Suzanne Maggio-Hucek Case Study
“Service-learning as a whole is about participating in something and changing the world for the better.” says Suzanne Maggio-Hucek, a lecturer in Sonoma State’s Department of Psychology. Her work in service-learning began when she learned about the Center for Community Engagement’s existence.
She started her service career in college when she went on an alternative spring break trip to help her college and she “hasn’t looked back since…I’m a huge advocate for service, community service, and national service.” She saw the transformative impact of community service when her son completed a year of service as an AmeriCorps member and felt like it was a no brainer for her to join the ranks of service-learning faculty at the university.
Service-learning, from her perspective, is significant and requires a lot of patience for both students and professors overall. She believes that as people we have some sort of obligation to each other to give back to the community in some way. She felt the best way service-learning could be applied is through a more hands-on course within the community such as a course where her students get to interact with elementary school children at Geyserville Elementary through Keystone Therapy and Training Services. Through that course, her students learned how to work with children and help them through elementary school with different activities, teaching moments, and games that both the SSU students and the kids could interact with overall.
Professor Maggio-Hucek believes her students accomplish something new every time they step foot into her classroom. Every time her students work with others to accomplish their goal for the class she believes that she’s helping them grow and form into adults for beyond college and hopes that her courses offer students invaluable lessons moving forward. Her service-learning courses are set to move off to different locations, one being Geyserville Elementary and the other being Forget Me Not Farm.
One student, Cade Hammond discussed his perspective of the service-learning course and how it connected to his life, “With my work, I help children with learning disabilities and I believe that was kind of influenced by the service-learning course that I took, it helped me see a new perspective about helping people and making the world a better place which I really grabbed onto and I know it’s something that I will hold onto for years to come. When I found out we had to work with farm animals, I was a bit worried and nervous about what exactly that entailed but once we got to the farm I had a lot of fun! I worked with a lot of baby animals which were of course adorable and made the course that much more interactive and engaging which made me happy that I could be a part of something that might differentiate from a ‘normal’ classroom experience.”
When we caught up with Erica Bosque of Keystone Therapy & Training, she had nothing but wonderful things to say about working with Professor Maggio-Hucek and her class. Bosque felt that her students were getting the care and support they needed especially during this time of dire challenges. Erica stated that she thought Maggio-Hucek was a “magical person,” for providing this opportunity for her students. “Having a real world experience is a really powerful learning experience. It really gives the students an opportunity to learn what they want to do with their careers and what they don’t want to do.” The youth in Erica’s program reported having positive interactions with SSU students which enhanced their school day and was as they put it: “really cool.” Erica praised the SSU students stating, “they were an awesome light for the students.”
Given the fact that Professor Maggio-Hucek’s service-learning class has been an inspirational experience for all involved, we look forward to her continued success in offering these service-learning opportunities in the future.