Every semester, students in Sharon Andrew’s service-learning classes work side-by-side with ex-convicts, former drug addicts and abuse survivors who are working their way down the road to recovery.
In her 12 years as a University instructor, Andrews has ushered nearly 2,500 students through her service-learning classes, introducing them to community issues and critical thinking skills.
Andrews requires her English 2000 and 2027 students to complete 15 hours of service with Connections for Life, a transitional housing and re-entry program that serves women coming from prison, treatment facilities, battered women’s shelters and other referral agencies.
Andrews said students work with residents, hear their stories and look at community issues from different perspectives.
“Students meet the real people behind those issues, not just an abstract understanding of politics in the community,” she said.
Karen Stagg, board president of Connections for Life, said the partnership with the University is highly valued, and students bring fresh ideas to the organization and the thrift store where they work, also called Connections for Life.
“Students have a great energy,” Stagg said. “They bring that with them when they come into the store, and it contributes to what we do and to the environment of the program at the thrift forms.”
Libby Ingram, petroleum engineering and geology junior, took Andrews’ English 2000 class last spring. She said working with Connections showed her the impact decisions can make on a person’s life.
“It’s interesting because we were able to get out of our comfort zone, out of the LSU community and see past that to working with people of a different background than what a lot of us were used to,” Ingram said. “We do get caught up in the LSU world, with Tiger Stadium and the Union as what we see as Baton Rouge, but there’s so much deeper.”
“It is much harder to convince people there’s value in people who have a criminal record or a drug problem,” Andrews said. “It’s more challenging for them to understand that in doing so, they help to make the whole community a better