Service Learning Reflection Sessions
Reflection is an integral part of service learning, and we look forward to taking time to discuss important modern social justice topics with you to promote learning and growth in your individual capacity and Jesuit values. Check with your professor to find out if attendance at a reflection session is required for the course. Reflection sessions are specifically geared toward service-learning experiences. Students can sign-up for reflection sessions through MUEngage. Students who RSVP get priority entry for sessions. Arriving more than 15 minutes late or leaving more than 15 minutes early for any reflection session will not be counted as a reflection session attendance. Sessions will be held in-person or virtually, please make note of where and when we will meet. For online sessions, please note:
- Students may receive materials to review BEFORE the online reflection session. Students must review the required material before the reflection session and come prepared to participate in the discussion. It is understandably more difficult to focus online, however no participation means no attendance verification. Students will also receive information on how to join the reflection session via email.
- You must register for online reflection sessions. Please do not forward online log-in information to students who did not register for the online reflection session. We will monitor who is logging into the online space for reflection sessions.
- Due to limited space, do not register for a reflection session to hold your spot. Please be considerate of others.
- The number of students allowed for any online reflection session can depend on the number of Service Learning Program staff. We want to make sure the online space is manageable to have quality conversations on the service learning experience. We appreciate your patience.
Register for reflection sessions through your service learning course on MUEngage. Refer to this presentation on how to register for reflection sessions on MUEngage if you have questions.
Spring 2023 Reflection Sessions
Please note some of the reflection sessions below are offered twice this semester. Do not register for the same reflection twice.
Please only register for one reflection session. If you would like to attend two, please notify the Service Learning Program. We need to make sure we have enough space to accommodate all the students who are required to attend a session and to make sure we have appropriate staffing. If you find yourself unable to attend the session you registered for, please cancel so we can open up the space you held. Please note that reflection sessions do fill up, so you are highly encouraged to register early.
A Little Context: Introduction to Milwaukee and Your Role in the City
In Person:
- Monday, February 6th 4:00-5:30pm, AMU Room 157
- Thursday, February 9th 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm, AMU Room 163
Whether you are new to the 414 zip code or if you have lived your entire life in this city, it is very likely that there are lots of things you don’t know about Milwaukee’s rich history or some of its current day hidden gems. Join us as we watch a new documentary by Adam Carr, created for Marquette students embarking on community engagement opportunities to better understand the strengths, struggles, and opportunities of Milwaukee. After the video we will spend some time discussing our roles, goals, and responsibilities in the city.
R1: Institutional Racism and its Effect on All of Us
In Person:
- Tuesday, February 21st 6:00-7:30pm, AMU Room 227
- Friday, February 24th 3:00pm – 4:30pm, AMU Room 163
Overt and Covert racism have been embodied in our institutions and our public policy for hundreds of years, and unfortunately still show up today. Students in this session will define what institutional racism is, and together we will identify examples of how it disempowers communities. Drawing from the first weeks in their service-learning placements, students will be asked to think about how unequal policies and programs impact the lives of those we work alongside in our placements. How can we work to dismantle unfair systems and policies to eliminate racism and create liberation?
R2: Growing our Cultural Competency and our Cultural Humility
Virtual Session:
- Wednesday, March 1st 4:30-6:00pm, via Zoom
- Sunday, March 5th 4:00-5:30pm, via Zoom
- Tuesday, March 21st 5:00-6:30pm via Zoom
What is the difference between cultural competency and cultural humility? Why are they both important not only in our work with community, but also in our future professions? How do we learn to engage in introspective reflection about our own cultural assumptions and potential bias and how do we seek to better empathize and understand people from different social identities than our own? Students in this session will explore ways to build these skills and attitudes, and learn to apply them throughout their lives.
R3: Food for Today: Hunger, Food Access, and Poverty
In Person:
- Tuesday, March 28th 3:30pm – 5:00pm, AMU 157
- Thursday, March 30th 6:00 – 7:30pm, AMU Room 227
Join us for this interactive session as we learn what it takes to obtain “Food for Today” in this simulation activity about food insecurity. Students will learn about who is most at risk for food insecurity, the importance of a safety net to prevent hunger and starvation, and current advocacy efforts to make sure everyone has access to healthy food.
R4: The Impact of my Service Learning
In Person:
- Friday, April 14th 12:00pm – 1:30pm, AMU 163
- Monday, April 24th 3:00pm – 4:30pm, AMU 163
- Tuesday, April 25th 6 – 7:30pm, AMU 163
It is important to consider how our service learning impacts the community, the agencies where we work, and the people we work alongside. Not to give ourselves kudos, but to consider if we have indeed created the mutually beneficial relationships we set out to create with our agencies. Service is full of power dynamics, and how we approach our work tends to dictate what we both give and take from the relationships we create in our service learning. What is our impact? How has this experience impacted us? What could you have done to make this experience more powerful? How has the experience changed your thinking, broadened your understandings, or inspired your future involvement in community?
Special Offering: The Human Library
- In Person: Wednesday, Febuary 8th, 4:00-5:30pm, or 6:00-7:30pm in the AMU
- These sessions are for nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, laboratory science, athletic training, pre-med, pre-dental, and speech pathology students only. Please only register if you are in one of these medically related majors.
- This session will be led by a College of Nursing Faculty member, but will count as a reflection session. You will need to complete assessment surveys as part of this experience.
The Human Library is a unique learning opportunity where you as a "reader" can borrow a human being serving as an open book and have a conversation that you would not normally have access to. Every Human Book from our "bookshelf" represents a group in our community that is often subjected to prejudice, stigmatization, or discrimination because of the color of their skin, ethnic origin, lifestyle, or beliefs. This is an opportunity for you to become more aware of and address your implicit biases. Implicit biases are those unconscious positive and negative attitudes and stereotypes that every person holds that are activated automatically and involuntarily, and can influence decisions and behaviors without awareness. Implicit biases unaddressed by health care professionals may result in less time spent with patients and the delivery of lower quality care and patient poorer outcomes. You as a reader will have the opportunity to borrow two books for 30-minute sessions.