Course registration is right around the corner, and there is no shortage of interesting classes with which you can fill your schedule. However, not every class will give you the opportunity to take your education outside the classroom and into the St. Louis community.

Student Life encourages its readers to seriously consider community-based teaching and learning (CBTL) classes when preparing for registration next week and in future semesters. We also urge administrators to continue promoting and improving these service-learning courses.

CBTL classes, part of a program organized by the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, connect faculty with local organizations in order to build curricula that engage with the local community through service-learning projects for students. Washington University offers more than 75 CBTL classes across every undergraduate and graduate school, ranging from Introductory Swahili to Technical Writing.

We at Student Life see CBTL classes as a win-win. They give students the opportunity to get involved in community service in a way that leverages their skills, enhances their education and fulfills course credit, all while breaking up the monotony of traditional classroom learning. Of course, the community, government and nonprofit partners in the CBTL program benefit from these service-learning projects as well. Students in CBTL classes have used their skills to tutor inner-city students, consult with local start-ups and develop projects that protect the environment.

On a community-wide scale, CBTL classes also help to “break the Wash. U. bubble” and facilitate meaningful exchange between Wash. U. students and St. Louis residents. Students and residents each offer their own distinct set of resources, experiences and expertise, and the CBTL program brings the two sides together.

Wash. U. has already taken the important first step of offering CBTL classes across every undergraduate and graduate school and within a variety of departments. Some programs even require CBTL classes—a bachelor of science in business administration, for example, requires the CBTL class Management Communication. Other schools and departments can follow suit by making service-learning courses a more central part of their curricula. For instance, the College of Arts & Sciences might consider allowing students to count a CBTL course as an integration within its IQ Curriculum.

There is still room for improvement within the CBTL program itself. For instance, service-learning projects are limited by a class’s semester-long timeframe. To make a meaningful impact in just a few months, students must either think small or enable future classes to build upon their work.

While the CBTL program deserves praise for offering classes within a variety of academic disciplines, it could also benefit from having more integration between those disciplines. CBTL classes present a great opportunity for students from every school and major to come together and contribute their unique skills to an impactful community-based project. Perhaps a larger-scale project could employ engineers for a semester and graphic designers during another, in order to fulfill different needs throughout the course of the project.

The CBTL program has already made great strides by providing students with opportunities to learn through service and providing community partners with assistance on important projects. We at Student Life hope to see the program continue to flourish through greater awareness and enrollment amongst the student body.