OACS Update
MLK Weekend of Service
OACS extends a warm thank you to all our DOS partners for helping to make the MLK Weekend of Service a success by registering projects and joining students in service around Nashville. We hope you’re enjoying and participating in the wider MLK Day activities at Vanderbilt and reflecting upon the message and legacy of Dr. King’s work.
https://www.vanderbilt.edu/oacs/service-programs/weekends-of-service/mlk-weekend-of-service/
Redefine
Redefine has enrolled 16 students from 7 countries into the 2017 cohort. Our first activity will see students participating in a meal service at Trinity United Methodist Church in east Nashville tomorrow evening. Our first seminar will take place January 23rd, as we welcome Tallu Quinn, Executive Director of The Nashville Food Project, to lecture on the mission and scope of TNFP. In Redefine, students have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the global conceptualization of community service, comparing and contrasting across cultures. This is done thematically through partnership between OACS, ISSS, and the Nashville Food Project. Students will serve with a non-profit organization that is delivering real impact in Nashville through its mission of cultivating community and alleviating hunger. This means that global conceptualizations of community service are explored through the twin themes of hunger alleviation and community cultivation with the additional layers of local/global relationships and friendship building.
https://vanderbilt.edu/oacs/service-programs/redefine/
Cultivating Roots
Cultivating Roots: Access to Equitable Education and the Workforce had an overwhelming amount of student interest. From an applicant pool of 37 students OACS created a cohort of 13 students who will be working co-curricularly with OASIS Center, Stronger Than My Father, Salama Urban Ministries, NICE Adult Education Program, and the Susie Brannon McJimpsey Center. The cohort will come together for the first time this Saturday at Nashville International Center for Empowerment for the Meaningful Service Institute. This institute will provide students with a foundational knowledge of what it means to contribute meaningfully to a non-profit through regular volunteering. Students will be participating in activities and discussions surrounding power and privilege dynamics, critical consciousness, healthy community engagement practices, and volunteer etiquette.
https://vanderbilt.edu/oacs/service-programs/cultivating-roots/
Global Service: London, Ecuador, South Africa and Morocco
OACS enrolled 54 students into the 4 Global Program cohorts, our largest group ever! Seminars will begin shortly and students participated in the MLK Weekend of Service and MLK Joint Day of Service activities over the weekend. OACS Service Programs challenge students to question their perspectives and roles in the shared human experience through pre-service curriculum, intensive service, post-service skills application, and continuous reflection. The programs are prudently planned in order to best facilitate students’ abilities to connect meaningfully with people different from themselves through humble engagement and reciprocal dialogues within host communities. Through this exposure to firsthand knowledge and lived experiences, students will examine the deeper issues related to equity and justice and identify systematic barriers to equality and inclusivity. Students with a sincere desire to grapple with the complexity of human connectedness, to challenge their known values, and to reconcile academic knowledge with an authentic exploration of social and environmental injustices are encouraged to apply for an OACS Service Program.
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