Blog
Keep in touch with what we’re up to, our thoughts and updates on Learning Service.

Volunteering, a No-Assumptions Approach
This is a guest post written by Mandeep Kaur, about what it means to approach a problem with no assumptions. We are all guilty of assuming that a certain community needs a certain kind of help. We look at homeless people and assume that we need to build them homes,...
read moreBuilding Service Into Curriculum
This is a guest post by student Sydney who went to an unusual high school that emphasized service learning. For my middle and high school years, I attended a school founded on the principles of global engagement, purposeful living, and ethical responsibility. Service...
read moreImportant Ways to Carry Over Values From Volunteer Work When You’re Stuck at Home
This is a guest post by Mary Beth Gossman about how values don't dry up when international volunteer opportunities do. With the world and travel at a standstill, some of the volunteer work we would normally be engaged in may not be possible. Many people who take time...
read morePlayPumps: When Good Intentions Go Bad
This is a guest article by Learning Service Intern Kayley Gould, on how even large well-funded development projects can fail if they don't prioritize learning. This past spring, I took an Environmental Anthropology course focused on environmental justice and water...
read moreNepal, Please Don’t Forget Vulnerable Children at Their Time of Greatest Need
This is a guest post written by Sushil Babu Chhetri, whose fascinating life story has been serialised on this blog (read Part One here). There are lots of things to be worried about in this era of coronavirus. I talked about some of the issues I have been witnessing...
read moreThis is Not the Time for Facebook Activism
This is a guest post by Sushil Babu Chhetri. I am writing to you from the western part of Nepal, one the most remote and most disadvantaged regions of the country, and also my birthplace. Since I saw the situation with the Covid-19 pandemic unfolding across the world,...
read moreLiving in a Foreign Country Taught Me What It Means to be “American”
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...
read moreCOVID-19 Taught Me My Lizard Brain is Racist (and Yours Probably is Too)
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...
read moreThe True Meaning of Volunteering
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...
read moreHow an Encounter in an Ice-Cream Shop Changed My Gap Year
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...
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