While the Presbyterian College motto, "While we live, we serve," is most often associated with the Student Volunteer Services organization, Eric Johnson is bringing the service experience to his child psychology class. In Johnson's course, students have several options for a final project: a volunteer project, an interview, a paper on cultural conventions, a developmental timeline, or a children's literary analysis. Johnson openly advocates the service project. For the semester-long project, students choose among SVS volunteer opportunities with children such as Bell Street Tutors, Thornwell Big Brother/Big Sister, or Bailey Buddies. Each student spends twelve to twenty hours with a child.

As a part of the process, student keep journals with entries for each visit. Johnson asks that the journals be a personal reflection of the time spent with the child and include an explanation of the child's development as it applies to topics covered in class. Students write a final research paper which not only recounts their experiences but also integrates class material and research, particularly the role of risk factors and protective factors in a child's development.

His goal for the service project/research paper, says Johnson, is "to create an opportunity for a student to explore or develop a passion for children and child psychology." He also hopes to "create an opportunity for students to integrate their personal experiences and observations with class material and psychological research." Johnson says that most students meet these goals: students often mention in their final papers that the project requirements forced them to put the information learned in class into real-world practice. Mary Margaret Fouse comments that the service project paper "makes you look back into your book" and "concepts stay with you more."

Johnson also promotes SVS as being "truly a great and underutilized educational resource for our campus." He admits that his project would be nearly impossible without the support of the organization. Perhaps as important as the practical application of course concepts is the personal gratification and knowledge gained from participation in the project. Johnson says, "This project option prompts some students to serve who have not participated in service learning in the past, and it enriches the service experience of service 'veterans' by asking them to look and think more carefully about their experiences each week. Many students have told me that serving the community is a life-altering experience."