CRUCES: CREATING COMMUMITY ENGAGED SCHOLARSHIP

Spanish 4703 is a service learning class at the U of M. The service learning model is a type of class that is becoming increasingly popular as a way to integrate classroom learning with community involvement and hands on work.

An average Spanish class at the University of Memphis might just be an outlet for Diana Ruggiero’s passions for more culturally integrated and economically stable communities in Memphis.

Spanish 4703 is a service learning class at the U of M. The service learning model is a type of class that is becoming increasingly popular as a way to integrate classroom learning with community involvement and hands on work.

That class, however, didn’t give students the experience they were hoping for according to Bryn Chambers who took the class last year.

“Specific ways to engage and be involved in the communities would have been so useful,” Chambers said.

The way students were responding to the class prompted Professor Diana Ruggiero to begin making some changes.

Ruggiero decided to create the CRuCES, Create Community Engaged Scholarship project and use her class as the facilitators. This collaborative project in the Binghamton area brings together people of different cultures and provides small business microloans for independent artists in the community. The students are responsible for organizing events, appointing community leaders and attending meetings each week at Caritas Village