In fact, five students — Kriya Patel, Emily Pinerola, Margaret Sites, Ami Wagner and Nick Wheatley — spent the week in mediation training.ĚýAfter more observation hours this spring and summer, the students will participate in the Brandeis School of Law’s Mediation Clinic in the fall of 2018.

“I am interested in the mediation clinic because I believe that there is great empowerment in letting the individuals make the decisions regarding the problems they are facing,” Pinerola said. “Through mediation, they get to bypass the litigation process, which means they can make the decisions instead of the judge. This is empowering and necessary to me. Mediation is a way to guide people and show them they are capable of making their own decisions.”

The students were trained by attorneys and  mediators Mary Jo Gleason, Janet Jernigan and Denise Payne Wade.

The Mediation Clinic, which opened in the fall of 2017, is open to 2Ls and 3Ls who have completed 40 hours of rigorous mediation training. Students come to the clinic as certified mediators ready to work with low-income pro se litigants who have been referred by Jefferson County Family Court judges. They mediate cases involving divorce, paternity, child custody and post-decree divorce problems. It is the only free mediation service in Louisville.

The training was made possible thanks to funding from the Edwin H. Perry endowment.

The two students volunteered at  as part of the School of Nursing’s annual spring break community service activities. The initiative connects students with service learning opportunities in the Louisville community.

Black said volunteering at the food bank, which distributes 24 million pounds of food in Louisville annually, supports the mission of creating a healthier community.

Dare to Care has several programs that serve children, including Backpack Buddy, which sends low-income students home with a backpack full of nutritious food for the weekend, when free and reduced-price school breakfasts and lunches are not available.

“If we can prevent children from having health problems by helping provide them with access to proper nutrition, I think that makes our job easier in the long run as health care providers,” said Black, a former sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Other UofL nursing students spent the week volunteering at the vaccine clinic at , and serving food to those in need at the .

“These service opportunities support the School of Nursing’s mission of community engagement and meeting the evolving health care needs of society,” said Cynethia Bethel-Jaiteh, DNP, APRN, instructor at the School of Nursing.

Amante, the other nursing student who volunteered at Dare to Care, had just returned from a quick getaway in Red River Gorge and wanted to help.

“Nursing isn’t just about working in a hospital,” Amante said. “This is part of the bigger picture in making our community a better, healthier place.”

Last week, more than 30 ISLP students departed for a service trip to Belize.

While ISLP has visited several countries throughout the years, Belize is the original and the longest-running service trip. ISLP is an interdisciplinary program includes an intense focus on community service.

“ISLP exposes students to the world by immersing them into the local community through service learning and engaging experiences,” said ISLP program coordinator Nicole Rosskopf, who is also a participant on the trip. “This new perspective gives our students a better understanding of people and cultures around the world.”

While in Belize, 32 students will staff a dental clinic and will teach students in local schools. The students and faculty are from a variety of disciplines including nursing, law, dental, communication and criminal justice. Lesson plans will cover crime prevention, personal safety, dental hygiene, setting and achieving goals and STD and pregnancy prevention.

A few dental students will be working in the school, while the majority will be working in the dental clinic providing services for the community. Non-dental students will also be working in the clinic providing office assistance.

However, the trip won’t be all work. While in Belize, the students will visit the Lamanai Mayan Cultural Site and the Belize Zoo, as well as explore South Water Caye on an island expedition.

The students are blogging about their experiences. .Ěý

Learn more about their trip in the video below: