An experience with lasting impact
Experts say volunteer experiences like that have the power to open students’ eyes, as well as shape how they view the world around them.
Rev. Daniel Joyce, vice president of mission and ministry at Saint Joseph’s University, one of Habitat’s partners, said hands-on service projects can foster a kind of creativity in students.
“These kinds of engagements with Habitat and other organizations, where you’re working with the community and learning from the community, you come back with a much wider perspective on the different angles of the problems and therefore are challenged to be more creative about how solutions really happen in communities,” Joyce said.
“So folks come back with their own education and formation on being imaginative community partners and imaginative problem solvers,” he added.
What’s more, students with service experience tend to feel better equipped to find solutions to challenges. According to a Gallup poll released in March, 60% of those with service experience said they “can handle whatever comes their way.”
The same poll found that the majority of young people with service experience felt more prepared for their future careers.
These kinds of service projects can also put students on a path to being “professionals with a conscience,” said Tinamarie Stolz-Enríquez, who teaches a service learning class at St. Joe’s.
“That will look different for a doctor or a nurse, or an accountant or someone in business or a social worker, but they’re always putting the dignity of people first, they’re not going to abuse their power, they’re not going to put profits over people, and they’re going to be ethical and just in all the ways that they’re called to be,” Stolz-Enríquez said.
It’s the kind of message that would likely resonate with Pope Leo XIV, who has called caring for and serving others the “the supreme law” of human existence, which he said comes “prior to all society’s rules and gives them meaning.”
When completed, Pope Leo Village will serve 235 families across the country. The effort is being funded by an anonymous donor, who gave to all 20 Habitat affiliates after the pontiff, a Villanova alumnus, was elected last May.
Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series that explores the impact of creativity on student learning and success. WHYY and this series are supported by the Marrazzo Family Foundation, a foundation focused on fostering creativity in Philadelphia youth, which is led by Ellie and Jeffrey Marrazzo. WHYY News produces independent, fact-based news content for audiences in Greater Philadelphia, Delaware and South Jersey.