A COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVE

improving local watershed health by offering services to multiple community partners such as the local lake association, state resource management agencies and other community education entities. Our model of service-learning in a rural setting is issue centered rather then agency placement centered. Service-learning encompasses both class activities and projects by individual students, such as: environmental monitoring, fisheries and wildlife data collection and statistical analysis, cooperation with state fisheries and wildlife agencies to improve sport fisheries and wildlife production, student initiated environmental research projects, educational outreach in local schools and at lake association annual meetings, development of educational displays for the local community center, recording and interpretation of local history, research and interpretation of land use changes in the watershed since 1940, and study of impacts of poor water quality on taxation and community development. The community benefits from the college’s service-learning program in many ways, including better informed community decisions on watershed issues resulting from college student enthusiasm to research new information about the community. The community also benefits from the college service-learning activities that educate adults within the community and children in local schools about environmental issues including shoreline erosion, fisheries and wildlife management, lake ecology and community impacts on the watershed. Additionally the college and community come together to complete labor-intensive erosion control projects and to celebrate achievements resulting from student and community collaboration