The Schlegel Center for Service and Justice, the SCSJ, is an important facet of Creighton life that showcases the value of Jesuit institutions of higher learning in a beautiful way. Through the SCSJ, many students take part in weekly service to make a positive impact on vulnerable populations within the Omaha community. These local partners include, but are not limited to, the Sienna Francis House, Girls Inc., Kids Can, Completely Kids, and the Omaha Public Schools Welcome Center. The SCSJ also sponsors service and justice trips for students over fall and spring breaks to sites all over the United States such as Habitat for Humanity in Tahlequah, Oklahoma; the Women’s Intercultural Center in Anthony, New Mexico; St. Jane House in  

Minneapolis, Minnesota; and the Appalachian Institute in Wheeling, West Virginia. 

Every service partner that Creighton supports gives students a unique opportunity to improve the lives of the people around them. These partners also allow students to put into practice the Jesuit ideals of curiosity and accompaniment, to learn about the lives of people whose stories can differ vastly from theirs, and to walk alongside these people in a time of need.  

One student who participates in weekly service through the SCSJ is Daksha Gopalakrisrishnan, a freshman in the Heider College of Business, who is also a part of the Dean’s Fellows program. She does weekly service on Tuesday mornings with the Omaha Public Schools Welcome Center, which works with refugee parents and their children. Daksha and the other volunteers help to teach English to mothers who are new to America. These mothers work on conversational skills and build essential vocabulary on topics like the weather, colors, shapes and days of the week. The volunteers also lead children in hands-on activities, like learning how to hold a pencil, tracing the alphabet, building Legos and practicing other fine motor skills.   

“I grew up in a home where my family always did service,” Gopalakrisrishnan says. “My parents every weekend would go downtown, and we would see the homeless population, and we would get them food.”  

She then transitioned from serving people in her hometown in Colorado to here in Omaha. Daksha talks about the depth of perspective that serving these families in Omaha has given her.  

 “I should be really grateful for where I’m at right now … I used to complain about being in Deg [Deglman Hall], having community showers. But these kids, that is their dream to be in a situation like that, having a clean shower, new clothes, clean clothes.” She also explains that after leaving service, it is like “I am just like a new person, and it makes me really happy … it makes me look at the world in a different perspective, from a different lens.”  

This service site provides an opportunity for families that have experienced so much hardship to come together and build community around learning. Gopalakrisrishnan concludes that at her service, “everyone is from different environments, different situations, different sorrows. These innocent souls, these kids, are just here to learn, and education is so important to them … we take education for granted.”  

That really strikes at the heart of what service with the SCSJ is all about. Whenever you are teaching someone, leading someone in something, you yourself are also learning. When you lead by serving, you get to experience the human spirit in a new way, learning how to care for others more deeply.  

Another student, Kadi Eklund, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman, went on a service trip with the SCSJ to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, to serve with the Tahlequah Area Habitat for Humanity, which operates within the Cherokee Nation Reservation. Eklund worked with a group of other CU students to build a shed and paint a house for a Tahlequah resident.  

 “We built a shed, and the homeowners came out and were helping too, and they were so appreciative, and that was so nice to see,” Eklund said. 

 The group was not only able to build something that filled a need in peoples’ lives but also was able to learn more about the Cherokee Nation, which they were helping to serve. In that spirit, Eklund says the people in her group were one aspect that made the trip truly special. 

 “Our group was just really good with being together. We all felt inclined to help and do things. Nobody was sitting around,” she said. 

A hard-working team and a concrete project that did actionable good was an excellent way for the Creighton community to serve a grateful community   

Whether it is through weekly drop-in, semester-long service, or a dedicated trip, there is an abundance of opportunities offered by the SCSJ for Creighton students to serve, learn and lead. Through service, students learn to honor God, lift each other up and do good in the world for those who need it most.