Service Learning Program Offers Student the Chance to Make a Difference

Doylestown, PA (June, 2012) – Fifteen college students from Bucks County have been chosen to participate in Foundations Community Partnership’s Summer Youth Corps, which offers paid student internships at local non-profit human service agencies in Bucks County serving children, youth and families. The program combines the ability to gain practical experience while helping to effect positive change in the community working at non-profit human service agencies.

This is the fifth year in a row that Foundations has offered the internship program. Non-profit agencies have the benefit of additional helping hands and the students gain meaningful work experience with groups that are making a difference in Bucks County.

“Service learning is a wonderful opportunity for students to combine community service with academic study,” said Ron Bernstein, Executive Director of Foundations Community Partnership. “Our Summer Youth Corps program gives students the chance to have a meaningful work experience in the summer while earning college credits. I am also pleased that many of our Partnership in Education winners have been selected for the Summer Youth Corps so they can continue their community service work.”

Through a relationship with Bucks County Community College, students are able to experience “service learning”, a form of experiential education where students learn to solve community problems and achieve real objectives for the community while earning college credits. Service learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. Service-learning is different from volunteerism in that it is a teaching and learning approach that integrates community service with academic study to enrich learning, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.

Agencies participating in the program for the first time this year include Refuge Childcare Academy, Children’s Developmental Program, Family Services Association- AACES, Ivy Hill Therapeutic Riding, Gilda’s Club Delaware Valley and A Woman’s Place.

This year’s Summer Youth Corps is led by Field Supervisor Melissa Speroni, who is attending University of Pennsylvania, where she is earning a Master’s degree in Social Work.

Students in the 2012 Summer Youth Corps program have been placed in the following locations:

• New Hope resident Claire Anderson is assisting the Bucks County Housing Group in Wrightstown. She is attending the Kutztown University studying Business Management.
• Holland resident Brianna Schlupp is working at Refuge Childcare Academy in Bristol. She is studying Education at Holy Family University.
• Quakertown resident Megan Renshaw is working at Children’s Developmental Program in Quakertown. She attends Penn State University- Lehigh Valley and is majoring in Psychology.
• Bensalem resident Amanda Morton is working at YWCA of Bucks County in Feasterville. She attends Slippery Rock University and is studying Athletic Training.
• Fairless Hills resident Danielle Wagner is interning at Special Equestrians in Warrington. She is a Psychology major at Muhlenberg College.
• Bensalem resident Devon Pinkus is working at Habitat for Humanity in Chalfont. He attends University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and is majoring in Business.
• Doylestown resident Grace Phillips is interning at Aark Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center in New Britain. She is a Speech Pathology major at Temple University.
• New Hope resident Morgan Cawley is working at Churchville Nature Center in Churchville. She is a History major at Mount St. Mary University.
• Doylestown resident Lee Sandquist is working at Central Bucks Family YMCA in Doylestown. He attends Bates College and is majoring in Business.
• Doylestown resident Alex Collopy is assisting Family Service Association- AACES in Langhorne. She attends Penn State University – University Park where she is studying Psychology.
• Coopersburg resident Elizabeth Nilsen joins Ivy Hill Therapeutic Riding in Perkasie. She attends Washington and Jefferson College, where she is studying Psychology.
• Newtown resident Dana-Joy Carducci is working at James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown. She is an Elementary Education major at The College of New Jersey.
• Bristol resident Casey Stover works at Gilda’s Club, Delaware Valley in Warminister. She attends Millersville University where she is a Pre-Med student studying Chemistry.
• Bristol resident Shannon Cook is assisting A Woman’s Place in Doylestown. She is majoring in International Studies at American University.
• Southampton resident Richard Grillone is interning at the Community Conservatory in Doylestown. He is studying music at Bucks County Community College.

Students who have completed their freshman through junior year at college and who are residents of Bucks County are eligible to participate in Foundations Community Partnership’s Summer Youth Corps. The 10-week service-learning program runs from May 29 through Aug. 3. Internships are subsidized by Foundations Community Partnership.

Visit FCP’s Facebook page to see more of the 2012 Summer Youth Corps in action.

Foundations Community Partnership provides grants and technical assistance to non-profit organizations, awards scholarships to Bucks County high school seniors, subsidizes service learning internships for college students, underwrites community education programs and supports behavioral health education and research.