November 2024 Dinner Seminar Recap
Caldwell Fellows learn about their fellow fellows' work from the sophomore seminar.
As the semester winds down, with finals around the corner and the anticipation of winter break ahead, our fellows gathered for our last dinner seminar of the fall semester.
The Class of 2027 shared stories of their service learning teamwork during their sophomore seminar. In the sophomore seminar, students learned about servant leadership, what it means, and how it can be implemented within our communities. They also developed their philosophy of leadership. At our core, experiential learning repeatedly proves that it solidifies people’s understanding of an abstract concept: “What does it mean to be a servant leader?”
The students selected which team they would like to work with choosing from Habitat for Humanity, Neighbor to Neighbor, Dorothea Dix Conservancy, Open Door Clinic, Interfaith Food Shuttle, Interfaith Understanding, and Sunlight (a startup founded by a Caldwell alum focused on improving the child welfare system). Each organization does invaluable work within our local community and the students got hands-on experience of what it means to be a servant first, leader second.
Each service team presented their key takeaways from the semester and practiced one of our key values of principled reflection. There were two main ways of serving within our community; direct and advocacy/research. Direct service involves hands-on experiences happening in the presence of the persons or places we want to impact or serve. Whereas, advocacy and research involve channeling resources and knowledge to educate and address social or institutional challenges. Each comes with its own set of challenges and rewards and provides a space for our sophomores to put their theory into practice.
Our community partners make this work possible, we are grateful for the continuous partnerships. If you want to learn more about our partners, visit our website!
