LAKELAND, Fla. (Oct. 13, 2008) — Dr. Catherine R. Eskin, associate professor of English at Florida Southern College, will lead a panel discussion with three of her students at the Florida College English Association’s annual conference in Ybor City, Fla., Oct. 15-17.

The panel’s topic, “Creating a Jewish Archive: Service Learning, General Education, and Interdisciplinary Studies,” is a reflection of the service learning courses offered by Eskin in the spring of 2008. The courses, which helped to establish an electronic archive for local conservative synagogue Temple Emanuel in Lakeland, culminated in a public presentation by the students in April.

The students include Wil Posey, a senior English major from Live Oak, Fla.; Krystal Caldwell, a sophomore psychology major from Brandon, Fla.; and Jenna Rice, a sophomore English major from Seekonk, Mass. Each will be presenting a view of the service learning experience, focusing on how the course’s pedagogical method – service learning – helped engage and enhance the student’s individual educational experience. Panel presentations include “Teaching Service Learning: Gargantua, Maimonides, and Lake Hollingsworth,” by Eskin; “Into the Archive: How We Lived,” by Posey; “Jewish Death Ritual: Psychology, Religion, and Research,” by Caldwell; and “The Significance of Halloween, or How Pictures Saved My Research Paper,” by Rice.

“Being a part of an academic service project through the school, that I know will be a real benefit to people, is a great joy and privilege,” said Posey. “I am thankful for the trust Temple Emanuel had in us, and hope the members are blessed by our work.”

“I am so proud of these students; they have really taken an initiative in not only working so hard in the service learning course, but in also writing papers and preparing to share their experience in front of English faculty from around the state,” says Eskin.