Sociology Service Projects Good For Students
At Urbana High School, Sociology class is a semester-long elective and social studies class that focuses on what people do and why they do it. It involves studying topics such as social structure, institutions and interaction. Some problems that are focused on are crime and delinquency, racial discrimination, poverty and social change.
The main project of the semester is a community service project. Sociology teacher, Mark Foley, said the goal of the projects is to involve students in the community, to “empower students to believe they can make a difference.”
Foley was inspired to do something outside of the classroom because he has been volunteering with Habitat for Humanity for 15 years. Again, he wanted his students to have the volunteering experience. “I wanted to bring some of that into the class to help students have the same experience as me,” said Foley.
The project consists of 20 hours of volunteering at a local, charitable organization and reporting on the experience. They have something unique about them because they connect their experience to what they are learning in class.
Every student in the class is expected to do the service project; if they complete it, they get an alternate final exam. Most of the students like the experience and love the alternate final. “Most students who’ve done it found it really rewarding,” said Foley.
There are many different ways to go about the project; normally, the students chose their organization themselves. Some of the places students choose are Crisis Nursery, Habitat for Humanity and Teen Awareness at Planned Parenthood.
One semester, not long after the earthquake in Haiti, the class decided to do their sociology projects as a class. They decided to hold a basketball game as a fundraiser to help the survivors of the quake.
Senior, Robin Hargrave, a student from that semester, said:
“I really liked that our whole class worked together on this one project. I felt like it made a much bigger impact than it might have had we all tried to do it on our own. Although it took us awhile to plan the whole thing out and get the rest of the school involved, it turned out to be a huge success, raising over 2,000 dollars for Haiti. I enjoyed working with others towards a common goal and was proud to say that I was a part of it when it was all over. It not only taught us about the sociology aspects of doing service in your community, such as marketing and advertising techniques, but also allowed us to make an impact in the lives of others in desperate need of aid. This experience taught me a lot about my classmates, my community, and my generation as a whole, and I could not have chosen a better opportunity to make a difference.”
All in all, the service projects have been a hit. They have helped the community, and the students who did them enjoyed the experience. The students were woven into the community as volunteers.
Foley seems to have had success with the projects; he had hoped to make students care and stay involved, even as an adult. “I think getting young people into volunteer organizations opens them up to the possibility of a life of empathy,” he said.
About The Author
