DREAM CHASERS
Dream Chasers is a registered program of Don’t Stop Dreamin’ whereby Don’t Stop Dreamin’ partners with institutions of higher education such as colleges and universities throughout Western Pennsylvania and the facilities in the Quality Life Services continuum of care. The program focuses on learning how individual’s unique perspectives, values and aspirations are shaped by his / her background and life experiences.
Currently, Slippery Rock University’s Office for Community Engaged Learning partners with Don’t Stop Dreamin’ and three Quality Life Services’ facilities in Chicora, Grove City and New Castle this semester.
Students are paired with Quality Life Services residents with whom they engage in a semi-structured oral history dialogue with periodic group activities. Activities are incorporated into each weekly session to help the residents and students get to know each other through a more lively engaging fun experience. The goal is to capture their stories of a lifetime, one page at a time over the course of the semester.
The program culminates through a celebratory gathering to honor the residents by sharing what life lessons have been revealed over the course of a semester and what legacies the students are taking into their own lives as the result. A condensed book of the experience and gathered history is presented by each student to their resident at the final session along with a personal letter.
The Service Learning video below explains the program and its benefits from the perspective of student involvement. It was produced by a student at Slippery Rock University in conjunction with the Office of Community Engaged Learning.
Some links from SRU site:
https://www.sru.edu/news/122017a
https://www.sru.edu/offices/community-engaged-learning/student-opportunities
Dream Chasers – Service Learning Extended
Photo Gallery
