Honors Psychology 101 students at Moraine Valley Community College recently wrapped up a semester-long service project to provide meals to unsheltered individuals.
Students donated items and packed 60 lunches on Sept. 24 and 60 more lunches on Oct. 26, which were then distributed to unsheltered individuals in Burbank and Brookfield by Nickolas Shizas, professor of psychology. In November, students visited and served dinners, donated by The Patio in Bridgeview, to people staying at the BEDS Plus Summit Service Center. BEDS provides national, evidence-based homeless services and wraparound care.
Students also organized a bingo game during their visit for people staying at the center, with each student playing on behalf of residents, giving them twice the chance of winning $300 in donated gift cards.
Shizas has incorporated a service-learning component to psychology classes and clubs for more than a decade. From 2013 to 2020, he took Moraine Valley psychology students to serve meals at homeless shelters. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, students in the Honors Psychology 101 class began donating food and packing lunches for distribution to people in need.
Shizas said, “Since a large part of psychology is learning the science of behavior, and learning about human behavior, I wanted to engage my students in a hands-on, interactive project where they are able to learn about human behavior in a way that exemplifies interactive learning and civic engagement. Service learning is actively engaging in service while learning course material.”
The Moraine Valley Honors Program focuses on doing work that is engaging and involves interaction with peers to make clear connections between the classroom and the real world. Shizas shared, “The reason many of us take psychology and go into the psychological field is to improve our community, right? And so, if my students have one big take-away, it’s that psychological concepts can be used for the betterment of our society.”
Students in the course not only had the opportunity to engage in service-learning activities but also connected their service with psychological concepts and material. Each student gave a presentation at the end of the semester to tie three psychological concepts to their service. Concepts varied from altruism to breaking down stereotypes to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Students were required to examine the impact the service-learning had on others, as well as on themselves.
Cole Wycislak, an Honors Psychology 101 student during the fall semester and alumnus of Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, shared, “It positively impacted me. I would do all of these opportunities again. I feel like it’s really nice to donate your time to help someone outside of yourself.”
Wycislak mentioned that he was only able to attend two of the service opportunities with the rest of his class but made up his third service-learning experience at a local forest preserve. “By doing some of this – making the sandwiches and especially collecting the seeds [at the preserve]—I was able to connect a lot to meditation and heuristic therapies,” he explained.
While Wycislak is in the Biological Sciences Program, he shared that the Honors 101 Psychology course content had deep relevance to him. “It doesn’t fit into my major, but it does fit into my life,” he said.
Shizas expressed his gratitude for the 36 servings of Greek chicken, mashed potatoes and vegetable dinners donated by John and Janet Koliopoulos at The Patio in Bridgeview to BEDS Plus Summit Service Center.
For news media inquiries, contact Madisson Younglove, Moraine Valley assistant director of communications, at (708) 974-5281 or younglovem2@morainevalley.edu.
