If you measure your success by how much you are helping others, you will love
the service opportunities at Purdue. An increasing number of Purdue
classes incorporate some type of engagement with the community, which means
you’ll get to make a difference while learning course
material in a hands-on way. Such experiences are personally
gratifying and appeal to potential employers.
Purdue Solar Racing Club
Service learning
Here are a few of the classes that allow students to apply what they're learning to real-world problems:
›EPICS CLASSES—
Courses
offered through Engineering Projects
in Community Service (EPICS)
allow students from all majors to
apply their areas of expertise to
projects for local and international
nonprofits. Projects in spring
2010 included designing disasterresistant
housing for Haiti,
creating devices for students with
disabilities, and designing products
to make the lives of patients at
Riley Hospital for Children safer
as a whole.
›FILM/VIDEO STUDIES—
For
their final project, students in a
spring 2009 film/video studies class
collaborated with Head Start at a
local community center to create
an exercise video for children
ages 3 to 5. The film allowed the
students to make an impact on
community health while improving
their screenwriting, directing, and
producing skills.
›MARKETING NONPROFITS—
Students who took International
Marketing of Nonprofits in spring
2010 spent three weeks in Colombia
working with disadvantaged children
and raising funds for a nonprofit
organization. The students also distributed donated items, painted
a mural at a children’s hospital,
and planned and carried out a
silent auction fundraiser — all
while learning how to market international
nonprofits.
