FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11, 2003
CONTACT: Nicole Lessin, Northwest Vista College Public Information Officer
210.348.2011

Northwest Vista College Service Learning Program to Expand

"It was totally life-changing. I had never seen anything like that," explains 15-year-old Reagan High School student Caroline Kessler about her recent visit to the colonias and maquilas of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Kessler visited the town with her mother, NVC instructor Shelley Friend, as part of a "border delegation" of Northwest Vista College staff and faculty members.

The visit was designed by service learning coordinator Shelley Blagg and sociology instructor Kara Lopez for staff and faculty members to find ways to raise students' awareness about the socio-economic conditions of the workers in the border towns, and to create partnerships with local organizations that work to help improve their living and working conditions. This trip was part of Northwest Vista's service learning program through which instructors combine volunteer work with their academic curricula.

According to Friend, the trip was eye-opening, even for them. "I had read about it but it was exponentially different," she explains. "I saw abject poverty (and) subhuman living conditions. And yet the people are grateful and kind and giving."

Before the trip, Kessler organized a drive for clothing and school supplies to distribute in a colonia. She says that she was so moved by the experience that she is currently working with her cheerleading squad at Reagan to find additional ways to help.

"These people work all day long for four or five dollars a day. That is what I make an hour babysitting," she remarks. "These people don't have anything. I just felt really bad. My mom and I were talking about how we can help."

Instructors like Lopez and Friend hope that Kessler's experience can be duplicated by Northwest Vista College students through the service learning program. "She was kind of our tester," remarks Lopez.

Possible projects that the instructors and staff are considering for students include conducting economic research, writing letters to government officials, building facilities, data entry, clothing drives and more.

"We want to increase our students' awareness and attach some kind of action step to that awareness," explains Friend. "It is not enough to say, 'I understand your plight.' We've got to do something."