Exploring the concepts of service learning and community-based experiential learning through Project Serve Canada with the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation
When I stopped by a table on campus to grab some free hot chocolate two years ago, I had no idea the impact it would have on my life. While I was pouring myself a cup, one of the students at the table started telling me about a program called Project Serve Canada. The student was pitching the opportunity to travel and “serve” over my reading week break in February. I had been looking for a chance to go on a volunteering trip, as many university students do, but this one seemed a bit short to accomplish anything. That idea would be quickly dismissed as I discovered what this program accomplishes.
In the midst of midterms, I forgot about it, almost missing the deadline; but thankfully I saw the logo again in a profile picture of a friend. All of the trips looked interesting, including one here in Guelph, one down to Mississippi, and another to Vancouver, all based on various social justice themes. However, the one that attracted me the most was the trip to the Chippewas of Nawash, centered on the theme of Aboriginal Communities.
Once I was accepted, I was swept up in extensive and exciting pre-departure training. At the orientation sessions in November, and again in January, I was immersed in this open, vulnerable space of learning and sharing with 100 strangers going on all of these different trips. Together we explored the concepts of service learning and community-based experiences. The hesitations I previously felt about the potential “voluntourism” this trip was supporting faded away as the participants were told that they would be gaining much more from the experience than they were contributing. There was a serious commitment in the room to learn and grow from the communities.
Throughout January, the “Nawash team,” including team leaders Galen Fick, Local Engagement Coordinator at Student Life, and Hillary Troudeau, who was then Aboriginal Liaison and Transition Coordinator, met on several occasions, often in the Aboriginal Resource Centre (ARC), a gem on campus that I had only discovered thanks to those sessions. With guests such as Cara Wehkamp, manager of ARC, and Chippewas member and Aboriginal Liasion, Anthony (Tony) Chegahno, these sessions brought to light my lack of knowledge on Aboriginal communities and issues, which I blame in part on the educational system I was brought up in, and in part on my own ignorance. Needless to say, previous notions and biases I had were challenged, and I felt so grateful to expand my knowledge with the help of such insightful perspectives.
The trip itself, although just one week, felt like a lifetime of experiences. My placement for the week was at the elementary school, where I met some of the cutest kids, and had interesting discussions with the teachers about their experiences teaching in the Nawash community versus in other urban areas of Ontario. Once school let out, I would return home for dinner with my host family and the team members I was staying with, partaking in team reflection time and insightful discussions or fun activities in the community, including tobogganing down the legendary hill at Rhonda’s.
Returning to Guelph, I faced the challenge of continuing my learning process and building upon the experiences I had gained in the community. I found a way to stay connected by becoming a peer helper with the Civic Engagement unit. In addition, the showcase in March put on by all the participants of Project Serve Canada was a great opportunity to hear the experiences of students from the various programs that were both so similar to and so different than my own.
The next year, I had the chance to go back to Nawash as a peer helper on the same trip. Rekindling the relationships I had built and the experiences I had in the community reaffirmed my love for this program, and I was able to further explore what it means to learn through service and to approach social justice themes through the lens of community-based, experiential learning.
Project Serve Canada remains a highlight of my university career: it gave me the opportunity to challenge my understanding of the social justice issues within Canada, enhance my leadership and team-building skills, and develop meaningful connections that extended my academic studies beyond the classroom and into the community. I hope to be a team leader this year and attempt to give back to the program what it has given to me.