Spring 2024 courses

Learning for the World

PPS 1100-01, 1 hour, Thursdays, 3:30-4:20 pm

Instructor: Dr. Mona Choucair, Dr. Jennifer Good, Holly Joyner

This class begins the student academic journey toward excellence in scholarship, leadership, and citizenship. It is designed to equip students with the pathways to orient their education toward human flourishing and to begin developing the purpose, character, and innovative mindsets that foster excellence together. In concert with academic reading and discussion, students will be placed in service groups connected to local organizations for weekly engagement opportunities.

Poverty in Waco

PPS 1100-02, 1 hour, Wednesdays, 12:20-1:10 pm

Instructor: Josh Caballero, Community Engagement Officer, City of Waco

This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty in Waco and determine ways students can become more civically engaged. Students will learn from a variety of experts and Waco specific studies about the impact of poverty and its intersection with the sectors of employment, education, health, and community development. Students will also get a firsthand glimpse into the challenges facing those experiencing poverty in Waco through 30 hours of volunteer service over the course of the semester. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of poverty and ways they can work towards solutions in their field.

 

Law and Public Service

PPS 1100-04 & 1100-05, 1 hour, Wednesdays, 2:30-3:20 & 3:35-4:25 pm

Instructor: Kent McKeever, Founder of Greater Waco Legal Services

In addition to one weekly classroom hour focused on the ways the law can be used to serve, students must complete a minimum of 30 volunteer hours. The volunteer requirement may include public service at local legal aid clinics, veteran’s assistance clinics, immigration clinics, and other pro bono organizations.  As part of the 30-hour requirement, a student may elect to participate in up to 10 hours of courtroom observation.

 

Urban Farmers Markets

PPS 1100-08, 1 hour, Tuesdays, 2:00-2:50 pm

Instructor: Bethel Erickson-Bruce, Waco Downtown Farmers Market Director

This course explores the connection between small business and the local food and farming community - through the operation of an alternative marketplace. Students will learn how the Waco Downtown Farmers Market addresses food access, supports entrepreneurship, and builds community by engaging in weekly discussions and readings that investigate the various parts of the food system. Students will also spend 10 hours outside of the classroom volunteering with the farmers market or market vendors.

 

Advocacy for Children and Families

PPS 1100-09, 1 hour, Fridays, 1:25-2:15 pm

Instructor: Dr. Kerry Burkley, Program Director, Children’s Advocacy Center

This course engages students in becoming informed leaders and community responders, and in becoming advocates for the protection of those affected by child abuse.  Effort will also be made to help students process how churches and religious organizations can engage activity for holistic community change regarding child abuse.

 

Trauma Advocacy

PPS 1100-10, 1 hour, Fridays, 12:20-1:10 pm

Instructor: Dr. Kerry Burkley, Program Director, Children’s Advocacy Center

Students in this course discuss the specific impact of how trauma affects individuals and how a ministry of hope increases the likelihood of generating a “new normal” in which a family can survive and thrive.  Students will also engage research-based group dynamics that help facilitate a more open approach to helping families in crisis.

 

Community Gardening

PPS 1100-06 & 1100-11, 1 hour, Thursdays, 12:30-1:20 & 2:00-2:50pm

Instructor: Doug Nesmith, Lab Coordinator, Baylor Environmental Science

In this course students learn the value of community gardens in schools and urban areas.  Through volunteerism, students will learn how community gardens provide fresh produce as well as neighborhood improvement, sense of community and connection to the environment.

 

Accompanying Immigrants in Waco

PPS 1100-12, 1 hour, Thursdays 3:30-4:20 pm

Instructor: Israel Loachamín, Executive Director, La Puerta

This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the journey of a Spanish-speaking immigrant in Waco to develop an awareness of the unique and rich community that the U.S. has. Students will explore the journey of a Spanish-speaking immigrant through reading, journaling, volunteering with La Puerta, and class discussions.

 

Transforming Child Poverty

PPS 1100-13, 1 hour, Wednesdays, 3:35-4:25 pm

Instructor: Sarah Pedrotti, Transformation Waco

Working with Transformation Waco, this course explores the consequences of child poverty in Waco and attends to the role cross-sector collaboration, community schools, and wrap-around services play in mitigating disadvantage.  Students will volunteer with Transformation Waco over the course of the semester. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of child poverty, how schools operate as community hubs, and how they can work towards solutions to child poverty in their respective fields of work. 

 

Community-Based Global Learning

PPS 1100-15, 1 hour, Fridays, 2:30-3:20 pm

Instructor: Emily Hunt-Hinojosa

This course builds upon Learning for the World and invites students to deepen their engagement by considering ethical, critical, and decolonial community-based learning and research practices for more just, inclusive, and sustainable communities. Students enrolled in the course will explore power, privilege, and positionality as it relates to global citizenship, service, and community driven efforts. All students who enroll in the course will be assigned leadership roles related to community-based global learning efforts.

 

Food and Sustainability

PPS 1100-16, Wednesdays from 3:35-4:25 pm

Instructor: Sky Tonney, World Hunger Relief Farm

This course invites students to explore the realities of industrial and local food systems, inequities in food access and distribution, and environmental sustainability while also getting their hands dirty on at World Hunger Relief Institute Farm in Waco, Texas. Students will assist weekly with orchard, gardens, livestock, and other farm projects.

HRC Mission Trip & Beyond

PPS 1100-15, 1 hour, Fridays, 2:30-3:20 pm

Instructor: Jana Roste

Designed for students who will participate in the HRC Mission Trip to Costa Rica, this course will provide students with a basic understanding of life and culture in Costa Rica, their role in stewarding God's global world, and how short-term missions can have a great impact when working with established organizations such as One More Child.

Community Law Enforcement

PPS 1102-01, 1 hour, Wednesdays, 10:10-11:00am

Instructor: Robert Lanning, Assistant Police Chief, Waco Police Department

This course provides students an opportunity to interact with and listen to federal, state, county, and municipal government officials and understand how they function. The students are exposed to 12-14 guest lectures from all areas mentioned. The focus is on management and law enforcement and class discussions are held on hot topics such as racial profiling, use of force, etc. The course involves guest speakers such as federal agents, district attorney representatives, state police, municipal police, county police, S.W.A.T. teams and crime scene experts.