The second of my two courses was UNIV 100 Freshman Seminar with its community service focus. Each UNIV 100 section has a particular focus (to include Academic Skills, Outdoor Learning, Computer Age; and African American Studies, in addition to Community Service). All, however, are expected to provide a core curriculum that supports student success in their first semester with topics such as time management, study skills, learning styles, campus support services, healthy life styles, and leadership activities. A Peer Advisor for each section assists both teacher and students in accomplishing these aims. Students in UNIV 100 sections are also expected to participate in the Team Development Course at Hemlock Overlook, Mason's Center for Outdoor Education in Clifton. For four years Victoria and I joined our CSL students in this four-hour, rain-or-shine event, learning to solve problems collaboratively in an outdoor setting.

Students in the CSL UNIV 100 performed community service two hours a week for nine weeks at Clara Barton [elementary] Magnet School located in a working-class neighborhood populated primarily by African Americans and immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala. I coordinated the placement of Mason students into Clara Barton classrooms. Students worked in the same teaching/learning situation with the same group of students at grade levels matched as closely as possible to the desires of the CSL students and the needs of the participating teachers. Their tasks allowed them to work in close proximity with the Clara Barton students. This community service provided experiential grounding for sociological concepts focusing primarily on the sociology of difference (to include ethnicity, class, and gender) and on education as a social institution.