service-learning | Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good

Life-long conversations on neighborhoods, housing and gentrification

Community-engaged learning claims many student benefits like making learning relevant by bridging theory and practice, promoting openness to multiple perspectives, and fostering dispositions to further community involvement. As I reflect on my community-engaged learning in college over three decades ago, one measure of that learning’s value sticks with me — enduring questions that I’ve considered for a lifetime since. – David Donahue

Applying ‘Change the World From Here to Washington, D.C.

s I walked into my supervisor’s office on my first day to partake in what would be one of many “huddles” (office lingo for team and one-on-one check-ins), I glanced across her desk to see a sticky note posted on her computer screen which read, “Every day counts!”- Katherine Pantangco

Random acts of kindness

There’s a quote I often think of that’s often used when tragic events happen in the world – the Boko Haram kidnapping, the Paris attack, Newtown shooting, Boston bombing, Colorado shootings, Kenya attack and countless others. – Rebecca McDowell

Seeing the Past in the Present: A History Lesson Through Walk SF

It was my second week working with Generation Citizen in a classroom. On the projector, there was an image of a map of San Francisco, displaying the districts and neighborhoods shaded in different colors to represent varying levels of unemployment. In front of me, the students, all 9th and 10th graders, took turns asking questions and pointing out things they noticed on the map. – Benjamin Rosete-Estrada

Learning to Become an Advocate for Community Engagement with Upward Bound

When I first heard about the Advocate for Community Engagement (ACE) program through the Leo T. McCarthy Center, I knew it would be an incredibly unique opportunity for me to explore my passions surrounding social justice. – Greta Karisny

How would I define the graduate school experience?

How would I define the graduate school experience? I wonder how to best define it, I think I could describe it as a pathway to leadership development. My journey has only just begun with the Master of Public Affairs (MoPA) program, but it has already left lasting impressions upon myself. – Sarah Souza

On the Start of the New Year

The same week that I started as the new Director of the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good, I finished reading Teacher Wars, Dana Goldstein’s history of the teaching profession in the United States. – David Donahue

Summer 2015 Immersion in Nicaragua

For two weeks immediately following the Spring 2015 semester, I led an immersion course to Nicaragua with 7 University of San Francisco students. We stayed with homestay families in the city of León, near the Pacific coast, and traveled daily to the village community of Goyena. The course, ARCD 348: Nicaragua Outreach Summer Immersion, was interdisciplinary, consisting of students from Architecture & Community Design, Environmental Studies, Nursing, Physics and Psychology. – Hana Mori Böttger