Carroll Community College is about just that — community.

The college has pushed students to volunteer, whether they pick up trash in local parks or teach impoverished students in foreign countries.

“Service learning helps students find greater meaning,” said Dell Hagan Rhodes, the college’s coordinator for service learning. “It’s important for our students to understand their commitment to the community.”

The push seems to have paid off: Last spring, more than 400 students completed service-learning projects at the college, Rhodes said.

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And next week, seven Carroll Community College students will take a two-week trip to Big Falls, Belize, a remote village bordering Guatemala, to help disadvantaged students prepare for an annual literacy exam.

“It’s great to think that with us going for a couple weeks, we are improving their scores,” said Jenna Hoshaol, 20, an education student who is taking the trip.

The students will work as teacher’s aides and bring school supplies such as textbooks, pencils and paper.

“I’ve always been interested in people and places, and it seems like a neat opportunity to go and see a different place than what I am used to here,” said student Ellen Morse, 46, another student taking the trip.

Hoshaol said volunteering has been an important piece of her education and that her time tutoring in elementary schools crystallized her choice to become a teacher.

“I was at school, and I realized this is what I really want to do,” Hoshaol said.

Rhodes said this type of self-reflection is the major benefit of service learning.

“Any time you start to think about your life, then you are tied to the classroom,” she said. “The class is not just dry material, it’s living experiential education.”

mmcilroy@baltimoreexaminer.com