Service Learning

Service learning, also called "community-based learning," gives students opportunities to engage in projects and services with community partners. Those partnerships and experiences then help the student learn core competencies and employability skills related to their academic program and classes. Service learning is not the same as volunteering. People volunteer time, money, and talent as ways to give to the community.  

Sometimes students engage community partners for reasons other than learning program or class competencies. These community engagements might involve lessons in citizenship or to engage and understand diversity in the community. Rather than a class requirement, this may be done through a student club or peer groups. These types of engagement experiences are known as "civic engagement." A few examples: 

• An engineering technology student club volunteers over a weekend at a local food pantry.   
• International students give presentations about their home country at a local middle school.  

For service learning, talk to your academic advisor or program faculty mentor to learn more about service learning opportunities and requirements for your program.   

For civic engagement and volunteering, you may find opportunities on your own or through area volunteer centers and organizations:   

• The Volunteer Center of Brown County
• Volunteer Fox Cities
• The United Way Volunteer Search

For non-profit internship experience work with the NWTC Career Services team.

• NWTC does not currently have a formal verification form or process for verifying service learning experiences. Your instructor should provide you with any required verification forms for their specific courses through Blackboard, as well as instructions on how to verify the service experience.   
• For civic engagement experiences, such as for student club requirements, please refer to student club verification forms and/or requirements or talk to your club advisor for more details.  

NWTC graduates may find that full-time service experiences are a great way to build their resumes and their employability. Graduates can consider:  

• AmeriCorps – “Get things done for America” with a post-graduate service experience.  
• Peace Corps - After a bachelor’s degree or combination of an associate degree and career experience, graduates may also consider international experiences with the US Peace Corps.