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USC Joint Educational Project

Programs

At JEP, there are a variety of hands-on opportunities available, but our primary focus is service-learning. So, what is service-learning?

Service-learning is a teaching strategy that allows students to use academic coursework that they can apply in the real world through meaningful community service. Service-learning helps students to develop character, strengthen civic engagement skills, deepen disciplinary knowledge and contribute to the community.

How does JEP work? JEP currently partners with 50 plus organizations surrounding the USC community to create these service-learning opportunities. JEP assists students in gaining hands-on experience in neighborhood schools, local clinics and service agencies. Every year more than 1,500+ USC students enroll in hundreds of service-learning courses and programs.

Overview:

  • Service-learning is an educational approach that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. JEP uses a peer educator approach to support more than 150 service-learning courses each semester. JEP students earn course credit while providing service at a wide range of sites, including local schools, non-profits, health and legal clinics, and other community-based organizations.

  • USC ReadersPLUS is an America Reads/America Counts literacy and math tutoring program operated by JEP at seven local schools. Since the program began in 1997, ReadersPLUS has trained and placed approximately 100 work-study students every semester.

  • JEP’s STEM Education Programs include the Young Scientists Program, WonderKids, and the Medical STEM program. All of the programs bring hands-on and inquiry-based STEM experiences to students in each of our seven partner schools

  • Programs like Little Yoginis, which integrates children’s literature with yoga postures, meditation and mindfulness, and the Peace Project, which combines lessons about peacemaking with meditation, movement, dance,
    music and art activities, help USC and community
    students develop tools to be more present,
    focused and calm throughout the day.

  • JEP’s Pre-Law Project is an internship program that provides real-world legal experience to undergraduate students who are interested in exploring the field of public interest law.

  • Trojan Health Volunteers offers undergraduate pre-med/pre-health students the opportunity to obtain valuable volunteer experiences in a number of hospital and clinical settings.

  • The Understanding Homelessness through Service (UHS) program provides multiple opportunities for service-learning students to learn about the complex problem of homelessness in Los Angeles and abroad while serving the local communities.

  • The Public Service Internship Program is a summer program designed to give JEP students a deeper understanding of the community-based organizations at which they served during the prior academic year.

  • Students in this course will explore the “rites of passage” associated with becoming a college student while helping local high school seniors prepare for that transition themselves. USC students will guide local high school seniors as they draft their college application essays and will orient the high school seniors to college life, drawing from their own experiences as new college students and from the wide range of resources that exist on campus. *Please note – this course is only available for freshmen and taught during the Fall semester.

    For more information, please call or email the course instructor, Dr. Susan Harris, Executive Director of the USC Joint Educational Project (scharris@usc.edu, 213-740-1830).

Contact Us

USC Joint Educational Project

801 West 34th Street

Los Angeles, CA 90089-0471

 

213-740-1837