Boomer Service Learning: Enlarging the Circle of Community

The ASSETS project at GateWay Community College, a small urban institution with a balance of academic and technical programs, focuses on getting boomer‐aged individuals involved in community service and in creating projects that serve the needs of boomers in the community. Students get involved in service-learning projects in their classes such as sociology, psychology, social work, and community health. As a sociology instructor, my focus is on ways the sociology curriculum invites us to deal with the increasing complexity and alienation of society and on building meaningful family and community relationships through intergenerational outreach and projects, especially those that target baby boomers and boomers who are re‐careering. At the beginning of the semester, it can be difficult getting student buy‐in to service-learning. Anyone who has tried to generate excitement in the classroom for a service-learning project is familiar with "You want me to do what? How can you ask this of me? I already do so much!" I would like to share an approach that builds interest in service and engages students in intergenerational community building. This approach has been developed over more than ten years of classroom‐community practice, and is discipline specific. [author]