CHANGE! A Guide to Teaching Social Action
- Chapter 5D —Pipeline to Jobs & Graduate School (p. 140-141)
As discussed in the textbook, social action not only transforms lives, but it leads to jobs and to graduate school. Below are two examples.
Discussion
Jobs
Lucila Ortiz, a former social action student, is now a labor organizer for Working Partnerships in Silicon Valley. I just received a fundraising email from them, which focused on her story. In the below text, notice how Lucila cites what happened in her junior year as a transformational experience. What Lucila is referring to is her social action experience:
And here is the video of Lucila Ortiz, describing why we need to invest in training people to do social action.
Below is Lucila's Student Reflection describing her social action experience that I have my students read:
Lucila's student reflection, as well as other former social action students reflections, are here if you want to read and/or assign them. I use these student reflections to show that change is possible, as well as to learn from former social action students about change.
Graduate school
Rochelle Jackson Smarr was a social action student in the spring of 2006. She has worked as a labor organizer, a staff member in many service-learning offices, and is now the Director of Experiential Education at University of California at San Diego. And in November of 2023, she received her doctorate! Below is Dr. Smarr discussing her doctoral reseaarch.
Course Development Questions
- Who are the non-profit and political leaders in the community that you can connect students to for jobs?
- What are some of the best graduate programs in the students’ field of interest who are interested in this engaged learning model?