The writer of this article was part of a summer honors experience called Voices From Our Backyard: Local News Narratives, during which students created and wrote stories to be published in community news outlets.
Kyle Clarke Echeverria
From helping out in a local garden to serving food at a soup kitchen, students at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) are redefining what it means to be a college volunteer, blending education with real world impact. It’s called Service-Learning.
“They have an element of agency within their own communities that they can be part of the solutions when it comes to helping and supporting the communities that they are a part of,” said Professor Ingird Sabio-McLaughlin, one of the coordinators of the Service-Learning Program.
The goal of the Service-Learning Program is to make students agents of change in their community. Professor Ingird Sabio-McLaughlin and Professor Kris Messer are the coordinators of this program and integrate the program’s philosophy in their teaching. Both are responsible for connecting CCBC students with communities all over Baltimore and Baltimore County.
Volunteering is what keeps communities strong and alive. Unfortunately not every student knows about the service-learning community. According to Professor Sabio-McLaughlin students are more likely to engage in the Service-Learning Program when they take a class that incorporates service-learning volunteering hours as a course requirement.
“Service-Learning changed my outlook on connecting with others. Volunteering helps Baltimore stay strong and supported,” said Jasmine Njeru, a student who took part in service-learning at the Black Church Food Security Network. Jasmine wasn't aware of the service-learning community until one of her friends introduced her to it. Her role as an agent of change wouldn't have been highlighted if it wasn't for this hands on experience.
The role of a community college is to engage with the local community and the Service-Learning Program is crucial to the college’s mission. Because many students are unaware of the program the college should start to incorporate it in more of its classes. Currently at CCBC there are many courses that discuss current issues such as english, history, political science, sociology, etc. These courses would benefit from students engaging with their local communities and help them understand the topics addressed in class are close to their home.
“We were able to learn and connect with real people, not just an idea in a textbook or discussed in class," said Abbey Hochrein, a student who became involved with the service-learning community during the spring 2024 semester. "It made me understand the impact inequality has on communities. Volunteering was an eye opening experience.”
When students start to realize they can make change in their communities and develop empathy, that is when education starts to turn ideas into action. Service-Learning is more than just a program that helps communities, it also makes education have an immediate impact. The experiences that students have in college are formative and can shape and change their career outlooks in the future. Helping plant in the local garden or helping a neighbor have access to food can prompt a student to care more about those types of issues and prompt them to do more research on food deserts to help out other individuals. Real-world engagement matters.
Currently courses that incorporate service-learning only introduce students to issues in the community but the volunteering hours are not long enough for them to feel fully immersed. Students who engage in volunteering through The Service-Learning Initiative sometimes are left with the wish to help these communities more.
“I was very content with helping them but I also wish I could do more,” said Jamie Ayala, one of the students who is part of the Service-Learning Program. Ayala enjoyed his time helping and learning from the communities he engaged with but he felt the need to do more.
The Service-Learning Program at the Community College of Baltimore County is more than just a course requirement or an extracurricular activity. It is a bridge between academic learning and real-world impact. As students immerse themselves in their communities, they are not only contributing to the well-being of those around them but also gaining invaluable insights that textbooks alone cannot provide.
The program empowers students to become agents of change, fostering a sense of responsibility and empathy that extends beyond the classroom. Service-Learning doesn’t just teach students about the world—it equips them with the tools to change it.
