Gabelli School of Business Service Learning Program

No Fordham alumnus can say that her or she has never heard professors or administrators mention the phrase "men and women for others" at least several times throughout his or her academic career. The words "Jesuit education" and "service" are practically synonymous with one another. Fordham University is reputed throughout not only the New York City area, but throughout the entire United States for both its dedication to selfless service to others, as well as for the plethora of service opportunities that it offers. Listing the sorts of opportunities that are available to students would take an entire blog.

One program in particular, however, offers students attending the Gabelli School of Business the unique chance to combine the lessons that they learn while serving the Bronx community with their academic coursework. This program is called the Gabelli School of Business Service Learning Program, and I had the opportunity to participate in it during the spring semester of my junior year, which was Spring 2011. Through the program, which operates through Fordham's Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice, enabled me to to become an active contributor to the welfare of the Bronx community by helping me discover the local charity organization Yes! The Bronx. This organization is dedicated to promoting to Bronx residents lifestyles that are conducive to optimal physical health. The focal point of student participation in the program was the organization and promotion of a 5-kilometer running event that embodied the principle of the charity's cause.

The tasks required for this included traveling to various community establishments throughout the Bronx, such as youth centers and places of worship, with the objective of not only garnering participants and financial support for our event, but also to freely spread the awareness of health that our program advocates. My fellow program participants and I undertook this by explaining the importance of maintaining proper nutrition and steady participation in physical activity specifically while living in the Bronx. Though we succeeded in gaining many participants for the event, as well as an unexpected surplus of financial support, our words alone are not what helped us to succeed.

What truly enabled us to gain support was the spirit of our presence in the community to freely help residents while expecting nothing in return. This is the attitude of service that Fordham seeks to instill not just in all student community service participants, but in all students in general. The Gabelli School Service Learning Program, which has access to numerous charity organizations throughout the borough and throughout the entire city, succeeds in fulfilling this task.