Saint Louis University (SLU) has announced a $1.3 million grant from the Thomas R. Schilli Foundation in support of the Center for Ignatian Service and its work with students in surrounding underserved communities. 

Established in 2022 with a grant from the foundation, the center directs a service-learning program designed to provide a networked educational pathway for students enrolled in grades one through eight at under-resourced schools in St. Louis and offer SLU students community engagement opportunities. To that end, the grant will support the center’s efforts to increase the number of SLU students in the program and expand by including additional St. Louis-area high school students.

Currently, the center runs two service-learning programs after school. Kick and Code is for elementary school students, in which children learn computer science and engineering concepts while developing other educational skills, and the Clavius Project provides middle school students hands-on STEM activities in robotics, coding, and 3D printing. Over the next year, the center aims to build a solid infrastructure for scaling a coordinated network of STEM and health programming across the St. Louis region.

“My hope is that colleges and schools across the university see the center as a hub for finding creative and coordinated ways to help them and their partners use service learning to deepen the educational impact on their students as well as their impact within the St. Louis community,” said Randall Rosenberg, dean of SLU’s College of Philosophy and Letters. 

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