Using the Pennsylvania Department of Education Family/Community Standards, university professors from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford collaborated with multiple community clubs such as the Rotary and Kiwanis as well as local agencies including St. Bonaventure University on the development and implementation of a family literacy day event…

This article presents an interdisciplinary collaboration to address the needs of older adults at risk of social isolation exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. An intergenerational service-learning program developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging was offered to several universities across the state of Pennsylvania. The authors share their…

To support the work of service-learning and community engagement (SLCE) being done in a high-quality, sustainable way, ("Combining Service and Learning: A Resource Book for Community and Public Service"), Kendall offered three Principles of Good Practice: (1) integrating service-learning programs into the central mission and goals of the…

Although research suggests various effective interventions to curb obesity, there remains a gap between current evidence and sustainable practice in schools and communities. School settings present a logical platform for this work, since children spend much of their time in school. This article describes the Building Healthy Schools Program, a…

This article describes ROCKETS, an after-school program for at-risk youth, and how the university students became involved in this service-learning project. The article discusses the steps that were taken to start the program, what is being done to continue the program, and the challenges that faculty have faced. This program is an authentic…

Detailing the integration of Spanish language teaching in an authentic setting, this article contributes to empirical research on the positive value of community-engaged learning in foreign language pedagogy. "Reading to Play, Playing to Read" is an innovative model for community-engaged teaching that combines learning goals from…

This article describes the development and ongoing operations of the GreenEriePA.org project, a portal to all things environmental in Erie County, PA. Through regular input from community partners, GreenEriePA turned into a much larger, long-term project than the faculty coordinators at Gannon University, Erie, PA, originally anticipated. We…

Sexuality health education is moving beyond the classroom, with technology expanding youth access to sexual health information. While text message services are increasingly being used to provide information, a peer education approach has yet to be incorporated. Results from this feasibility study support a sexual health textline (IOTAS),…

Afterschool continues to be promoted as a complementary setting to school for strengthening science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education (for example, Krishnamurthi, Bevan, Rinehart, & Coulon, 2013). This is a reasonable idea: 10.2 million children and youth in the U.S. participate in structured afterschool programs (Afterschool…

Colleges and universities are being increasingly recognized as key contributors to the well-being of the places in which they are located. However, in spite of the promise and potential of place-based engagement, there is little agreement about what place and place-building means or how these concepts can be operationalized in within the context…

In this paper a STEM Education Outreach (STEM-EO) Model for promoting strategic university outreach programming at Penn State University to the benefit of university, school district and community stakeholders is described. The model considers STEM-EO as a complex system involving overarching learning goals addressed within four outreach domains…

A capstone course is often synthetic, bringing together many components of a student's educational background. For this reason, a project-based course in mathematical modeling makes a great capstone, as modeling problems often require a broad collection of mathematical tools for their solution. The addition of a service-learning component can…

"Career Academies" is a dropout prevention strategy for youth considered most at risk of dropping out of high school. Students in the program take both career-related and academic courses and acquire work experience through partnerships with local employers. "Career Academies" integrate rigorous academic curricula with career…

The study reported here examined Extension professionals' involvement in farm-to-school program activities. Results of an online survey distributed to eight state Extension systems indicate that on average, Extension professionals are involved with one farm to school program activity, with most supporting school or community garden programs.…

The U.S. military has long understood the value of immersive simulations in education. Before the Navy entrusts a ship to a crew, crew members must first practice and demonstrate their competency in a fully immersive, simulated environment. Why not teach students in the same way? K-12 educators in Pennsylvania, USA, recently did just that when…