Healing in Community and Responding with Leadership: Addressing the Pandemic and Anti-Asian Hate through Community Service Learning
Abstract
Community service learning is a high-impact practice that nurtures retention and graduation among undergraduates. Professor Yoo is a medical sociologist trained in public health who worked with the Auntie Sewing Squad during the pandemic to create facial coverings. Professor Jeung is a sociologist who cofounded Stop AAPI Hate in March 2020. Through an assessment of students who were involved in these two projects, this paper illustrates the efforts and impact of student involvement with the Auntie Sewing Squad and the Stop AAPI Hate Youth Campaign. The findings showed that both projects created a space where students could integrate Ethnic Studies with the communities they served. In the face of uncertainty, fear, and exhaustion, these two community-service projects became examples of responding with resilience, healing in community, leading with care, and embodying solidarity.