the experience.p. This year’s fall break programs are as follows:p. ? The Appalachia Seminar, now in its 21st year, will send about 175 participants to five states in Appalachia to explore religious, social, political and environmental issues and to serve in various home repair, clothing distribution, food bank and health care projects.p. ? The Cultural Diversity Seminar will send students to Chicago to experience culturally diverse communities, food and art, and to engage in dialogue with leaders about social change. The seminar is cosponsored by Notre Dame’s Multicultural Student Programs and Services office and the Urban Life Center of Chicago.p. ? The Children and Poverty Seminar is a fourth-year initiative in which students will travel to New York City to examine issues affectingp. American youths, including poverty and violence, and learning about the work of agencies such as UNICEF and the National Center for Children in Poverty.p. ?The Washington Seminar will send students to the nation’s capital to visit a Benedictine monastery, a Catholic Worker farm and several Catholic public policy organizations to better understand how Christians can be citizens of both the heavenly and earthly cities.p. ? A pilot seminar titled “Hope and Risk Among Youth” will be based in South Bend and provide students with an overview of what several nationally recognized organizations are doing for children living in poverty.p. ? A second pilot seminar, “Tutoring for Social Justice,” is designed to teach students the fundamentals of tutoring and to examine the underlying social injustices that exist in school systems.

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