Our OSL-ebration!
2023 in the
Office of Service-Learning
Another year of growth
throughout UGA and our community
Looking back on 2023
There aren't many things I do where I'll agree to wear a hairnet, but Turkeypalooza is one of them!
As I reflect on 2023, there is much to celebrate in the UGA Office of Service-Learning. As an office, we remain focused on connecting students, faculty, and community partners in positive and collaborative ways to address issues important to all of us. Activities this year included finding creative ways to address food waste and insecurity through our Campus Kitchen program, supporting literacy efforts with K-12 students, encouraging college access and readiness with our local school district through Experience UGA, and forging stronger relationships between the university and community through over 500 service-learning courses.
Collaboration is one of our core values in the OSL, and we are grateful for the over 100 community organizations we partner with each year. Building community and addressing hard issues is challenging, but also joyful work. I hope you will see that joy as you join the OSL-elebration and learn more about what we have been up to in 2023.
- Shannon Brooks
Director of the Office of Service-Learning
Service-learning courses continue to expand across the University of Georgia. In taking these courses, UGA students have the opportunity to apply their classroom studies to the real world, make a lasting impact in communities throughout Georgia, and gain valuable hands-on experience in their career fields.
9,277 students enrolled in a service-learning course in the 2022-23 academic year.
In end-of-course surveys, 84% of students enrolled in service-learning courses said the service-learning project helped them better understand the academic subject matter of the course.
89% said the service-learning project helped them better see how the material in the course could be useful in everyday life or in other situations.
80% said the service-learning project positively influenced their intention to complete their degree.
82% said the service-learning project enhanced their leadership skills.
41% of UGA undergraduate students take a service-learning course before they graduate, making it the most affordable and accessible way to complete their experiential learning graduation requirement.
Student feedback from service-learning course surveys:
“I believe all students should be required to take at least one service-learning class. It would open the eyes of many to the needs of the community and how they can become involved in giving back the gifts that they have been given.”
“Service-learning has made a huge impact on my college career and the relationships I've built. I feel so fortunate to go to a university that extends me this opportunity!”
“This class prepares you for life.”
Students provided an estimated 340,000 hours of community-based work through service-learning courses across Georgia from fall 2022 to spring 2023.
Roughly, 65% of UGA's service-learning courses partner with organizations in Athens, meaning UGA students spent more than 220,000 hours serving in our local community.
In end-of-course surveys, 86% of students said the service-learning project helped them gain more knowledge about the community with which they worked and the issues the community faced.
514 service-learning course sections are offered in every school and college at UGA.
There are now 250 UGA instructors teaching service-learning courses throughout the University.
Since the Service-Learning Fellows program was established in 2006, nearly 170 faculty from 16 of UGA’s schools and colleges, Public Service and Outreach units, and the AU/UGA Medical Partnership have participated. 10 faculty members are members of the 2023-24 cohort of Service-Learning Fellows.
During the 2022-23 academic year, students enrolled in service-learning courses provided $10 million in direct benefit to communities across Georgia–$6.5 million of that in our local community.
Since 2020, students enrolled in service-learning courses have provided over 1.3 million hours of community-based work valued at $37 million to communities across Georgia.
Program Highlights
The Campus Kitchen
This year, the Campus Kitchen hit a huge milestone. Since the program began in 2012, Campus Kitchen has now recovered more than half a million pounds of food from our community (518,131.88 pounds to be exact). The team has turned this recovered food into nearly 121,000 meals and more than 20,000 grocery bags delivered to members of the community experiencing food insecurity.
From January to December 2023, Campus Kitchen served more than 13,000 meals and delivered 3,850 grocery bags.
This year, the Campus Kitchen also got a fresh new look for its trailer, featuring the healthy fruits and vegetables Campus Kitchen serves.
In the 2023 calendar year, Campus Kitchen on Wheels served more than 750 meals throughout our community.
For this year's Turkeypalooza, Campus Kitchen partnered with the Athens Community Career Academy. The Career Academy students used their kitchen's new smoker to smoke 24 turkeys to be the centerpieces of the event's prepared meals.
During the PSO Week of Service, Public Service & Outreach faculty and staff picked 450 pounds of collard greens at UGArden. The collards were washed and sorted to be delivered in grocery bags or to be cooked and included in the prepared meals.
In total, Campus Kitchen delivered 300 grocery bags and 180 prepared meals to homes in our community for Turkeypalooza. An additional 70 bundles of collards were delivered to the Clarke County School district to include in their food pantry distribution.
This year, Campus Kitchen also started a partnership with the restaurant, gusto!, and collected leftover meals served at the Tate Student Center during UGA's home football games.
With this food from gusto!, Campus Kitchen was able to serve 400 meals to Bigger Vision Homeless Shelter in the fall semester.
Experience UGA
This was a busy fall for the Experience UGA, which aims to bring every Clarke County School District student (PreK-12) to UGA every year to experience learning on a university campus.
In fall 2023, 20 Experience UGA Ambassadors coordinated 66 trips – October was the busiest month with 24 trips!
In fall 2023, Experience UGA hosted more than 5,400 CCSD students from nine different grade levels - PreK, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th, and 12th.
From spring through fall in 2023, Experience UGA hosted more than 9,100 students on campus.
The team worked with 16 different departments and units around UGA to coordinate these trips.
More than 400 volunteers also helped the team of ambassadors coordinate trips and guide students across campus in the 2023 spring and fall semesters.
One of Experience UGA's Ambassadors, Kyle Huemme, was selected to speak at UGA's fall 2023 commencement! Kyle's speech focused on the unexpected turns in life and how UGA became the perfect fit where he discovered his calling in accounting.
Kyle was featured in a UGA Today Student Spotlight story that you can find here. And you can listen to Kyle's speech here.
Congratulations, Kyle!
AmeriCorps
Community Food Fellows
One of our new programs, the AmeriCorps Community Food Fellows program, is off to a great start!
The program launched in fall 2023, and 20 fellows, including 17 UGA undergraduate students, joined its inaugural cohort. The fellows are now working with Athens-Clarke County organizations dedicated to reducing food insecurity and food waste in our community.
So far, the fellows have worked with many organizations around Athens-Clarke County, including Campus Kitchen, UGArden, Our Daily Bread, Bigger Vision, City of Refuge, and Concrete Jungle.
Since the program began in August, the fellows have helped serve more than 3,500 meals, harvest nearly 600 pounds of food, and recover 1,300 pounds of food.
Stay tuned for more updates as the Community Food Fellows become more involved with organizations in and around Athens!
AmeriCorps
VISTA Network
This year, our network of AmericCorps VISTAs have served with Athens-Clarke County Library, the Athens Community Council on Aging, College Factory, Envision Athens, Experience UGA, UGArden, and Oconee Therapeutic Riding.
Over the last calendar year, the OSL AmeriCorps VISTA network members supervised 650 volunteers who provided over 2,700 hours of service across seven organizations in Athens-Clarke County. The VISTAs also brought in more than $62,000 in resources for their organizations.
Some of the projects the VISTAs have worked on in 2023 include: supporting a conference session to showcase the Experience UGA program to educators from around the state; conducting fall harvest training at UGArden to educate volunteers about crop procedures for various vegetables; creating an interactive and informative college prep presentation for students at Cedar Shoals High School with College Factory; and expanding volunteer recruiting and fundraising opportunities at Oconee Therapeutic Riding.
After-School Sports
and Literacy Tutoring Program
In fall 2023, the Office of Service-Learning also launched its new after-school tutoring program, which will connect UGA students with elementary school students around Athens to inspire them in their reading and writing studies and athletics.
In the first few months of the program, 15 UGA student ambassadors have visited with nearly 100 Clarke County School District fourth- and fifth-grade students at three schools, Barnett Shoals Elementary, Bettye Henderson Holston Elementary, and H.B. Stroud Elementary.
So far, the team of UGA students have met with students on the schools' cheerleading and basketball teams. In the spring, the program will expand to the schools' soccer teams, and 26 UGA students have reached out expressing their interest in serving during soccer season.
Look forward to more stories about this new program in 2024!
Our Stories from 2023
Green Team connects UGA and middle school students with passion for ecology
“For many of my students, this was not just their first time teaching, but also their first time being the person in charge. They developed leadership skills alongside their scientific knowledge. I’m hopeful that my students will take these leadership skills with them into the workforce, onto graduate school or into their next semester here at UGA.”
- Alli Injaian
Cross-Institutional Students Support a Coastal Georgia Legacy
“The people on Sapelo have a lot going on, but nobody knows we’re here or knows our struggle. We are proud Saltwater Geechee people, and our heritage needs to be preserved. This place is like nowhere else.”
- Maurice Bailey
10 University of Georgia faculty members named 2023-24 Service-Learning Fellows
“The Service-Learning Fellows are learning and implementing effective, high-impact teaching strategies that improve student learning through partnerships meeting community needs.”
- Paul Matthews
New Community Program Joins the Fight Against Hunger
“Since joining the program, I feel like I finally found my people. With so many academic disciplines at UGA, it can be hard to find individuals who are interested in the same specific things as me. The Food Fellows program introduced me to a wonderful community of like-minded individuals.”
- Madison Caren
A UGA community partnership making unforgettable experiences
“Each year I realize the impact I’m making on students. I love reaching younger populations and engaging with them. It’s nice to see them grow and getting to see them discover different interests.”
- Leslie Oroyemi
An Unforgettable Summer in the AmeriCorps
“I didn’t expect all the engagement with community members—having the opportunity to interact with the community, see their faces week to week, and get that instant feedback with what we’re doing.”
- Devin Land
“I thought doing 40 hours a week, I was going to burn out, but interacting with the community members keeps me going and keeps giving me energy, especially learning all their names and faces and seeing them so excited.”
- Aliyah Williams
Our Stories from 2023
Green Team connects UGA and middle school students with passion for ecology
“For many of my students, this was not just their first time teaching, but also their first time being the person in charge. They developed leadership skills alongside their scientific knowledge. I’m hopeful that my students will take these leadership skills with them into the workforce, onto graduate school or into their next semester here at UGA.”
- Alli Injaian
Cross-Institutional Students Support a Coastal Georgia Legacy
“The people on Sapelo have a lot going on, but nobody knows we’re here or knows our struggle. We are proud Saltwater Geechee people, and our heritage needs to be preserved. This place is like nowhere else.”
- Maurice Bailey
10 University of Georgia faculty members named 2023-24 Service-Learning Fellows
“The Service-Learning Fellows are learning and implementing effective, high-impact teaching strategies that improve student learning through partnerships meeting community needs.”
- Paul Matthews
Highlights From Our Team
Kay Vaughn, business manager in the Office of Service-Learning, celebrated 30 years at the University of Georgia this year. She was recognized at both the Office of Instruction and the Public Service and Outreach faculty and staff appreciation events by vice presidents Marisa Pagnattaro and Jennifer Frum.
Andie Bisceglia, Campus Kitchen coordinator, received the 2023 Leadership Award from the Office of the Vice President for Instruction. Andie was recognized for her leadership as Campus Kitchen has grown to engage more UGA students and collaborate with more partners to make an impact in our community.
Josh Podvin, assistant director for community partnerships, was also surprised to receive the Vice President's Award for Excellence in Public Service and Outreach for Student Engagement at this year's faculty and staff appreciation event.
Earlier this year, the Office of Service-Learning also hosted the 2023 Gulf-South Summit on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Through Higher Education at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education and Hotel. More than 300 people attended and joined more than 70 panel sessions, workshops and presentations.
At the Gulf-South Summit, Paul Matthews, associate director of the Office of Service-Learning, was awarded the 2023 Award for Outstanding Faculty Contribution to Service-Learning in Higher Education - Research.
And another round of applause for our 2023 Service-Learning Excellence winners!
Jon Calabria, associate professor in the College of Environment and Design, was the recipient of the 2023 Service-Learning Research Excellence Award,
and Katie Darby Hein, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavior in the College of Public Health,
and Kim Skobba, associate professor in the Department of Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, were recipients of the 2023 Service-Learning Teaching Excellence Awards.
Support Our Work
The Office of Service-Learning (OSL) directs academic service learning and community engagement activities for all of the university. These activities provide students with opportunities to apply academic knowledge to community issues. The office engages faculty to connect their scholarship to the challenges facing Georgia communities and the world. Through sustainable, mutually-beneficial community partnerships, OSL brings the public service and outreach mission of UGA to life through the hands and hearts of students and faculty.
When you support service-learning at the University of Georgia with a one-time or recurring donation, you help students become involved with the community in ways that benefit their education, allow them to make real-world connections between academics and community concerns, and engage them with work that improves communities locally, statewide and internationally.
Thank you for supporting and following our work! We are looking forward to making new strides in 2024.
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