W&L students are actively engaged in the Lexington and Rockbridge County communities. Community-based learning is our approach to education that integrates learning and mentorship with community engagement through reciprocal community partnerships and critical reflection. With our close ties to the community, our commitment to education, and our mission to preparing students to be engaged, responsible leaders, we provide a unique environment for service and civic engagement in an academic setting.
Offerings for community-based learning occur both inside and outside the classroom, and differ depending on the course.
Faculty and community partners place students at sites where they serve the mission of the organization while also applying and extending their knowledge and skills. Students relate community-based service experience to learning objectives using structured reflection and learning activities.
Students, faculty and community partners collaboratively engage in research to address a community-defined interest or aspiration. Involvement occurs at all levels including defining the research parameters and design, implementing the project, and shaping the final deliverables.
Students, faculty and community partners collaborate on a project to address a community-defined interest or aspiration. Topics and formats vary from course to course, but are designed hand-in-hand with the community organizations.
Students join faculty and learning partners from the wider community to read, discuss and learn together about a topic with broad social relevance.
Sustained critical reflection on pivotal issues in poverty studies based on supervised volunteer work, journals, readings, and weekly discussions and papers.
Practical application of environmental issues based on volunteer work in the greater Rockbridge community. Students participate in a service-learning environment related to environmental education, campus sustainability, conservation and sustainable agriculture in the surrounding region.
Taught at Augusta Correctional Center with an equal number of W&L and incarcerated students. Students uncover how cultural metaphors, socioeconomic inequalities, and global realities inform and shape our identities and experiences. By reading different story-telling formats, the class works towards recognizing how the ways we tell stories impacts our ability to see new outcomes and reshape cultural scenarios for ourselves, our families, and our communities.
Students prepare federal and state income tax returns for individuals with low to moderate income, persons with disabilities, the elderly, and individuals with limited English proficiency. In order to accomplish this, students need to be certified by the IRS which involves completing an online course and passing a certification exam.
Students examine the origins of public relations, the nature and role of public relations, the major influences that affect organizational behavior, the ethics of public relations, and the professional development of public-relations professionals. Emphasis is placed on the planning, writing, and management functions, working with media and developing effective public-relations strategies.
