Chewy Garcia and Jannette Romo are Boise State instructors and educational specialists for the TRIO Rising Scholars program who are making an impact by integrating service-learning into their new Curriculum, Instruction and Foundational Studies course, creating meaningful learning experiences for their students while strengthening the community.
Garcia first engaged with service-learning by participating in the Service-Learning Online Academy. Together, he and Romo worked closely with the Center for Teaching and Learning’s service-learning team, refining their course plan and building partnerships with an organization that serves multi-language learners in the Treasure Valley.
Garcia and Romo used high-impact practices of experiential learning by visiting their community partner site, collaborating with the supervisor to ensure the partnership is mutually beneficial and that students engage ethically and thoughtfully with the multi-language learners. Their course also supports the university’s Strategic Enrollment and Retention Plan student demographics – both in the Boise State students they recruit and the young students they serve, with a shared goal of increasing access to higher education and fostering student success.
Through their commitment to experiential learning, ethical engagement and reflective practice, Garcia and Romo are exemplifying the power of service-learning in action.