Innovation in Service Learning
s t n e d u t S g n i n Refi h Service g u o r Th BY J O HN W HI T SE T T ('82 )
“I love SNU. I love our students. I love the OKC community. The chance to serve the university and our students by creating opportunities for them to serve our surrounding community was a chance I couldn’t pass up.” So says Misty Jaggers, Executive Director of the newly established LiveLast Center for Learning through Service (LLCLS) - a donor-funded initiative designed to empower meaningful Kingdom service in the lives of SNU students. Concurrent with this is the introduction of the Hope Rising scholarship initiative which provides financial assistance to select students recruited specifically because of their desire to serve. Thirty scholarships were awarded in this first cycle.
Modeled on the example of Jesus commanding His disciples to apply what He was teaching them about serving others, the LLCLS seeks to augment and enhance student learning through service. It aims to help them grasp the importance of the Biblical mandate for service and realize it’s a key part of God’s purpose for their lives. “I recently had lunch with an SNU alum whose whole vocational path was changed through the impact of a service opportunity during their student experience,” says Misty. “My hope is that every SNU student would have the opportunity to serve and be shaped by that service during their time at the university.” As to why she’d accept the challenge of starting something new, she stated, “On one of my first days as a student at SNU, I had the opportunity to participate in a service project. I immediately recognized the value SNU places on serving others. During Dr. Newman’s inaugural address, he called us to continue that legacy and be LiveLast leaders. The LLCLS and Hope Rising initiative is a tangible prioritization of that calling, and I believe it has the potential to shape our SNU community, and the OKC community, in dramatic ways.” Student prepping food items to be delivered in the community
Misty (Cook) Jaggers (‘01)
24
SNU MAGAZINE | FALL 2021
SNU.EDU/ALUMNI
