Blog

This is a guest post by student Grady Trexler. In late March, as I left my gap year in Indonesia early because of COVID-19, I remember being absolutely sure that I had discovered important insights into myself and the world around me, but absolutely unsure about what...

This is a guest post by educator and coach Jenny Wagner. I have no desire to be repatriated right now. I feel this with visceral certainty while watching my six month old daughter sitting on a rug in our bedroom, happily chewing on the limbs of a teddy bear. My...

This is a reflection from student Kayley Gould, on how volunteering in her local area has shaped her views on how volunteering can be done right. Last year, I explored in depth what it means to volunteer. I researched and wrote my senior thesis on the dangers of...

This is a reflection from guest writer Manju, who is currently on her gap year in Nepal. I’m a Nepali-German kid who grew up in the Bay Area in California. The diverse nature of my environment and international upbringing in my life deeply shaped my outlook on the...

This is a guest post from educator, volunteer coordinator and volunteer Jane Carpenter, on how she found the Learning Service book useful when reflecting on her own experience.   Learning Service is a brilliant, thought-provoking and practical book which gently guides...

This is a guest post written by Sarah Dyer of Voice4Lions.   So you love lions? Me too! Learning about how desperate a situation our lions are in nowadays, who would not want to try and do something they felt would improve their situation? People have many reasons for...

This is a guest post from Shawn Humphrey which was first published on his own website.   “Here’s your check and there’s the parking lot.”  That’s how one civically-engaged college campus responded to my talk on global poverty. Ouch. It stung.  And, on my lonely walk...

This is a guest post by recent graduate and volunteer Natalie. From quite a young age I knew that I wanted to travel, see the world and meet new people, and I also knew that I wanted to “make a change” and help people that needed it. Being young, we often had quite a...

This is a guest post by Learning Service follower Elizabeth Bezark.   Part I Thank You for Staring: A Day in the Life of an Unengaged Volunteer During my first international community engagement experience, my group and I took a daylong break from learning how to...