Service-Learning

Service-learning projects provide you with opportunities to meet important community needs while also putting your classroom skills to work in the real world. Through the Bentley Service-Learning Center (BSLC), you can join the more than 1,200 Bentley students who participate in more than 90 projects each year. Service-learning opportunities are available locally or globally in places like Ghana, Haiti and Ireland, to name just a few locations.

Projects

Bentley service-learning projects help meet real needs in both local and global communities. A sample of service-learning projects includes:

Fitzgerald Drama Program

Through this program, Bentley students work with children in grades kindergarten through fifth to help them develop drama skills such as acting, dancing, scriptwriting, singing and others in the performing arts. The students also conduct drama workshops and assist with an annual talent show in the spring.

Home Suites

In this program, Bentley students help teach basic conversational English skills to men and women living at Home Suites, a local homeless shelter. Many of the shelter's residents speak little to no English, making it difficult for them to find jobs. Students also assist with an afterschool program for students living at the shelter.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance

This program provides free tax assistance to two primary groups: low- to moderate-income taxpayers in Waltham and the surrounding communities, and staff, faculty and students of Bentley employees. During the 2010 tax season, 65 student volunteers prepared more than 470 federal income tax returns and more than 530 state income tax returns.

Fourth-Credit Option

The fourth-credit option provides you with the opportunity to earn an additional academic credit in conjunction with a three-credit course. You will be required to perform a minimum of 20 hours at a site in the local nonprofit community.

Service-Learning Certificate

The Service–Learning Certificate honors students who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to service while at Bentley. As a recipient, you will receive a special notation on your graduation transcript and recognition as a leader in social responsibility and civic engagement.

To be eligible for the certificate, you must complete 120 hours of service while at the university; this can include fourth-credit courses, embedded course projects, internships, the International Service–Learning Program, noncredit work study and the Community Work Program. You must also complete an application process.