Crash course in empathy
Psychology students at MVCC are learning by helping others
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is an important concept for students studying psychology, but it can be a snoozer in psychology class. That is, until students at Moraine Valley Community College gave new life to the theory with a project to help homeless people.
The theory states basic needs, such as food and shelter, must be satisfied before people can truly pursue needs related to love and belonging and self-esteem.
Putting their studies into action, students in an Honors Introduction to Psychology class packed 60 lunches with turkey sandwiches, pop, chips, fruit cups, granola bar and cookies during three sessions at MVCC in October for clients at Bed Plus in LaGrange.
Four more students did lunches in November for Feed My Starving Children in Aurora, with both activities part of a class assignment.
“It’s an exercise in empathy — we’re taking care of other people and that gives us a sort of motivation and desire to do similar types of stuff,” said student Yusuf Ahmed. “I’m probably one or two bad decisions and lack of support away from being homeless myself.”
Ahmed, who gives money to homeless people when he sees them, said the project also helped him learn about himself.
As he packed lunches, he added fruit roll-ups, even though they weren’t on the list.
“I thought about it and every time I’ve had these, they’ve made me really happy,” he said. “It’s essentially learning how to treat other people.”
Nick Shizas, the psychology professor who spearheaded the project, said psychology is about the science of behavior, and the community offers plenty of real life learning opportunities.
“It’s one thing to learn about psychological concepts, but ... we also want to help remedy some of the world’s problems and that’s one of the reasons we study psychology,” he said.
Shizas said he wanted students to learn the importance of civic engagement, as well as obtain an awareness of public health/societal issues in their community.
“They think homelessness is just a downtown issue,” Shizas said.
“A lot of people who can’t afford homes and things they need are in the southwest suburbs.”
The assignment also included giving a presentation on how the project impacted their community and them.
“A lot of students talked about the empathy/altruism hypothesis and about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, some about stress management, how they were able to help these people where they don’t have to stress as much, but some talked about how the project itself was a stress reliever for them,” Shizas said.
“It just brings it to life, it means more to them. I cannot tell you how many times students said ‘I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy volunteering, I want to do more.’
“It’s heartwarming.”
The project was an eye-opener for student Krisha Patel.
“I didn’t really know there were that many homeless people around here,” Patel said. “I thought this was really nice because you get to be part of the (Maslow’s) triangle.”
The benefits of the project worked both ways, she said.
“When I’d come to school to do service, it would feel really relaxing and comforting,” Patel said. “The idea that you are helping feed 60 people but also that you’re doing something good for others.”
Patel said she could imagine families on the receiving end realizing someone cared about them.
“They would have a little bit of
hope,” she said.
Patel and Ahmed said the project also brought students closer together, as they had a chance to chat during the lunch making.
Shizaz’s previous honors students had been helping out at a soup kitchen at Southwest Alliance Church in Palos Hills for almost 15 years until the onset of the pandemic. He said he hopes to start that tradition again soon.
“I think it’s good to show our community that the Moraine Valley Community College students are actively engaged, that they’re getting a lot out of their education and that Moraine is doing great things for our community,” he said.