At the end of each semester, I send out a survey to the community organizations my students have worked with, asking for feedback about the partnership. While the response rate has been lower than I would like, their comments are always reaffirming:
"We love our UNCA service learning volunteers- they bring high levels of
engagement and enthusiasm, connect with the kids, and truly add value to
our programming."
"The kids really enjoyed having some young, energetic people in the
classrooms. It also was a huge help to teachers-- breaking the classes
into smaller groups so they could concentrate energy on students with
the highest need."
"[One student] was a great volunteer with In Real Life- he was reliable, flexible, and most of all worked extremely well with the kids."
"[The students were able to] build relationships with our folks and to begin to understand
the way homelessness hurts our entire community. Also helped with
specific needs in the community."
"[One student] was fantastic. She helped with office tasks, though her most
valuable contribution was in translating documents for us into Spanish
and she wrote an article for the Spanish newspaper in West Asheville to
promote GS to that community."
"We gained a dedicated volunteer for one of our EC classes, and the
students greatly benefited from the extra adult support, as well as
interacting with an 'outside' adult."
"[One student] was very helpful in any task assigned to her. LEAF gained a
competent and dedicated volunteer and are excited she is coming back for
the Spring semester."
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
Congratulations!
Two of my students from this past fall semester have landed internships with the community organizations they began working with during their LANG 120 service-learning project.
Samantha Singer is continuing her work with LEAF in Schools & Streets.
Sam's blog: http://samhsinger.blogspot.com/
Emily Lindesmith is interning at a program called Our Circle that is run by ABCCM. She writes, "[t]he program is a part of a study for the Department of Labor," the purpose being to determine if vocational programs are more effective when participants receive a 'circle' of mentors." Emily has also volunteered to serve as a liaison between service-learning classes at UNCA and ABCCM in attempt to strengthen and sustain a working partnership between the two organizations.
Emily's blog: http://emilylindesmith.tumblr.com/
Congratulations to both of them!
Samantha Singer is continuing her work with LEAF in Schools & Streets.
Sam's blog: http://samhsinger.blogspot.com/
Emily Lindesmith is interning at a program called Our Circle that is run by ABCCM. She writes, "[t]he program is a part of a study for the Department of Labor," the purpose being to determine if vocational programs are more effective when participants receive a 'circle' of mentors." Emily has also volunteered to serve as a liaison between service-learning classes at UNCA and ABCCM in attempt to strengthen and sustain a working partnership between the two organizations.
Emily's blog: http://emilylindesmith.tumblr.com/
Congratulations to both of them!
Monday, March 18, 2013
Links:
The Key Center at UNCA: http://keycenter.unca.edu/
The Key Center is the campus hub for community citizenship and service-learning that works to connect students, faculty, and community partners with service-learning projects.
Student Blog (Fall 2012): http://emilylindesmith.tumblr.com/
Emily Lindesmith focused her writing and research on promoting a living wage rather than a minimum wage. She worked with ABCCM for her service-learning project and at the end of the semester was asked to stay on as an intern.
Student Blog (Fall 2012): http://samhsinger.blogspot.com/
Samantha Singer's semester-long project was on art advocacy. She worked with the LEAF in Schools program, volunteered with the fall LEAF festival, and was then awarded an internship.
The Key Center is the campus hub for community citizenship and service-learning that works to connect students, faculty, and community partners with service-learning projects.
Student Blog (Fall 2012): http://emilylindesmith.tumblr.com/
Emily Lindesmith focused her writing and research on promoting a living wage rather than a minimum wage. She worked with ABCCM for her service-learning project and at the end of the semester was asked to stay on as an intern.
Student Blog (Fall 2012): http://samhsinger.blogspot.com/
Samantha Singer's semester-long project was on art advocacy. She worked with the LEAF in Schools program, volunteered with the fall LEAF festival, and was then awarded an internship.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Service-Learning Celebration, Fall 2012
Thank you to McLeanMoore, Dena Hughes, and Samantha Singer for presenting their service-learning projects at the UNCA Fall 2012 Service-Learning Celebration on December 3rd, 2012!
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Spring 2013
Spring 2013 classes are off to a good start! Thanks to Sara Brown, Lise Kopell, and others at the UNCA Key Center, my students will be working with the following community organizations this semester:
Be Loved Community
ABCCM
Brother Wolf
RiverLink
UNCA Campus Garden
UNCA Rhodes Property Garden
ASAP
The Women's Wellness and Development Center
LEAF
Asheville Community Design Lab
William Randolf School
In Real Life
Asheville Middle School
Girls on the Run
Be Loved Community
ABCCM
Brother Wolf
RiverLink
UNCA Campus Garden
UNCA Rhodes Property Garden
ASAP
The Women's Wellness and Development Center
LEAF
Asheville Community Design Lab
William Randolf School
In Real Life
Asheville Middle School
Girls on the Run
Monday, December 3, 2012
What the students are saying:
Towards the end of the semester, I asked my students to complete an anonymous survey about their service-learning experience in LANG 120 in hopes of incorporating their feedback into my revisions for the upcoming semester. Here are just a few of their responses to the question "What were your favorite aspects of this class?":
"I liked the service learning project. it was meaningful and it helped provide depth and experience for the essays we had to write."
"I really enjoyed how we chose a topic we were passionate about, as it made writing about the topic much more enjoyable and meaningful."
"I loved volunteering at Brother Wolf and I loved the class discussions."
"The open discussions, non judgmental environment."
"This is one of my favorite classes this semester."
"I liked the atmosphere of the class and how the assigned work was meaningful to what we were learning. The volunteering aspect was a nice explorative activity for our papers and helped me explore my topic better."
"My favorite aspects of the class were being able to do service for the community, and creating fun essays which reveal our views and experiences."
"I really loved doing the service learning at William Randolph. I want to be a teacher so I think that doing service learning was great for me."
"I love the service learning aspect of this class. It helped give me a purpose and a focus that I truly wanted to learn more on."
"I loved how we got to choose what our topic was. It was a lot easier to write multiple papers on a subject that I care a lot about."
"being able to explore a topic I am so passionate about and having the opportunity to share it with others through my writing."
"I enjoyed being able to work with the community and pick a topic that actually meant something to me. It made my writing so much deeper."
"I liked being able to choose any topic we wanted to. I also liked having the experience of being out of our comfort zones."
"I liked the service learning project. it was meaningful and it helped provide depth and experience for the essays we had to write."
"I really enjoyed how we chose a topic we were passionate about, as it made writing about the topic much more enjoyable and meaningful."
"I loved volunteering at Brother Wolf and I loved the class discussions."
"The open discussions, non judgmental environment."
"This is one of my favorite classes this semester."
"I liked the atmosphere of the class and how the assigned work was meaningful to what we were learning. The volunteering aspect was a nice explorative activity for our papers and helped me explore my topic better."
"My favorite aspects of the class were being able to do service for the community, and creating fun essays which reveal our views and experiences."
"I really loved doing the service learning at William Randolph. I want to be a teacher so I think that doing service learning was great for me."
"I love the service learning aspect of this class. It helped give me a purpose and a focus that I truly wanted to learn more on."
"I loved how we got to choose what our topic was. It was a lot easier to write multiple papers on a subject that I care a lot about."
"being able to explore a topic I am so passionate about and having the opportunity to share it with others through my writing."
"I enjoyed being able to work with the community and pick a topic that actually meant something to me. It made my writing so much deeper."
"I liked being able to choose any topic we wanted to. I also liked having the experience of being out of our comfort zones."
Community Partners: Fall 2012
This semester, students from my three LANG 120 classes have worked with the following community organizations:
William Randolf Alternative School
Saturday UNC-Asheville Farmers Market
UNCA Rhodes Property Garden/Campus Garden
Girl Scouts
Asheville City Schools Foundation
Blue Ridge Pride Event
Women’s Wellbeing and Development Foundation
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue
Youth Outright
Girls on the Run
LEAF in the Schools & Streets
Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministries
Firestorm Cafe & Books
Asheville Bike Recyclery
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