The Step Out of Your Box program enables students to volunteer with a community organization while enhancing theit understanding of diversity.
I coordinate the Step Out of Your Box program at Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This program offers students the opportunity to enhance their understanding of diversity, challenge biases and stereotypes, and help build a socially involved campus and community. Students are asked to select a dimension of diversity that is unfamiliar to them, then volunteer with a community organization that serves that population. This little program has been flying under the radar for years. Nursing students in a gender studies course have been the prime participants. The course has grown in popularity as students talk about the volunteer experience they had in the course. Instead of writing yet another paper, students get to practice communication and challenge their biases around many dimensions of diversity. It can be hard when a client challenges the students when they use gendered phrases mindlessly (i.e. shouting "Hey guys there are leftovers, come get more!" to a gender diverse group). But it can be amazing when students change their ideas and become aware. The instructor and I have been working with our Centre of Learning and Program Excellence to develop clearer learning outcomes and align the program with service learning best practices. Now, this program can be used in any college program. We're hopeful this course will help us set the stage for intercultural competence badging.