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Outside the classroom: service learning projects help students understand what they may want to do, to learn at a deeper level, and get a real-world experience.

"Last year, almost 19,000 MSU students involved in some kind of a service learning program,” the associate director of the center for service-learning and civic engagement (CSLCE) at Michigan State University, Nicole C. Springer, said. The service learning program provides students an opportunity to connect their course works with experiences in the community.

“Let’s see, I want to be a doctor and I know that the hospital has a variety of different positions, we also work with several clinics that work with low income. If I want to be a doctor I can go there and help them and get the real-world experience,” Springer said.

“You learn material a little bit more, also able to help people,” the adviser of the CSLCE, Nathaniel W. Cradit, said.

“It helps students learn at a deeper level, the material they are prepared to use, it helps them get back and kind of see the world outside of campus,” Cradit said.