Welcome to the Office of Community Service & Service Learning

Tougaloo College contributes to the social, health and educational needs of the local, state, national and global communities through its programs of community service and service learning. Our students learn to lead and serve not only from the curriculum, but from the community services that they render.

The Office of Service Learning and Community Service:

• Promotes and recruits Tougaloo faculty in the service learning experience
• Recruits community based organizations to participate in service learning and community service projects
• Centralizes the Tougaloo College community service program
• Encourages Tougaloo College students, faculty and staff to increase their level of service to the community

The goal of this site is to inform Tougaloo faculty and students and community based organizations about everything they need to know about community service and service learning at Tougaloo College.

Service Learning at Tougaloo College
Even though there are many different interpretations of service-learning as well as different objectives and contexts, we can say that there is a core concept upon which all seem to agree:

Service-learning is a form of experiential education where learning occurs through a cycle of action and reflection as students work with others through a process of applying what they are learning to community problems and, at the same time, reflecting upon their experience as they seek to achieve real objectives for the community and deeper understanding and skills for themselves.

It is a method of teaching and learning that connects classroom lessons with meaningful service to the community. For example, if school students collect trash out of an urban streambed, they are providing a service to the community as volunteers; a service that is highly valued and important. When school students collect trash from an urban streambed, then analyze what they found and possible sources so they can share the results with residents of the neighborhood along with suggestions for reducing pollution, they are engaging in service-learning. In the service-learning example, the students are providing an important service to the community AND, at the same time, learning about water quality and laboratory analysis, developing an understanding of pollution issues, learning to interpret science issues to the public, and practicing communications skills by speaking to residents. They may also reflect on their personal and career interests in science, the environment, public policy or other related areas. Thus, we see that service-learning combines SERVICE with LEARNING in intentional ways. There are many other illustrations of how the combination is transforming to both community and students.

This is not to say that volunteer activities without a learning component are less important than service-learning, but that the two approaches are fundamentally different activities with different objectives. Both are valued components of a national effort to increase citizen involvement in community service, and at every age.

The distinctive element of service-learning is that it enhances the community through the service provided, but it also has powerful learning consequences for the students or others participating in providing a service. Service-learning is growing so rapidly because we can see it is having a powerful impact on young people and their development.

The Office of Service Learning and Community Service coordinates service learning and recruits faculty for the development of service learning classes at Tougaloo College. The Office of Service Learning and Community Service has worked with the Tougaloo College Family Life Center Violence Prevention Program at Walton Elementary School, teaching the We the People curriculum. This curriculum is a series of lessons that teach the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If you would like to learn more about service learning opportunities please contact the office

Community Service at Tougaloo College
Sixty hours of community service is required for graduation. This service is generally performed after completion of the sophomore year and may be met by working at an approved community based organization or by completing a project designed by the student and approved by the Division Chair and Department Chair.

Projects may be performed at any point in the school year or summer. However, students must contact the Office of Community Service & Service Learning to obtain approval to begin work. Service shall not be performed for pay; although some community agencies may assist students with the cost of transportation and other expenses associated with the task.

The project may or may not be in the student’s major, but it must require that the student deal with multi-dimensional problems and situations and use a variety of intellectual resources and interpersonal leadership skills.

The service may be performed in any approved community based agency or organization which seeks to serve the specific needs of the community, while enhancing the student’s development. Students provide community service under the mentorship of an agency or organization representative who certifies and evaluates the service.