“I love CSL for many reasons, but I think the biggest reason is that you get to make relationships… you have to engage in people and you have to talk to people, I think that’s really the spirit of learning is making those relationships.”
Megan, an avid volunteer in high school, was “kinda sad coming to U of A cause I was worried that other than doing SU I wouldn’t have much to get engaged with.” However, her very first university class had a CSL component which laid the foundation. She highlights that “CSL teaches you that you’re filling a need, but why is that need there? What power structures are embedded in you being a volunteer? It really just opened up my eyes.”
How has CSL influenced her personal or academic life?
“It has definitely influenced both. When you learn about CSL and it’s something so personal and you are encouraged to reflect, I think you carry that reflection with you wherever you’re going outside of the U of A, in the friendships you have, how you talk to you family members, and just interact with other people as well. As for academics, especially being in sociology, you are encouraged to deconstruct this power relation that is embedded in all our systems. So it just gives you a new perspective on that.”
Where has CSL taken her?
“To being happy that there was something other than SU. I took some more CSL classes and that led me to the Certificate in Community Engagement and Service-Learning and then that certificate led me to another certificate (Global Citizenship) - it’s just so representative of CSL in that one things leads to the next.”