Bradley University Corey Schroeter deals with patients and paper work as a weekly volunteer in Methodist Medical Center.

Most English composition classes are fairly predictable: a thick anthology to read, lectures to sit through, and papers to hand in on a regular basis. Under the drone of fluorescent lights, a classroom full of students attempts to absorb the finer points of exposition without falling asleep. But in Dr. Susan Brill's English class at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, such zombification is unlikely. Brill is one of a few professors across the country pioneering the concept of "service education," in which students integrate course material with volunteer work in the community. "They can interact with the real world in here," says Brill, who initiated the program last year. Though new, the pilot class was extremely successful. Requirements were simple: in addition to classroom work, students put in five to 10 hours of community service over the course of the semester. Meanwhile, they kept a journal of their experiences which they shared with classmates over e-mail.

Even with all the work there is to be done, there is one thing that seems to never leave: kindness. A lot of the workers are elderly people that are retired, but still want to do something. Unfortunately, sometimes the ones that are giving the help are found to be needing it themselves.

Working Alone. Schroeter often work alone in the abulatory unit. He like all of the work but enjoys working with people the best.

Corey Schroeter is a freshman at Bradley, majoring in biology and pre-med. As his contribution to the class, he chose to volunteer at Methodist Medical Center in downtown Peoria. For Schroeter, it was a chance to see the workings of a hospital from inside. Today a volunteer that I had not seen before came in. Her name was Eve, and everyone seemed to treat her with a lot of respect. I...found out..that she had been an some sort of an accident that gave her a back injury. She had gone through a major surgery, and was back to working within a very short while. This woman was still going to therapy, but was there making and cleaning beds. I could see why she was given a lot of respect. What I didn't understand was why they gave me so much respect also. I had just gotten there a little while before, but I was treated as though I was a paid worker.

It is apparent that the people who work here do not care how old you are, or what status you hold. It's just the fact that you are willing to work that makes you special. Rather than stick to the traditional practice of having students hand their writings directly to her, Brill opted to make use of Bradley's local server as a medium. Students like Schroeter logged on to one of the many networked computers on campus, and sent each journal entry over e-mail to a listserv that in turn sent it to every member of the class. "Writing can be such a romantic, self-referential process," Brill said. "The class helped to make it more of a shared experience." Indeed, the experience of sharing both academic and physical work with others was powerful enough to move one student to change his major from business to social services after attending the class.

Bearer of Good Tidings! Schroeter informs Georgia Weaver that her husband, Clifton, has safetly completed surgery. He enjoys bringing good news to the patients families.

For the final exam at the end of the semester, the students were asked to write an essay based on their service experiences. "I'm not exaggerating--I literally had tears in my eyes reading them," Brill said.

This morning, while Corey Schroeter cares for patients at Methodist, the second installment of Dr. Brill's service education course is underway. A new group of students is beginning to learn, firsthand, what it really means to make a difference.

Thursday, November 2, 1995. That's part of what I learned today: there is a whole lot of trust between the workers. Everyone depends on each other, and no one complains. For the most part, they love their jobs, and they like the people they work with. I didn't realize how much they really wanted to help until I saw how many people went out of their way to give to those who needed it. I wish there was some way to reward all those that work double time to help the elderly and sick. Maybe by being there, I am doing just a little bit to show gratitude for those hard-working people.