A group of UALR undergraduates have overturned the image of uninvolved college students by providing local nonprofit organizations in-kind labor worth six figures over the past decade.

Dr. Kristen McIntyre, director of the Speech Communication 1300 classes, said UALR speech communication students engage in four hours of service learning per semester, providing about $100,000 worth of work to organizations that include the Little Rock Zoo, UAMS, the Arkansas Foodbank Network, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, and Pulaski County Animal Services.

Each semester, the department offers 20 sections of the class made up of approximately 35 students – about 700 students a semester who engage in service to the community.

Students find out about the requirement on the first day of classes each semester, and they have about three months to complete those four hours. McIntyre, who also directs the Communication Skill Center, said the community involvement teaches them much more than how to communicate well with others – although it does allow them to apply the lessons they learn in class to practical situations.

“We have a lot of students who figure out how to incorporate service work with their job choices,” McIntyre said. “They’ve developed an understanding of ‘I do need to be active in my community to make it better. I just can’t sit down and let other people improve my world.’”

Each UALR undergraduate is required to complete Speech Communication 1300 in fulfillment of general education requirements. The course is completely different from traditional introductory speech classes; it focuses on effective group and interpersonal communication as well as offering training in public speaking. The department tried the service-learning requirement in a pilot program in spring 2008 and made it official in fall 2008.

Students in the class complete a pre-service reflection exercise as well as a post-service reflection in order to see what they learned from their experience and what they applied from their class to their service. In addition, they deliver a five to seven-minute speech on their time in service and complete an anonymous survey about the experience. Each of these exercises helps the department improve its offerings year on year.

“We felt that this requirement was a good way to feature experiential learning as well as our commitment to the service-learning aspect of being a metropolitan university,” McIntyre added. “Four hours is not a massive time commitment, but it helps emphasize to our students the importance of personal credibility – presenting our best selves as often as possible.”

By listening to class members’ speeches, students also learn about the needs inherent in a metropolitan area like Little Rock. Through the program, many have not only learned about effective communication, they have found career paths as well.

“Several of our speech communication interns want to work as fundraisers or in public relations for nonprofits,” McIntyre said. “We also have students who want to major in speech communication because it will help them with a career in sales, human resources, human services, consulting, teaching, or other communication fields. We emphasize that if you can communicate well, you can do whatever you want in life.

“The most important result of the service-learning requirement, however, is that they become active citizens – they learn that their work really matters in the community.”