micronesian educator vol. 13, 2009, service-learning in a pacific

Service-Learning in a Pacific Island Village

Lessons on History, Culture, and Community from University of Guam Students at Historic Inalajan

Ann Hattori University of Guam

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a service-learning project undertaken by the University of Guam students in the historic district ofinalahan village. Students contributed their time and effort in an array oflabor-intensive tasks; and, in the process, gained numerous benefits. They expressed appreciation for the project as an opportunity to smell, touch, see, hear, feel, learn, and understand their history and culture and also expressed a sense of accomplishment and increased cultural pride. The paper demonstrates that servicelearning can provide faculty, students, and community members with a mechanism for advancing academic learning while simultaneously forging collaborative and reciprocal relationships.

Keywords: service-learning, Guam, history, Pacific

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After eight years as a Pacific History professor at the University of Guam (UOG), I had come to realize incontrovertibly that the majority of my students were entering my classroom with increasingly less knowledge and awareness of the island's history or its rich and ancient culture. They also appeared to be increasingly disconnected from everyday village life, its obligations, responsibilities, and rewards seemingly far from academia's comfortable air-conditioned rooms, laptop computers, and project deadlines. Thus I sought, and continue to seek, avenues to relate and engage students with Guam's past, specifically in ways that would simultaneously connect them to the island's present and future. In Fall 2007, I attempted to address these issues by starting a service-learning project in the Historic Inalahan district of Guam. This paper describes and reports the successful results of the service-learning project, utilizing assessment essays written by 50 History of Guam students at UOG.

Scholars on Guam, as well as across Oceania, have long bemoaned the cultural alienation resulting from centuries of colonial education on the island (Aguon, 1993; Underwood, 1989). Aguon points to the damaging impacts resulting from the wholesale

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importation of the American school system and curriculum on Guam after World World II. She calls upon Islanders to develop "an educational program that makes economic, cultural and social sense" (p. 90), one that incorporates cultural values such as "interdependence, respect for nature, the supremacy of familial obligations, respect for old age and respect for social position" (p. 91 ). With chagrin, Aguon writes "it still saddens me that children frequently learn the 'four seasons' before Guam's 'two seasons' and that snowballs are a bigger preoccupation in curriculum materials than coconuts" (p. 101 ). Yet Guam's public school system has made some concessions toward a more culturally-aware education, beginning in 1970 with the introduction of Chamorro language education into the public school curriculum. Underwood (1989) asserts that, however, while there has been strong rhetorical support for bilingual and bicultural education, the day-to-day results have been less impressive. Consequently, "the (American] cultural hegemony of the schools of Guam remains little disturbed" (p. 5).

Similar situations exist throughout the Oceanic region, as Bray's (1993) paper, entitled "Education and the Vestiges of Colonialism: Self-Determination, Neocolonialism, and Dependency in the South Pacific," contends. Bray charges, "The schools' curricula offer relatively little to people who wish to follow a traditional style of life. Only slight attention is accorded original island culture. The curricula are designed mainly to westernize Pacific peoples" (p. 336). In Thomas's (1993) estimation, this has occurred primarily because each colonial government adopted "the course of study found in state schools of the colonialists' mother country" (p. 237), including the wholesale adoption of colonialist textbooks. Consequently, as Cruz (1999) notes, Pacific Islanders have little knowledge or understanding of the impact upon their lives of significant historical events, such as, in her case in point, the 1898 U.S. takeovers of Guam, American Samoa, and Hawai'i (p. 147).

As in the educational scholarship, recent publications have voiced similar concerns with regards to the practice of historic preservation throughout Micronesia. Indeed, the past decade of research in Micronesia has shown that the Islanders have frequently found themselves at odds with academics and preservationists, often possessing conflicting definitions of what it means to be historically significant (Poyer, 1992). O'Neill and Spennemann (2006), reporting the results of a Historic Preservation survey that was disseminated throughout the US-affiliated islands in Micronesia, assert that Islanders throughout the region "share a strong sense of dissatisfaction with current historic preservation practices" (p. 544). Their 2006 publication evaluates the region's Historic Preservation Offices, as well as the US National Park Service, as being ineffective in fulfilling their core responsibility of historic preservation, although greater dissatisfaction was lodged against local governments. The article noted that the responses showed "a strong level of consistency ... regardless of ethnicity, age, gender, and origin" (O'Neill, p. 544).

I myself had responded to that survey and I was one of those respondents critical of historic preservation. For me, particularly after I was hired at the UOG in 1999

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Hatori - Service-Learning in a Pacific Island Village

and began teaching numerous History of Guam sections, I had become interested in connecting my students to their historic island and region. Aware of the pervasive inadequacy in my students' cultural and historical education, as well as the omnipresent Americanization of the island in all its economic, cultural, and political manifestations, I sought ways in which students could see their history all around them, to appreciate that the footsteps of their everyday lives took them across historic grounds all over Guam. But more importantly, I wanted them to see themselves in their island's history, to see that they themselves are both products of Guam's past and producers of Guam's future. I looked to the existing historical monuments and landmarks as I thought these would be useful tools for connecting students to their island's long and rich past, and therefore, to their present-day complicated, multi-layered cultural identities.

What I found, however, was quite disappointing, monuments, and landmarks that paid tribute, not to Chamorros, but to Spaniards, Japanese, and Americans who had colonized Guam. In these historic places, other people's successes and sacrifices were commemorated, some in celebration, others in mourning. This failure of historic monuments to acknowledge Chamorros in Guam's history had been identified more than three decades ago in a 1977 article by Underwood revealing that only 24 percent of Guam's monuments celebrated Chamorros (p. 7). Thirty years later, neither interpretative signage nor other explanatory material such as brochures, pamphlets, or websites acknowledge the role of Chamorros in Guam's history, or discuss ways in which these forts, plazas, and battle sites touched the daily lives of people living on this island. This corroborates what O'Neill and Spennemann (2006) argue of the wider region, that "[h]istoric Preservation Programs operating through Micronesia are strongly based on American concepts and practices and thus do not always satisfy Micronesian aspirations for preservation and on-going development of their cultures" (p. 540).

Yet in doing so, these historic sites contribute to the ongoing colonization of Guam and Micronesia, burying Islanders and their history deeper and deeper beneath the stories of other people on our islands, as well as showcasing the islands as places that welcome others to come and leave their marks on our bodies, our islands. Thus, as I have argued elsewhere, "if history unleashed myriad violent events against the Chamorro people, so, too, has the preservation of history and historical memory enacted its own violence against the island natives. It has done so in part by romanticizing and celebrating the colonial history of the islands, rather than acknowledging them as pivotal events that continue to undermine Chamorro cultural, political, and economic sovereignty" (Hattori, 2006, p. 1).

Despite my dissatisfaction, I still remain optimistic that things do change over time, and that as an educator and a historian, I have some power to make changes. As Marsh and Spennemann (2007) urge in "Bridging the Gap: Reflecting Chamorro in Historic Structures," "It is incumbent upon historians and historic preservationists to reconnect Chamorros to their history long-denied them- to uncover the Chamorro stories within these [historic] structures, to help Chamorros see themselves and their ancestors

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reflected in them" (Poster session). Indeed, King (2006) argues that "Preserving historic places, cultural places, cannot be isolated from the rest of culture" (p. 511 ). In his study, King explains,

that "The only way preserving historic places made sense to traditional Micronesian people was as part of an overall program of cultural preservation that valued breadfruit and coconut and pandanus harvesting and processing, cooking in earth ovens, fishing with spears at fish traps, gathering shellfish . . .. In short, what made historic places historic in Micronesian terms was not-or was in only a minor way-what Euroamerican history said about them, or what Euroamerican archaeology could learn from them. It was how they worked in traditional culture, how they informed and maintained traditional identity" (p. 511).

Thus in my continual journey as a teacher to engage my students in their own history, I decided to bring them out of our comfortable classroom to participate in a servicelearning project. This project, I hoped, might address the weaknesses both in the hegemonic educational system and in the historic preservation process on the island. I hoped that the service-learning project might prompt them to answer for themselves some basic historical questions, such as: Firstly, what do we choose to remember? That is, how have we selected the historic sites and episodes that have become part of our remembered past? Secondly, how do we remember? That is, what are some of the ways in which we, today, remember our past and what kinds of history lessons do we learn? Finally, how can they, as students and as residents of the island, contribute to these processes of historical remembrance and preservation? I had hoped that the final question would be answered in the service aspect of the project.

Armed with these questions, I began engaging my History of Guam students in a service-learning project and after two semesters, they had donated over 400 hours of labor to the Historic Inalahan Foundation in this spirit of service-learning, in addition to numerous hours of service-learning with the Traditions About Seafaring Islands (Tasi) Society at its Hagatfia Boat Basin Canoe House and with the Chamorro Cultural Center foundation at the old Guam Memorial Hospital site in Tumon.

Defining Service-Learning

Service-learning is a fashionable trend in academia today, and although the notion of community engagement by universities traces its roots to the establishment of land grant universities in the 1800s, Butin (2007) observes, "only in the last few years has such engagement become prominently positioned on institutional home pages and alumnimagazine covers" (p. 34). Currently, "service learning is being explored as a method to meet higher education's historic mission to educate adults to become civically engaged members of the community" (Prentice, 2007, p. 135).

Academic institutions and individual scholars alike currently seek to define the terms

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and parameters of "service-learning." In Kansas, for example, service-learning has been defined by Fort Hays University as "involving students outside of the classroom to enhance their learning and growth while simultaneously benefiting the community" (Mercer & Brungardt, 2007, p. 52). Likewise, scholars such as Soslau and Yost (2007) have defined service-learning as "a method under which students or participants learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service" (p. 37).

Practitioners keenly differentiate service-learning from other forms of volunteerism by highlighting the reciprocities that result from service-learning projects (Sigmon & Pelletier, 1996; Simons & Cleary, 2006). Simons and Cleary (2006) state succinctly, that "Service-learning programs are distinguished from other forms of experiential learning (i.e., community service, volunteerism) by their intention to benefit students and recipients of service equally" (p. 307). Govekar and Rishi (2007) elaborate on the difference between volunteerism projects in which "the community recipient is the primary beneficiary" (p. 4) and service-learning projects in which there is a balance between the student provider and the community recipient. Such reciprocal relationships result in what Mercer and Brungardt (2007) describe as "a winning situation for all involved" (p. 52), enhancing student learning while extending needed assistance to "often nonprofit organizations" (p. 52).

Postsecondary education research has recently demonstrated that faculty overwhelmingly endorse the practice of service-learning. A 2005 survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA found that among the more than 40,000 faculty who were surveyed, over 80 percent believe that their institutions have a responsibility to work with their local communities and that students should be involved in community-service activities (Butin, 2007, p. 34). Yet Butin has observed that, despite the strong rhetoric about community engagement, few universities and faculty are "willing to develop sustained and consequential programs and practices that further it" (p. 34). Fearful that service-learning might fall into the category of a "yet another under-financed fad" in educational pedagogy. Butin hopes that its potential benefits might enable it to transcend the typically short-lived fate of a fad. He suggests, "Community engagement is not just about reconnecting institutions of higher education to the real-world lives of their students and to the communities surrounding them. The goal -more humble and yet more radical -is to provide faculty with an additional set of tools by which to do their jobs effectively" (p. 34).

Indeed, study upon study confirms Soslau and Yost's (2007) conclusion that servicelearning is "a viable instructional strategy to increase student learning and motivation" (p. 36). It can function as "a means of linking formal classroom instruction with realworld learning that occurs beyond the classroom and involves the community," thus enabling its participants to broaden their "educational and civic horizons" (Govekar & Rishi, 2007, p. 4). In addition to reports verifying its efficacy as a tool for academic learning, other studies have found that service-learning has a positive effect on

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students' interpersonal and personal development (Eyler & Giles, 1999~ Simons & Cleary, 2006).

Introducing Historic Inalahan and Our Collaborative Partners

Inarajan (spelled as Inalahan in the Chamorro orthography) is one of Guam's southernmost villages, comprising a population of 3,052 as of the 2000 U.S. Census (Babauta, 2007). It is the only village remaining on Guam to have maintained its same approximate size and structure while withstanding the past four centuries of wars, typhoons, and the impact of modernity. Most significantly, Inalahan and its villagers survived the onslaught of World War II, while the vast majority of Guam's population --approximately 75% --was made both homeless and landless by the bombings and US military land takings at the end of that war. Although the war did indeed leave its mark, as attested by bullet fragments from the aerial strafings that still scar the homes standing in the village, nonetheless the families that lived in Inalahan before World War II are mostly the same families that continue to live in the same homes, unchanged but for the newer roofs and other modifications that occurred after supertyphoons with names such as Karen, Pamela, Paka, and Pongsona.

Numerous factors influenced my selection of Inalahan, and more specifically the Historic District of Inalahan located on the shores of Inarajan Bay, as the focus of my students' service-learning project. Firstly, as a formally designated "Historic District," recognized since 1977 on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, it offers opportunities to discuss, observe, and critique what it means to be a registered historic place. The village church, San Jose or Saint Joseph's, was built in the 1930s by the villagers who donated not only their financial resources to pay for all of the construction materials, but also their labor, and it serves as the focal point of the historic district, accompanied by a cluster of historic homes that fill out the site. Some of the homes were built more than 100 years ago, including the Ana Leon Guerrero home built in 1901 and Isabel "Beck Ping" Cruz's 1905 home. With its existing cluster of historic homes situated in the nationally-recognized "historic district," Inalahan is the oldest continually-inhabited village on Guam. Through these families, their homes and Church, the village tells stories that highlight Chamorro families, their encounters with "others," their challenges through the best and worst of times, and their ongoing survival to this day.

Secondly, the village boasts a well-organized nonprofit organization, the Historic Inalahan Foundation (HIF), in conjunction with the Gef Pa'go Cultural Center, under the sound leadership of Dr. Judy Flores. The Foundation is a well-run village group with an endless amount of work to do and a staff of dedicated employees and volunteers who act as work supervisors. Because of their organizational structure and the leadership of people such as Mr. Carlos Paulino, their Maintenance Supervisor, and


Mr. Rudy Sabares, a construction apprentice, I can confidently bring 50 to 60 students each semester and know that their services will be well utilized and supervised. Forging a collaborative relationship with the HIF was most critical to the success of the servicelearning project.

Thirdly, numerous individual Inalahan families and organizations have received historic preservation grants from the Guam Preservation Trust (GPT), a locally-organized nonprofit public corporation created in 1990 by Public Law 20-151. Since its inception, GPT has been tasked with protecting the island's "historic structures and sites through stabilization, rehabilitation, reconstruction, or restoration" ("Guam," 2007). Between 1996 and 1998, G PT spent close to two million dollars in historic restoration projects in Historic Inalahan, including $1.2 million on St. Joseph's Church for a variety of rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction projects. This service-learning project featured a close collaboration with GPT by assisting them in their ongoing efforts to preserve the historic sites in which they have already invested considerable resources. The course of their service-learning thus presented students with the opportunity to see for themselves some of the ways in which the island's historic sites are being preserved today. This allowed for discussions about the politics of history and preservation, the dynamics of historical memory, and the demanding work behind the maintenance of history.

Fourthly, and most importantly for me as a history professor, I selected this site because, in my view, it exemplifies the best of what a culturally-informed history can be. On the one hand, it is a rich location that allows for discussions and examinations across thousands of years of history, from pre-colonial Chamorro society ( 4000 BC or earlier), through Spanish colonial rule (beginning in the late 1600s), through the early American influences (from 1898 to 1941), to World War II, and finally, to modem Guam. At the same time, in one small village encompassing thousands of years of history, Inalahan is also a dynamic representation of actual villagers going about their daily lives, not in some artificially preserved touristic pose, but as modem people juggling the challenges of the past, present, and future. Inalahan thus stands not as a monument to Spanish, American, or Japanese conquest and colonization, but as a tribute to Chamorro survival alongside generations of Spanish, American, and Japanese influence.

Service-Learning Project in Historic Inalahan

In the remainder of my paper, I want to describe some details of the project's organization in the hopes that readers might be inspired to do similar projects. If you are teachers, consider engaging your students in similar projects across diverse villages or communities in Micronesia or beyond. If you work in the historic preservation field, think about forming collaborations with teachers in the schools or colleges across the region. In my experience, the results of this activity have exceeded my greatest expectations.

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Forging collaborations with community members invariably adds tremendous value to service-learning projects. Prior to initiating this Inalahan project, I already had a long-established working relationship with Program Officer Rosanna Barcinas of the Guam Preservation Trust. Even before students make their initial visit to the historic site, Barcinas visits the classroom and presents them with an overview of historic preservation on Guam. Her detailed and informative presentation both defines the terms of historic preservation and describes the various projects that the GPT has funded since its inception in 1990, including details about specific sites and homes within Inalahan. Once students arrive at the village on the first scheduled date, I invariably overhear them talking amongst themselves saying, "Oh, isn't that one of the historic homes? Is that the Cruz house? Oh, wow, look at the church!" Although they may have driven down this same road and past this same village tens or even hundreds of times in their lives, never before have they seen it in quite the same way.

The work begins with Dr. Flores and the Historical Inalahan Foundation staff assigning students into different groups, each with a specific task and under the leadership of a work supervisor. These tasks range from picking up trash around the village, to weeding and cleaning up in and around the historic structures, to painting interior or exterior walls of the historic homes, to cleaning up the shoreline to ease some of the problems associated with rising sea levels. A considerable amount of work focuses on performing maintenance and clean-up around the eight Inalahan homes that have already been rehabilitated by the GPT --the Francisco Asanoma home, Isabel Cruz's house, the George Flores home, the Joseph Flores house, Ana Leon Guerrero's home, the Paulino Del a Rosa home, and the Turosik house. Students are provided gloves, trash bags, paintbrushes, machetes, shovels, rakes, wheelbarrows, brooms and mops, and, at the end of the day, thanks to Guam Preservation Trust, a plate lunch prepared by village food vendor Kusinan Gadao that enables them to refresh, regenerate, and appreciate the value of their contributions. It is not only the deliciously fitting culmination to their labor, but it is also the most culturally appropriate form of reciprocity- the sharing of food.

Following the outing, I ask the students to write an anonymous assesstnent essay that reflects upon their experience. I ask that the papers be anonymous so students are free to share their opinions, particularly if they would want to express comments that are critical of the project. To guide them in the preparation of their reflection paper, I provide them with a template of open-ended questions, such as what, if anything, did you learn about Guam's history from your experience and what recommendations would you make for future projects? In the Fall 2007 semester, I received 50 responses (see Table 1). While I had asked them to reflect on the issues facing historical studies and preservation, what I received were responses that transcended these instructions. I took their results and, extrapolating from the framework utilized by psychology professor Lori Simons and research assistant Beverly Cleary of Widener University (2006), coded them into five categories, arranged here according to the strength of student responses: Academic Learning (100% response), Personal Social Development (92% ), Interpersonal Development (72% ), Problem Solving (56%), and Personal Career

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Development (16%). Following the table that quantifies the results is an analysis that utilizes direct quotations from the student assessment essays.

Table 1. Student Assessment Essay Responses

Processes Associated Total

Number Percent

with Academic of Service-Learning

Subthemes within each category responses responses

response

. Better understanding of the subject I. Academic Learning . Better application of the subject matter

N=50 50 100%

. Improved self-knowledge II. Personal Social . Spiritual and emotional N=50 46 92% Development . Emotional benefit

. Working well with others III. Interpersonal . Developing connections with others in the N=50 36 72% Development

community

. Understanding problems in society IV. Problem Solving . Reflecting about solving problems in society

N=50 28 56%

V. Personal Career . Career benefits Development . Personal efficacy towards that career

N=50 8 16%

Category 1: Academic Learning

Simons and Cleary (2006) identify "academic learning" in terms of the servicelearning project's ability to enrich students' understanding of the subject, to improve students' application of the subject matter, and to add value to the course. The responses demonstrate that the service-learning project served as a learning tool with 100% of the students (50 out of 50) stating that the experience added to their knowledge of Guam history. Indeed, the experience proved to be a pedagogically effective tool, providing a heightened sensory experience typically missing from the history classroom. One student described it as "a hands-on experience that I would have not otherwise received in the classroom." Several articulated ideas such as, "In the classroom we learn through lecture and visuals, but it is different to smell, feel and see what history is and how [Guam] has changed." Another noted that, "The drive and hard work we did in the houses was worth it because I was there to see and touch the history of our island." For some students, it was an opportunity to do something out of the ordinary. One wrote, "As students we are constantly stuck in the cycle of waking up, going to a classroom, taking notes, going home, and studying. Having an excursion outside of the classroom both helps reinforce whatever lesson is being taught and takes away the mundane everyday classroom experience." Thus from a methodological perspective, the service-learning opportunity added value to the classroom and enabled students to experience history firsthand. As one poignantly wrote, "It was a valuable experience for me because it made what I learn in class meaningful."

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On the most concrete level of learning, students noted that they came away from the experience with a greater understanding of vernacular Chamorro housing-- what one student referred to as "ingenious architectural techniques" --including the use of local hardwoods for structural beams and flooring, as well as mamposteria walls made of limestone, sand, and shells, which provide insulation from the intense heat of the afternoon sun as well as structural stability through the worst of supertyphoons. As one student affirmed, "From an educational stance I got to see directly how the historic buildings were constructed. An individual cannot completely understand things like 'Mamposteria' unless you see it for yourself." The appreciation for"traditional" building methods, including the construction of homes without the use of nails, generated some degree of admiration and respect, one student writing, "I was amazed to actually feel and see the craftsmanship and skill that the villagers have." Some students gleaned lessons from bullet holes on the floors of some of the homes, revealing the effects of World War II in everyday lives, while others appreciated the opportunity to learn more about Father Jesus Baza Duenas, an Inalahan-born Chamorro priest who was executed by the Imperial Japanese military during the Second World War and whose remains have been interred beneath the altar of St. Joseph's Church.

Many students commented that they learned more of the history and significance of Inalahan village. One student who actually hails from Inalahan wrote, "Although I've lived there my whole life, just from this last visit I learned more than I ever had about my own village." A number of the students expressed, in different ways, a sense that the village touched them, one student writing, "Who knew Guam had such a beautiful place?'' Another shared the feeling that, "While visiting the houses and restored projects I was struck with the beautiful uniqueness of each building." Many thanked the Guam Preservation Trust for their role in restoring St. Joseph's Church and the numerous homes within the village, one student writing, "The Guam Preservation Trust did a wonderful job restoring this beautiful church. Just walking into the church gave me a sense of all the history that our church and our island has been through." Another student wrote, referring to the 1901 Ana Leon Guerrero home, "As I entered the home, history jumped right out at me." Inalahan indubitably leaves its marks on the students, who increase their knowledge and appreciation of this village's history.

For many of the students, their time in Inalahan enables them to contemplate broader questions about the island's history and culture. One wrote, "This activity has significantly increased my knowledge and understanding of Guam's history ... and has helped me gain a greater appreciation for it," while another wrote, "Guam's history, just from this experience alone, became more important and interesting to me." The hands-on opportunity generated a more powerful impact than gained from classroom lectures. As one student wrote, "I feel that seeing the houses first hand made me really think more about the history of Guam." Another commented that the experience "helps the students appreciate their history - a history so rich and old, it bewilders even an outsider such as myself." Another shared that thought that the day "helped me to realize the magnitude of how much our history matters to everyone living in the present day."

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Some lessons, as well as serious concerns, about Chamorro culture and identity also emerged. As one student wrote, "I hope that this field trip will allow other people to go through and recognize what I did ... because it seems to me that many Chamorros do not even know their cultural history or background." Students mindful of these cultural issues pointed to the living aspects of Chamorro culture that they saw and felt so vibrantly in Inalahan and expressed their belief that the very act of preserving history can become a vehicle for keeping it alive. One observed that "Historic preservation keeps the culture and lineage of the families preserved." Another wrote, "I have lived on Guam for over 15 years now and I believe I learned a lot about this island and culture ... . I learned that the Chamorro people were more than a tight society that just came together and improved their village. They cared for one another and treated one another as family." Similarly, another wrote, "I have gained tons of respect and awe toward the island that I currently reside in because I had the opportunity to be part of the historic preservation in Inalahan."

Students also learn the value of historic preservation and its connection to historical knowledge. One student summed up this point well, writing, "Historic preservation has to be taught. It is a learning process to realize that without the past there would be no future." Another similarly concluded that, "I learned why it is important to have knowledge in both history and historic preservation. Both work together hand in hand. Without historic preservation the people of our future will not know of their history, and without any awareness of their history people are bound to make the same recurring mistakes." Another expressive response reads, "My understanding of the importance of historic preservation has always been present, although through the activities it has been enhanced by simply standing, walking and breathing in the buildings where Guam's history had taken place and a whole new appreciation has taken birth in me and continues to grow." The majority of the students share their feeling that, although they were previously aware only vaguely, if at all, of what historic preservation entailed, after the visit they have become avid supporters who now understand in more specific terms both the benefits and challenges of preservation work. Coming to terms with this knowledge enriches many of them in the process.

Students generally saw Inalahan as illustrative of the larger Guam story. For example, one wrote, "These buildings are indicative of a strong people .. .. It is extremely important to emphasize how and why the indigenous people of Guam persevered through the worst of hardships and change to the current generations." Having the opportunity to work in the village and walk through its streets brought home other history lessons to students. One student wrote, "Once we were able to walk around the village, I got the feeling of what life was like in the past," and another noted, "I learned that historic structures give us a visual glimpse of our island's history .. . [and] the transitions and evolution of our culture." Thus from an academic perspective, servicelearning undoubtedly enables students to learn about Guam's history and culture, and this learning ranges from gaining a better appreciation for Guam's considerable age and

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depth, to deepening their understanding of the dynamics of community-building and home maintenance, to experiencing firsthand the still-vibrant displays of dedication, teamwork, and physical labor.

Category II: Personal Social Development

Simons and Cleary (2006) define Personal Social Development as the servicelearning project's potential to enhance students' self-knowledge and to nurture their emotional and spiritual self-growth. With 92% (46 out of 50) of the students expressing sentiments along these lines, it also clear that the Inalahan service-learning project successfully addresses their social development. In many of the essays, students expressed their realization that "taking some time off to help others gave me a sense of accomplishment." One student wrote, "Even though I was just cleaning, I felt that I was part of something bigger." Arriving individually in their separate cars, they leave three hours later, realizing that they had collectively contributed to something meaningful. Another student wrote, "The process of historic preservation is one that takes time, especially as things need to be stabilized first. Knowing that I was able to contribute something good and be a part of that process is a good feeling."

A number of the students expressed the feeling of being "lucky" to have had this "rewarding" opportunity. One wrote that the "valuable experience provides so much inspiration." Many of them even used the word "fun" to describe their day, and a number voiced the opinion written by one student who said it was "cool to go and help clean up the village." Another student described the work in detail: "I was assigned to pick up trash. Other than that, I also dug up the dirt from a ditch because every time it rained, the place was flooded. After that, I shoveled some other little rocks to cover the lower parts of the ground, so it can block the water outside. Personally, I thought the works were so heavy and difficult. I was exhausted completely, and I really enjoyed the trip .... The day was exciting and educational." Despite the difficulty of the labor- and perhaps even because of it- students derived unexpectedly rich results.

Many of the students' essays reveal an increase in their cultural awareness and pride. One student noted, "The visit to Inalahan raised my sense of pride and respect for my culture and my island," while another wrote that the project "made me more appreciative to be a part of the Chamorro culture." One student who brought her son and daughter along for the day admitted that, "I am ashamed to say that it took a class trip to really get in touch with my culture. I am not only glad for the experience, I am happy my children were able to experience it with me." Another wrote, "I left Inarajan with a sense of pride .... This service-learning project is necessary because it inspires new outlooks as it has done for me."

Category III: Interpersonal Development

Working well with others, developing connections with others in the community, and empathizing with the needs of community members comprise part of what Simons

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and Cleary (2006) identify as markers of interpersonal development. Seventy-two percent (72%, 36 out of 50) of the student respondents communicated sentiments that conveyed a measure of interpersonal growth, reflecting on their relationship with other classmates, with the different ethnic communities living on Guam, with various nonprofit organizations and other community organizations, and even with people across different generations.

The students enrolled in the class are primarily first-year university students, new to UOG and some of them new to Guam. Thus the project became, for some, an important social event in their semester, a welcome opportunity to make friends. One student wrote that the event was "worthwhile because I got to know my classmates and meet new people, people that I wouldn't have talked to," while another, sounding almost surprised, wrote, "I got to meet new people and I even worked well with them." This social aspect also helps me as a teacher because following the service-learning experience; students came back to the classroom with a noticeably stronger group bond and better appreciation for one another. Seeing my students begin to forge a community of their own was an expected reward from the project.

Because the service-learning project focused on Inalahan, a village whose residents are largely Chamorro in heritage, some members of the class-- composed primarily of non-Chamorro students -- invariably noted issues of ethnicity. A number of students noted their increased sensitivity or awareness of Chamorro issues. One, for example, wrote "I'm not from this island and doing these activities has increased what very little knowledge I have of the culture and history of Guam," while another wrote that the project was "a learning tool for all people, not just Chamorros, to help teach who the Chamorro people are."

Students also recognize the value of the collaborative relationship with the two community organizations that developed in the course of the service-learning project. Many expressed their appreciation, one such respondent writing, "Overall, the Guam Preservation Trust and the Historic Inalahan Foundation are two organizations I am thankful for." Another wrote, "Kudos to the Guam Preservation Trust in their continued efforts and those who continue to assist them," while numerous others cited their awareness and appreciation of the obstacles and challenges That face both GPT and HIF in executing their daily tasks.

Moreover, because student interactions were largely with i manamko, or the village elders, issues of age emerged in some of the essays. One student wrote, "The activities were very good in teaching us how the older generation of Chamorros takes care of their land .... It really made us see how hard they work to take care of their homes and families." Numerous students evoked the other end of the age spectrum, one writing that "These historic structures and cultures are not ours but our next generation's. So we are responsible to preserve these historic structures for our next generation."

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Category IV: Problem Solving

Simons and Cleary (2006) identify the fourth category as students' growth in understanding, thinking, and reflecting upon problems in society. Fifty-six percent (56%, 28 out of 50) of my student respondents incorporated these concepts in their essays, largely by acknowledging the difficulties facing ordinary villagers who work daily to preserve their historic homes and other structures, and by expressing their personal sense of responsibility for Guam's future. Along these lines, one wrote, "I know that the 'yard work' we did was nothing at all compared to the rigorous work that the villagers did in the past, but it gave me a better understanding of the responsibilities of the villagers and why it is important to continue their work." Many students realized how much hard work goes into preservation, maintenance and stabilization. One wrote, "My hands on experience have showed me how much work it needs to keep a landscape beautiful. I love the south, the beaches and the sights, it's just amazing! To keep it this way, me and everyone else needs to work together and help clean up [sic]."

Personal responsibility was a key theme among the 56% who responded along these lines. One wrote, "I have learned that we need to take care of our island .... The Guam Preservation Trust has really done a great job ... but we can'tjust rely on them to take care of our island. The people of Guam need to work together and maintain our history and culture." They came to recognize that a successful future requires hard work. As one student wrote, "I was part of the group that had to pick up all the debris from the shore. It was disgusting, ... but someone's got to do the dirty work. We all just got to suck it up if we really do cherish our home [sic]." Another student wrote, "Before, I was passive about historic preservation- I was all for the idea, but not enough that I would actually participate. But after going to the historic site and seeing it, it makes me wonder if we are doing enough." In fact, the main recommendation that I received in the essays was a call for further service-learning projects. As one student wrote, "I would recommend adding additional site visits and projects, so that both the students and the community of Guam may gain and grow in cultural knowledge and awareness. This would be an important move in the effort for cultural and historic preservation."

In their essays, many of the students express the conviction that while they care about Guam and its future, they also care deeply about its past and efforts to preserve it well. As one so eloquently articulated, "It is Guam's history and Guam's future to keep these buildings and places alive."

Category V: Personal Career Development

Simons and Cleary (2006) also point to the potential of service-learning to raise student awareness of career benefits and assess their personal efficacy towards that career. A minority of 8 out of 50 students ( 16%) expressed sentiments relating to career motivation, perhaps in part because the respondents are primarily first-year students whose minds are more focused on immediate academic concerns. Nonetheless, eight students wrote that the experience had, in some way, influenced their career decisions.

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One student declared that the project "has given me a lot more insight into my decision to remain on island and pursue a professional career here." A few students expressed their interest in pursuing a career in the historic preservation field, while a few others stated their intention to become History of Guam teachers in the future.

Reciprocities in the Service-Learning Arena

Scholars have identified the emergence of reciprocal relationships as one of the hallmarks of service-learning, indeed a key characteristic that differentiates servicelearning from analogous activities such as volunteerism, internships, and community service (Sigmon & Pelletier, 1996; Simons & Cleary, 2006; Govekar & Rishi, 2007). Certainly in the Inalahan service-learning project, emergent reciprocal relationships became not only evident but also essential, as responses from both the GPT and the Historic Inalahan Foundation persuasively demonstrate. In a communication from Dr. Judy Flores of the Historic Inalahan Foundation, she expressed gratitude on behalf of her organization, noting, "It is difficult for our limited staff to provide the constant shoreline debris removal, the weeding of flower beds, and most importantly, the cleaning and maintenance of the many historic homes in Historic Inalahan" (Flores, personal communication, December 13, 2007). She went on to note that the work performed by students "is especially important in stabilization of historic ruins". In addition to acknowledging the value of students' labor, she expressed her wish that the reciprocal relationship continues into the future. She wrote "We hope to contribute to their learning and appreciation of our island's historic treasures. We look forward to a continued community service relationship with your classes". Clearly, the Historic Inalahan Foundation appreciates the reciprocity that resulted - students gaining a greater appreciation of our island's history and their organization benefiting from the valuable student labor.

The Guam Preservation Trust likewise conveyed this notion of reciprocal benefits to the students for their efforts. In a letter from Program Officer Rosanna Barcinas, she stated, that "The recent evolution of the 'Service Learning' program with your students is extremely commendable and its rewards immeasurable" (Barcinas, personal communication, December 12, 2007). Barcinas continued, "We can attempt to quantify the amount of hours your students have worked within the Architectural Historic District of Inalahan but we will never be able to measure the positive effects this program has had on your students or the owners of the historic homes they have helped to preserve". Barcinas' sentiments, like Flores' above, recognize the reciprocity that emerges with students as both givers and receivers -- giving their labor while receiving increased social and cultural knowledge. Interestingly, Barcinas also points to additional partners in the resultant reciprocal relationship- those being the villagers of Inalahan, particularly the homeowners whose properties were serviced by the students.

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History, Culture, and Community in the ServiceLearning Project

Taking students out of the classroom and into the community provided them with a rewarding opportunity to smell, touch, see, hear, and feel their history and culture, and the students recognized these rewards in their reflective essays. Students appreciate the opportunity to learn and understand more of Guam's historical and cultural treasures. The project has also been an opportunity to enrich their souls, instilling pride in themselves and their island home, while also fostering a sense of accomplishment, adding to their self-confidence and self-respect as a people who have survived many storms over many years and who are now contributors to the next chapter of Guam's history. Students and their community partners also learn and appreciate the value of collaboration, as well as the hard work and dedication that such work demands. For some students, the experience fuels their career aspirations, whether in the areas of education or history, while for the vast majority, it raises their sense of personal responsibility toward the future well-being of their home island. Service-learning, in my short experience with it, provides faculty, students, and community members a valuable and powerful mechanism through which lifelong lessons and relationships might be forged.

References

Aguon, K. B. (1993). The Guam dilemma: The need for a Pacific island education perspective. In political status education coordinating commission (Eds.), Hinasso ': Tinige 'put Chamorro, insights: The Chamorro identity (pp. 89-101 ). Hagatfia, GU: Political Status Education Coordinating Commission.

Babauta, L. (2007). Inarajan (Inalahan). In Guampedia: Guam s online encyclopedia. Retrieved May 18, 2008, from http://www.guampedia.com/category/57-villages/ entry/20-inarajan-inalahan

Billig, S. (2000). Research on K-12 school-based service-learning: The evidence builds. Phi Delta Kappan, 81(9), 658-664.

Bray, M. (1993). Education and the vestiges of colonialism: Self-determination, neocolonialism and dependency in the South Pacific. Comparative Education, 29(3), 333-348.

Butin, D. W. (2007, November/December). Focusing our aim: Strengthening faculty commitment to community engagement. Change, 34-37.

Cruz, L. (1999). Rethinking the United States in 'paradise': A course for teachers. Radical History Review, 73, 147-152.

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Govekar, M.A., & Rishi, M. (2007, Sept/Oct). Service learning: Bridging real-world education into the B-school classroom. Journal of Education for Business, 3-10.

Guam Preservation Trust. (2007). Master plan 2007-2012. Hagatfia, GU: Guam Preservation Trust.

King, T. F. (2006). How Micronesia changed the U.S. Historic preservation program and the importance of keeping it from changing back. Micronesian Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 5(1-2), 505-516.

Marsh, K. G., & Spennemann, D. H. (2007). Bridging the gap: Reflecting Chamorro in historic structures. Poster session presented at the International Conference on Stonework Heritage in Micronesia, Tamuning, GU.

Mercer, D. K., & Brungardt, C. (2007). Case study: Institutionalizing service-learning at Fort Hays University. National Civic Review, 10(1002), 52-54.

O'Neill, J., & Spennemann, D. H. (2006). Perceptions of Micronesians on the effectiveness of the historic preservation programs. Micronesian Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 5(1-2), 540-546.

Poyer, L. (1992). Defining history across cultures: Islander and outsider contrasts. Isla: A Journal of Micronesian Studies, 1(2), 73-89.

Prentice, M. (2007). Service learning and civic engagement Academic Quest, 20, 13 5-145.

Sigmon, R. L., & Pelletier, S. G. (Eds. ). (1996). Journey to service-learning: Experiences from independent liberal arts colleges and universities. Washington, DC: Council of Independent Colleges.

Simons, L., & Cleary, B. (2006). The influence of service ]earning on students' personal and social development. College Teaching, 54( 4 ), 3 07-319.

Sos]au, E. G., & Yost, D. S. (2007). Urban service-learning: An authentic teaching strategy to deliver a standards-driven curriculum. Journal of Experiential Education, 30(1 ), 36-53.

Thomas, M. R. ( 1993 ). Education in the South Pacific: The context for development. Comparative Education, 29(3), 233-248.

Underwood, R. (1977, July 17). Red, Whitewash, and blue: Painting over the Chamorro experience. Pacific Daily News, pp. 6-8.

Underwood, R. (1989). Education and Chamorro identity in Guam. Ethnies, 4(8), 1-5.

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micronesian educator vol. 13, 2009, service-learning in a pacific

Documents

history of guam students

university of guam students

servicelearning project

university of guam uog

academic learning

islands history

pacific history professor

project deadlines