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By Leah Farr, November 22, 2005

Last updated: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 10:36 AM EST

Twelve Shippensburg University students are getting credit for changing the world. Three credits to be exact.

The students are part of a pilot program at the university called honors service learning — a class intended to develop a nonprofit organization on campus to promote student-initiated service projects.

This semester, the class kicked-off a campaign to collect 3,000 textbooks and educational journals to send to underprivileged tribal schools in the United States and a Kenyan university in Africa, says class member Emily Cisney.

The project, “Ship It - Textbooks go Global,” is the brainchild of the class. Students will spend the remaining semester gearing up for fundraising and collection efforts. The program concludes next semester with several of the students traveling out west to deliver the books to the tribal colleges.

Taking class again

Many of the students are taking the class again next semester to see the project from start to finish.

“There will be a satisfaction in seeing this project the whole way to completion,” Cisney says. “We’ll be able to meet the people we’ll be helping.”

Throughout this project, students are learning the value of civic engagement, says professor Gene Fiorini. The students are also learning about compromise and working toward a goal, he says.

“These students really work together and have gained focus,” Fiorini says.

The student-led project has been quite an undertaking, the 12 students say. But they have found help through partnerships within the community.

They frequently meet with guest speakers about fundraising, marketing and the legal issues of having a nonprofit organization, Cisney says.

Found partners

“The biggest challenge to this project was looking for the feasibility,” says Erin Harmon, 22, an international management major. The class spent a lot of time looking at “who do we know and how can we partner with someone?”

Eventually, the class paired up with Shippensburg University chemistry professor Christine Martey Ochola, a native Kenyan. Ochola offered to travel to Kenya on her own expense to help deliver the books.

“We’re definitely practicing a lot of business organization skills,” says Ashley Cayless, 20, a member of the class finance committee. Cayless says the class gives her a way to put her education to good use. The accounting major is working to develop and maintain the budget for the project.

“It gives me an opportunity to take what I’m learning in school and develop skills that I can use to help others,” she says.

The 12 students estimate that by the end of the two semesters, they will have invested more than 1,000 hours into the project. Much of that is outside the classroom, Cisney explains.

But the group agrees, this is homework with a higher purpose.

“The people who signed up for this class knew it was a volunteer service class,” says 20-year-old Sherilyn Malloy. “It’s such a great experience helping improve the resources and education of others. And who knows what they can do with that.”

FYI

For more information on the book collection project or to donate, send e-mail to HSL@ship.edu.

On the Net: www.ship.edu/~hsl