Experience is the greatest teacher. On this episode of Humankind, we’ll meet college students who are living proof of that old axiom. In the practice of “Service Learning,” students who perform community service and learn valuable lessons not found in the academic curriculum. Find out how these community-minded young adults have made service a part of their lives and give their time and energy to help causes such as the environment, housing, and literacy. We’ll hear from Catherine Foo of MIT, a volunteer and organizer with her local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, and understand how service has helped shaped her view of the world and caused her to strive to make a difference. We’ll also visit with Casey Bynum, an engineer from Dartmouth who helped build a school and new housing for poor families in Costa Rica, and hear the perspective he has gained from the experience of walking in someone else’s shoes.

Themes

• What is “Service Learning”?
• What motivates college students to give their time and energy to serve other people?
• How can such experiences change a young person’s worldview?
• What are some of the ways that students have served in their communities?

It is really exciting, cause then you realize that your work is really relevant and you can really make a difference, even with something small. Like it mattered, that you were there that day to help construct this house”

—Catherine Foo, MIT Student