Working with Community Partners

Flexibility is extremely important in service learning partnerships.  And anyone who teaches undergraduates knows that students often lack flexibility.  That is one of the challenges of service-learning courses. This week, we encountered an unexpected challenge.  For months, we have been planning a service opportunity for our students to go sort books at a local book distributor who donates books to Project READ, our partner, to distribute to their tutors and clients.  Unfortunately, the warehouse owner recently decided to move locations.  The warehouse will be in this midst of moving when our book sorting activity had been planned.  So, one of the AmeriCORPS members contacted us to let us know that the book sorting will not happen.  She said she will plan another activity for us on the same date and time we had originally planned for the book sorting. We have only a week and half to construct another service opportunity for our students.  We expect that the students will probably be frustrated.  Perhaps its good for them to have to practice some patience and flexibility.  Perhaps I should see this as an opportunity, rather than a challenge!