Welcome! the Service Learning & Volunteer Center
Office Hours
Monday-Thursday 8:00-4:30 p.m. & Friday 8:00-3:00 p.m, evening appointments available by request. All calls and emails will be returned within 24-48 hours.
New location: Student Services Building 14, Room 14107
Staff Contact Information
- Nancy Magpusao Burke (she/her/hers)
Program Manager
442.262.2164
nmagpusaoburke@miracosta.edu - Analia Zamora-DeHart (she/her/hers/ella)
Administrative Support Assistant II
760.795.6616
azamora@miracosta.edu - Student Advocates
Jennifer Duffy, Cory King, Noraa Zenger-Snaer, Ray Garibay, Mai (Quynh) Dang, Julian Bush Torres, Ceara (CeCe) Carson, Monica Ruiz Polo, Tooleen Shrouki, and Angie Rodriguez - General Service Learning email: servicelearning@miracosta.edu
What is Service Learning?
Service learning is a form of experiential education that partners academic instruction with community service. Students learn through participation in thoughtfully organized service activities that are course relevant and meet actual community needs. Each year, over a hundred students at MiraCosta College participate in service learning either as an option or a requirement for classes. Students are placed in non-profit organizations and public schools where they provide a variety of support services. These placements allow students to apply course concepts in real world settings while making valuable community contributions. Start by registering as a Service Learning participant for the current semester, this is service assignment for a specific class. View a list of courses and instructors that have offered service learning. View a list of approved community partners.
My course currently does not offer Service Learning - what can I do? A student may request credit and must obtain prior email consent from their course instructor before participating in service learning with a pre-approved, non-profit organization. The student and course instructor must notify the Service Learning department prior to student's participation in any service learning activity. Joint approval of the course instructor and the student requesting credit must include number of hours agreed upon, the pre-approved non-profit organization, description of duties, and a critical reflection component. Student must follow-through with all steps and forms outlined in "Student Forms" section for service learning.
What is the Volunteer Program?
The volunteer program is any service not connected to a particular class. Students can participate in co-curricular service opportunities for many reasons: explore career paths, learn about your community, build your resume, civic engagement, scholarships, transfer applications and to build your culture and social capital. We offer two different certificates of participation when students complete 50-99 hours or 100+ hours. Learn more about about this program, or you can register for our volunteer program now. Students can volunteer at any non-profit organization or school, check out our current community partners.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Service Learning and Volunteer Center is to support and promote student success and student engagement through curricular and co-curricular community service. The center facilitates applied learning opportunities that enhance student learning while increasing personal civic responsibility, community awareness, personal growth, and cultural humility.
Our foundation is CASE: Community, Advocacy, Service, and Education.
Student Advocates
The center hires Student Advocates, a student leadership team of service-oriented students who are passionate about education, community, advocacy, social justice, and equity. Student Advocates are assigned to a local Title I school or non-profit prganizations whose mission aligns well with our institutional and program mission. Their role is to assist the school or non-profit organization with their community programs, literacy, STREAM activities, and/or activities that promote higher learning. Advocates also work in the center, assist in the Food Pantry with CARE (Campus Assessment, Resources and Education) staff, and use their paid office hours as an opportunity to share service opportunities with other college students. Advocate tasks include: social justice curriculum, office and food pantry, leading team meetings, educational presentations, promoting program services, and raising awareness about community partnerships and service opportunities. They also gain employability skills by helping coordinate service projects that raise awareness on issues connected with education, community, social justice, and equity.
How does Service Learning support Intersectional Equity work?
Service Learning is a teaching and learning methodology and a great strategy for culturally responsive teaching across interconnecting identities. Through community-based placements, both in person or virtually, students’ experiences facilitate them to think critically about the structures of social inequity. Critical Service Learning requires that students examine diverse, cultural perspectives as a means to examine their own agency and expand their social and cultural capital. Through these actions students are encouraged to think and develop their own counter stories to historical ideologies that contribute to systemic oppression and the status quo. Service Learning rejects ideologies of “saviorism” and “charity” as a means for academic learning and civic engagement. A critical component of service learning is self-awarenenss. This provides students an opportunity to make meaningful links between course content and their experiential learning.
