Index of University Press Releases

Oct. 6, 2008

Intergenerational Dialogues meeting at DWU

MITCHELL – Dakota Wesleyan University will host a focus group event, “Conversations, Connections, Solutions, Reflections: Intergenerational Dialogues about Serving Davison County Disadvantaged Youth,” on Wednesday, Oct. 22, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Members of an L.B. Williams Elementary School fifth grade class, the DWU student body and the James Valley Community Center will attend the meeting.

The purpose of the event is to strengthen partnerships between the university and the surrounding community in order to discern the areas of greatest need for local at-risk youth. The event, hosted by members of Dakota Wesleyan’s Service Learning Core Team, is in fulfillment of a Learn & Serve grant through the Midwest Consortium for Service Learning in Higher Education.

Service learning, a branch of experiential education, goes beyond traditional service projects, connecting classroom educational goals to serving community needs.

“This event opens the door for enhanced service in our community by gathering information that will allow DWU instructors to deliberately target particular organizations our students may help, while learning classroom material they might otherwise only read about,” said Karla Hunter, assistant professor of communication and lead contact for the team.

Results of the dialogues will help guide future service learning projects on campus. Members of the media are invited to attend. For more information about service learning initiatives at DWU, contact the provost’s office at 995-2645. For more information about the meeting, contact Hunter at 995-2154 or e-mail kahunter@dwu.edu.