UCF’s Annual Service-Learning Student Showcase The annual event showcases service-learning student projects where students compete for over $10,000 in scholarships. Much like the Graduate and Undergraduate Research Showcases, students from UCF colleges participate and benefit from learning about academic service-learning as experienced in various disciplines. Students are required to create posters about their projects then present to scholarship committee members and the general public. Each student or student team shares how their service project aligns with learning outcomes for their course.
Sample Poster Presentations include: Creativity: Transcending Memory Loss Using the theme the ability to transcend, this interdisciplinary, multimedia work focuses on the creativity of people who have dementia. It explores the use of non-traditional storytelling to gather information about a possible increase in creativity that accompanies the loss of cognitive ability.
Brazillian Invaders! During National Invasive Species Awareness week, we traveled to Ms. Snow’s fourth grade classroom at Andover Elementary to share our marine biology research on invasive plants. With their science fair looming around the corner, we came dressed as scientists bringing a wealth of information: first, about the scientific method, and second, on the significance of invasive species.
Program Redesign
The Magnificent Seven We worked with Kids Beating Cancer, a nonprofit organization that provides medical and emotional care for kids with this disease. The objective of our team is to raise $1,000 dollars in order to help the kids. We raised $1765.91 with some very successful events. These events helped us learn even more about teamwork and time management than we could have learned in the classroom. We learned about professionalism when it came to dealing with the clients and the people helping with donations.
A formal phenomenological program evaluation study in the fall of 2010, collected one-to-one semi-structured interview data from ten mentors, analyzed the data and identified six themes, and developed a prototype for a redesigned +AP program in partial fulfillment of the course requirements for IDS 7501-Seminar in Educational Research. The redesigned program, which was launched in the fall of 2011, included several mentor suggestions for improvement contained the program evaluation.
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Elementary Literacy Project
Young Orange County ESOL readers acquire critical literacy skills, UCF participants sharpen their curricular and instructional skills, and both parties are granted an invaluable and unforgettable learning experience. Together, we read, we learn and we succeed.
The Drama Chefs The Orlando Union Rescue Mission (OURM) is a homeless service provider which has served Orlando’s hungry and homeless for over sixty years. The community houses men, women, and families from all walks of life, affording them the opportunity to reestablish their lives. Our work targeted youth living at OURM between the ages of eleven and fifteen, giving us fifteen regular attendees at our residencies.
Service-Learning Student Showcase Scholarships ($100-$1000 each) Through the generosity of UCF’s Student Government Association (SGA), seven Colleges, Interdisciplinary Studies, and the Office of Experiential Learning over $11,000 in scholarships were awarded in 2012 to the most meaningful service-learning projects presented at the showcase. The scholarship awards include: Excellence in Graduate Engagement Innovative Project Youth Development Capacity Building Pedagogical Value Quality of Display Caliber of Reflection Sustainability • Environmental Sustainability Economic Sustainability • Social Sustainability
Excellence in Graduate Engagement Excellence in Undergraduate Engagement Significant Impact Literacy Engagement Value to Agency Enhancement of Civic Responsibility Leadership Peer Choice The Office of Experiential Learning Award & Scholarship
Students also receive Recognition of Excellence Awards for the following: Non-Traditional Literacy Engagement Social Justice Technological Integration Engaging the Arts Engaging Community Online STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
$500 Scholarships from Participating Colleges and Programs College of Arts & Sciences The Burnett Honors College College of Business Administration College of Education College of Health & Public Affairs College of Sciences Interdisciplinary Studies
2012 Recognition & Scholarship Award Winners
9th Annual Service-Learning Student Showcase Student Government Association and The Office of Experiential Learning Recognition & Scholarship Award Winners 2012 Engaging the Arts Award The student(s) incorporates elements of the arts to enhance overall success of the service-learning project. Team Winners: Creativity: Transcending Memory Loss Stella Dinelli and Alice Spicer Course: CRW 4941 Independent Study Faculty Member: Terry Thaxton Community Partner: Emeritus Assisted Living Facility (Memory Care Unit) College of Arts & Humanities Using the theme the ability to transcend, this interdisciplinary, multimedia work focuses on the creativity of people who have dementia. It explores the use of non-traditional storytelling to gather information about a possible increase in creativity that accompanies the loss of cognitive ability. Currently there is a lot of research available about the debilitating affects of memory loss, but there is very little research available about retained abilities. The storytelling workshops are based on the work of Anne Bastings, founder of Timeslips, a project at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Center on Age & Community. The goal of this multimedia work is to contribute to a small but growing effort to explore “memory loss as […] more than just memory loss” (Bastings) and to present the observations in a format that appeals to both academia and the general public. The importance of learning about the creative ability of workshop participants with Alzheimer’s and dementia is twofold. First, creative writing students may be able to discover how to let go of the internal censor, use fresh language, and view the world from a unique perspective by spending time working with the workshop participants. Second, the workshop participants have an opportunity to overcome the public stigma of their illness by using it as a springboard for a positive contribution to the academic community and society in general. Regardless of the outcome, we hope to raise awareness about possible benefits of an ongoing collaboration between academic creative writing community and people who have Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Engaging Community Online Award The award recognizes a service-learning project that occurred in an online course and was successful in both aligning project with course curriculum and enhancing service needs with community partner(s). Team Winners: X Factor Kamalkoli Bhattacharya, Roger Hadley, Amanda Newton and Elizabeth Szigeti Course: EME 6613 Instructional Systems Design Faculty Member: Dr. Atsusi Hirumi Community Partner: Simiosys and Museum of Science and Industry-Tampa College of Education X Factor worked with Simiosys to develop an instructional unit for a website to accompany an exhibit for the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa. The exhibit is sponsored by NASA and provides visitors with the experience of being on a lunar colony. The website is a complementary experience fostering a deeper understanding of living in space. We designed a unit of instruction for our service-learning partner by: conducting goal, instructional, learner and context analyses; generating, clustering and sequencing performance objectives; determining assessment methods; selecting media; and creating flowcharts and storyboards. Our instructional unit focuses on maintaining health and wellness on the moon and targets 7th –9th grade learners who will visit the museum with their family or class. We developed a game-based experience to encourage interest in space exploration and STEM careers, incorporating Sunshine State Standards for Math and Science. Within our website, learners can use tools to examine fellow astronauts and view health-related graphs. We applied the Interplay Instructional Strategy, which is still in development. We not only fulfilled the learning objective for our class, which was to learn and apply instructional systems design to a specific project, but will also be published in a book chapter on the Interplay Strategy. We have continued to work on our project this semester, and have developed a working prototype for one part of the website. It has been an exciting, challenging and rewarding process. Working with Simiosys provided us with an authentic project which could reach hundreds of students and their families.
Non-Traditional Literacy Engagement Award The award recognizes a project that goes beyond the traditional thinking of “reading and writing” to include use of media, non-traditional texts (i.e., magazines, comic books, social networking, technology, drawings and the like), music, oral discovery, and other “texts” that promote a complex understanding of literacy. Winner: Emilie Finney Course: ART 5949 Cooperative Education in Art Faculty Members: Terry Thaxton, Dr. Sheri Dressler, and Katie Snyder Community Partner: Passport Charter School College of Arts & Humanities This project was as a result of ArtsBridge, a program that matches college students from various creative disciplines to schools in the surrounding community searching for a creative approach to a project. The objective of the internship was for the college student to teach this class incorporating concepts from his or her discipline with the goal of an end project completed by the class. I was paired with Passport Charter School’s seventh grade Language Arts class. Throughout the semester I taught literary, visual art and design concepts, as well as how to use Microsoft Office programs. We created a periodical titled “7 th Grade News about Panther Pride” and the students collaborated to bring one issue to life. The students broke into groups in charge of writing articles, creating the artwork for the periodical, and organizing the periodical.
Throughout the semester the students honed their creative writing skills and also learned about visual concepts they would otherwise have not learned. My specific goal was to help the students develop into independent writers enabling them to write well with few mistakes completely on their own. My hope was to empower these students; make them confident in their skills as writers. Upon reflection of my specific approach, I think that not only did I teach these students, they taught me. I learned much throughout the project and saw areas I could improve. I received positive feedback from my supervising teacher and positive support from the students. The project proved meaningful to us all.
Social Justice Award The award recognizes a project that addresses issues based on ideas concerning equality, human rights, and the recognition of dignity in every human being. The project will reveal that a significant change of world view has occurred for the students involved in the project. The presentation will also consider next steps- even small ones!- in addressing how to solve the issues at hand. Team Winners: Young Women Leaders Samantha Daley, Rachel Miles and Emily Vrostos Course: WST 4021 Faculty Member: Meredith Tweed Community Partner: Young Women Leaders Program College of Arts & Humanities
This project was centered around the Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP), which works with the UCF Women’s Studies program to engage local seventh-grade girls in one-on-one peer mentoring and activities designed to build their critical-thinking and leadership skills. Instead of just focusing on YWLP as an organization, the researchers wanted to increase active girls’ leadership within the program. Reflecting YWLP’s new material on cyberawareness and cyberbullying, we also wanted to help the girls become familiar with virtual spaces as ones of potential empowerment and agency, if used in safe and appropriate means. To accomplish these goals, we presented the girls with the task of creating and submitting original content to be compiled as a selfpublished ’zine, added their voices to the online conversation via an official YWLP Twitter, and put together a scrapbook using pages the girls designed and made themselves. Because we also wanted to this project to be specific to the little sisters of this semester, we refocused select parts on an additional anti-bullying initiative, which we felt best addressed these girls’ stated needs. We created and presented to the girls at UCF day a lesson plan on advocacy, bullying, and the importance of support, as well as shifted the topic of the video PSA we wanted to make with the girls to one of anti-bullying and bullying awareness. Combined, we hoped these initiatives would give the girls YWLP worked with in Fall 2012 new avenues to have their voices heard on the issues most important to them.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Award The award recognizes a project that enhances the understanding of science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics (STEM. by enhancing communication abilities and learning outcomes/understanding of concepts required in these disciplines. Team Winners: TeaMytalla Joan King and Noémi Rébeli Szabό Course: BSC 4312 Marine Biology Faculty Member: Dr. Linda Walters Community Partner: Leanne Buchannan with Sanford Middle School College of Sciences For our Service-Learning project, we partnered with Ms. Leanne Buchanan and her three Sanford Middle School Marine Biology classes, totaling 90 students. With them, we discussed the scientific method and how it works in a real case study experiment. The basis of our research was invasive species and whether or not native predators prefer or avoid them. Our experiment involved two prey species, the native mussel Geukensia demissa, the invasive mussel Mytella charruana, and the native mussel predator, the blue crab Callinectes sapidus. We explored the relationship between the organisms by examining how the blue crabs’ foraging behavior differed between mussels. Our results showed that blue crabs choose the invasive mussel over the native mussel. We ran one replicate trial experiment at Sanford Middle School to give students a first-hand experience on scientific method and to highlight several important ideas in ecology. These ideas included optimal foraging theory, importance of invasive species, biological barriers, and basic scientific technique. We designed a game to engage the students to better help them understand these concepts and brought in a touch tank with live marine organisms for hands-on experience. Many of these concepts are so essential to ecology that they should be taught to students of all ages, and especially to these middle school students who have shown interest in marine biology. Being UCF students, we benefited from this experience by promoting biology education, sharing knowledge we have garnered, and getting a new generation excited about science.
Technological Integration Award The award recognizes most effective use of technology to help implement the project. Team Winners: iCan Communicate: Team SL Peeps Joline Alexander, Randi Baumgartner, Andrea Barina, Sarah Brickner, Christina Burton, Kelly Carroll, Anastasia Creasy, Brittany Gonick, Caitlin Hagenbaumer, Melanie Margolies, Michele Matthews, Rachel Nagel, Lacey Timmons, Lauren Varnadore and Ana Zunga Course: SPA 6559 Augmentative and Alternative Communication Faculty Member: Dr. Jennifer Kent-Walsh Community Partner: The Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida and the Florida Alliance Assistive Services and Technology (FAAST) Center College of Health & Public Affairs Our team partnered with the Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida to plan and implement the iCan Communicate program. This semester, the foundation donated iPads with an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) “app” that we selected and programmed for each individual child. We first administered standardized assessment tools to gather data regarding each child’s language, speech, and other areas of development that would provide insights into how they might use an app for functional communication. We then researched and participated in training sessions for various apps with our clients’ individual needs and skills in mind. Once we had narrowed down the field of viable options for our assigned client, we conducted two supervised therapy sessions in which we tried out each carefully selected app with the client and their caregivers. This allowed us to reach a decision as to which app would be best able to meet communicative needs of each client. The last day of the iCan Communicate program allowed the children and their families to practice use of their new, individually programmed app in several spring themed activities. Through the iCan Communicate program, our knowledge of individuals with complex communication needs was demonstrated in an applied manner. We synthesized this knowledge with relevant research to provide evidence-based assessment and intervention for the participating families. The outcome made a lasting impression on all involved. Many parents watched their children communicate effectively and with significantly less frustration for the first time.
Pedagogical Value Scholarship ($100) Apparent pedagogical value of the project; the degree to which the project is clearly integrated into the course or advances the course objectives. Each student is asked to provide a copy of the course syllabus. What is the linkage between the SL project and the course objectives?
Team Winners: iCan Communicate: Team SL Peeps Joline Alexander, Randi Baumgartner, Andrea Barina, Sarah Brickner, Christina Burton, Kelly Carroll, Anastasia Creasy, Brittany Gonick, Caitlin Hagenbaumer, Melanie Margolies, Michele Matthews, Rachel Nagel, Lacey Timmons, Lauren Varnadore and Ana Zunga Course: SPA 6559 Augmentative and Alternative Communication Faculty Member: Dr. Jennifer Kent-Walsh Community Partner: The Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida and the Florida Alliance Assistive Services and Technology (FAAST) Center College of Health & Public Affairs Our team partnered with the Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida to plan and implement the iCan Communicate program. This semester, the foundation donated iPads with an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) “app” that we selected and programmed for each individual child. We first administered standardized assessment tools to gather data regarding each child’s language, speech, and other areas of development that would provide insights into how they might use an app for functional communication. We then researched and participated in training sessions for various apps with our clients’ individual needs and skills in mind. Once we had narrowed down the field of viable options for our assigned client, we conducted two supervised therapy sessions in which we tried out each carefully selected app with the client and their caregivers. This allowed us to reach a decision as to which app would be best able to meet communicative needs of each client. The last day of the iCan Communicate program allowed the children and their families to practice use of their new, individually programmed app in several spring themed activities. Through the iCan Communicate program, our knowledge of individuals with complex communication needs was demonstrated in an applied manner. We synthesized this knowledge with relevant research to provide evidence-based assessment and intervention for the participating families. The outcome made a lasting impression on all involved. Many parents watched their children communicate effectively and with significantly less frustration for the first time.
Quality of Display Scholarship ($100) Quality of the display: clarity, impact, intellectual stimulation, interest and creativity. How well does the display explain the project and its impact? Is it an interesting and creative presentation? Team Winners: The KHK Promotional Video Team Andrew Hamaty, Victor Huipio, Shivam Parekh and George Saad Course: LDR 2002 intermediate Foundations of Leadership Faculty Member: Kathleen Rancourt Community Partner: UCF Knights Pantry Interdisciplinary Studies
Our service-learning project was created to raise awareness for the Knights Helping Knights Pantry, through a promotional video which both used emotional persuasion and provided details on how to help. The Knights Helping Knights Pantry is a student created program which provides food to underprivileged and financially unstable UCF students. Year after year, hundreds upon hundreds of students are unable to obtain food because of the higher costs of tuition and lower amounts of financial aid; through this video we hope to raise awareness of this growing problem as well as provide information on how to help fight it. Basically explaining to students that by donating even one can, you can feed a colleague. The video took hours of hard work, which included planning, filming B-roll, interviewing various students, etc. This project could not have been completed without the tireless work of all our team members as well as the constant cooperation with the Knights Helping Knights Pantry. This project is best explained by a quote explaining the necessity of the Knights Helping Knights Pantry from best-selling author Frank McKinney, “It could be a model for other colleges because you know if it’s happening here it’s happening elsewhere. Kids are going to class spending money on books and they’re eating one can of peaches a day. That’s sad…”
Value to Agency & Community Scholarship ($100) Some service-learning projects, although obviously worth doing as a means of advancing course objectives, have little or no value to the sponsoring agency or to the community at large, while other projects are distinguished by their agency or community impact. Winner: Rachel Ianni Course: GRA 3112C Intermediate Media-Graphics Design Faculty Member: Dr. Joo Kim Community Partner: Young Women Leaders Program and UCF Women’s Studies Program College of Arts & Humanities My class was presented with a request from the Young Women Leaders Program to create a new logo and identity that would be relatable and relevant to all audiences. The YWLP partners female UCF students with middle school girls so that they can practice positive leadership skills and, in turn have a positive effect on their lives and the lives of classmates and the community. Designing this identity, I wanted to create something that was fun, fresh and could be appreciated by and appeal to all audiences. The tree branch in the logo represents the growing program, branching out into sections, which are made to reference the program’s members. The letters “YWLP” playfully balance on the branch. Large leaves next to smaller ones represent the Big/Little Sister mentoring part of the program. Trees are a powerful symbol, reflecting knowledge, strength and continuous growth, which have everything to do with the YWLP. Through this project, I learned the values of meeting a client’s needs and creating an appropriate and cohesive identity.
Caliber of Reflection Scholarship ($100) Intentional reflection must take place in order to thoughtfully connect the service-learning experience with the assigned coursework— reflection is what transforms experiences into learning. Each display should provide an example or explanation of a reflection component. What evidence is there of structured reflection? Team Winners: Salt-N-Pepa Brian Curry, Katherine Joseph, Sydney Katz, David Moss and Paula Yespelkis Course: BSC 4312C Marine Biology Faculty Member: Dr. Linda Walters Community Partner: Sunrise Elementary School and UCF Department of Biology College of Sciences When a species is introduced into a new environment, it can negatively affect the habitat it invades. A hallmark characteristic of an invasive species is its ability to disperse and thrive over a wide range of environments. Additionally, invasive species are hard to manage and even harder to eradicate, so our main line of defense is to prevent introductions. In order to do this, it’s important to educate others on the subject. We visited Ms. Tricia LaChance’s 5th grade class at Sunrise Elementary School in Orange County. Through a musical chairs activity (that we adapted for our use), the students learned how invasive species could devastate an ecological region. We also explained different ways species could be introduced into an area. We educated the students about what to do with unwanted pets instead of releasing them into the wild. In our Marine Biology class, we have been conducting research on the dispersal of an invasive plant (Brazilian pepper) and we used our research to explain it’s devastating impact in Central Florida. To get the kids acquainted with the biological diversity of native and non-native species, we brought in live marine animals and plants, which was a huge hit. Seeing first-hand what impact we made in their lives with our presentation was a rewarding experience. Dr. Walters has stressed that science doesn’t count unless we use it to educate others. Through this experience, we were able to use our research and experience to do our part to educate the next generation.
Enhancement of Civic Responsibility Scholarship ($100) Value of the project in fostering a student’s sense of civic responsibility. To what extent does the student’s involvement in the project seem to have fostered a sense of civic responsibility? Are students better citizens as a result? Winner: Emilie Finney Course: ART 5949 Cooperative Education in Art Faculty Members: Terry Thaxton, Dr. Sheri Dressler, and Katie Snyder Community Partner: Passport Charter School College of Arts & Humanities This project was as a result of ArtsBridge, a program that matches college students from various creative disciplines to schools in the surrounding community searching for a creative approach to a project. The objective of the internship was for the college student to teach this class incorporating concepts from his or her discipline with the goal of an end project completed by the class. I was paired with Passport Charter School’s seventh grade Language Arts class. Throughout the semester I taught literary, visual art and design concepts, as well as how to use Microsoft Office programs. We created a periodical titled “7 th Grade News about Panther Pride” and the students collaborated to bring one issue to life. The students broke into groups in charge of writing articles, creating the artwork for the periodical, and organizing the periodical. Throughout the semester the students honed their creative writing skills and also learned about visual concepts they would otherwise have not learned. My specific goal was to help the students develop into independent writers enabling them to write well with few mistakes completely on their own. My hope was to empower these students; make them confident in their skills as writers. Upon reflection of my specific approach, I think that not only did I teach these students, they taught me. I learned much throughout the project and saw areas I could improve. I received positive feedback from my supervising teacher and positive support from the students. The project proved meaningful to us all.
Graduate Engagement Scholarship ($400) Excellence in quality of project design and implementation at the graduate level. Share the Care—Conway Meredith Cler and Gabriel Trainer Course: SPA 6417 Cognitive/Communicative Disorders Faculty Member: Dr. Anthony Kong Community Partner: Yvonne Miller at Share the Care-Conway College of Health & Public Affairs Share the Care-Conway (StC-C) is an adult day care for physically and cognitively impaired adults. Our aim during this servicelearning project was to provide cognitive stimulation both in the short- and long-term for StC-C clients with cognitivecommunicative disorders We designed a magazine scavenger hunt to promote memory, language, and executive skills; clients needed to read and comprehend directions, identify pictures belonging to various categories, and cut and glue pictures to a handout. We also promoted memory and language use through reminiscing during normal conversation or prompted by aids such as images of vintage instruments. After noting some clients’ confusion and distress, we created laminated daily schedules to be filled out by caretakers in order to promote orientation and minimize distress. Our experience culminated in creating memory books from photos provided by clients and their families. We laminated each photo and, with the client’s assistance, organized and bound them. The photos were then labeled to the best of the client’s abilities, or left blank for family to fill in. One client was so pleased with her memory book that she said she would look at it every night before she went to bed. This project enabled us to apply our in-class learning during interactions with clients with cognitive-communicative disorders. The clients, in exchange, received cognitive stimulation during our service-learning hours. More importantly, however, some clients will benefit daily from our orientation aids, and many clients will benefit long-term from the memory and reminiscing aids that we created from their photos.
Undergraduate Engagement Scholarship ($400) Excellence in quality of project design and implementation at the undergraduate level. Winner: Rachel Ianni Course: GRA 3112C Intermediate Media-Graphics Design Faculty Member: Dr. Joo Kim Community Partner: Young Women Leaders Program and UCF Women’s Studies Program College of Arts & Humanities My class was presented with a request from the Young Women Leaders Program to create a new logo and identity that would be relatable and relevant to all audiences. The YWLP partners female UCF students with middle school girls so that they can practice positive leadership skills and, in turn have a positive effect on their lives and the lives of classmates and the community. Designing this identity, I wanted to create something that was fun, fresh and could be appreciated by and appeal to all audiences. The tree branch in the logo represents the growing program, branching out into sections, which are made to reference the program’s members. The letters “YWLP” playfully balance on the branch. Large leaves next to smaller ones represent the Big/Little Sister mentoring part of the program. Trees are a powerful symbol, reflecting knowledge, strength and continuous growth, which have everything to do with the YWLP. Through this project, I learned the values of meeting a client’s needs and creating an appropriate and cohesive identity.
Graduate Innovative Project Scholarship ($400) The project is authentic and successfully addresses a need in the community that aligns with learning outcomes and objectives listed in the course syllabus. Team Winners: Brain Fitness Caitlin Hagenbaumer, Lacey Timmons and Ana Zuniga Course: SPA 6417 Cognitive/Communicative Disorders Faculty Member: Dr. Anthony Kong Community Partner: Brain Fitness Club College of Health & Public Affairs The purpose of our service-learning project was to explore the implementation of apps in iPads to conduct cognitive exercises at the Brain Fitness Club (BFC), a clinical setting for clients with early dementia. We looked at the relative value of different apps available through the iTunes market and evaluated each app in different parameters, including ease of use, cognitive areas targeted, cost of the app, possible implementation in the clinical setting, and response from clinicians and BFC members. We also reported the process of selecting appropriate apps. We found that the most successful apps incorporated simple mathematics, letter descrambling, and activities similar to existing group activities in the BFC and the least successful apps were characterized by pre-set time limits. We concluded that the iPad is a viable tool to supplement professional clinical interventions for clients with dementia. The iTunes market is expanding and more appropriate apps may become available in the future. This service-learning project is specifically related to our course learning objectives. By researching the efficacy and client response to the use of technology in cognitive stimulation, we are addressing issues of implementing different approaches, how to structure activities during intervention, and how to manipulate the context of intervention. By researching and testing various modes of intervention related to technology, we are able to broaden our scope of knowledge in relation to possible intervention techniques that can be used with individuals with cognitive-communication disorders.
Undergraduate Innovative Project Scholarship ($400) The project is authentic and successfully addresses a need in the community that aligns with learning outcomes and objectives listed in the course syllabus. Winner: Elizabeth Baez Course: GRA 3112C Intermediate Graphic Design II Faculty Member: Dr. Joo Kim Community Partner: Young Women’s Leadership Program College of Arts & Humanities
I focused my project on the Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP). The Young Women Leader Program is a non-profit organization that needs as much support as they can to continue making a change in these girls lives. This mentoring program is sponsored by the UCF Women's Studies Program. YWLP gives middle school girls an opportunity to pair up with collegiate women. YWLP gives us the opportunity to mold our young women today into independent and extraordinary leaders of tomorrow. Where do I come in? During this project I had to treat YWLP as a real client versus looking at them as just another class assignment. I used my skills and knowledge to produce a brand for YWLP. I wanted my design to help the Program get better known so they can gain better funding in years to come. In my Intermediate Graphic Design class; I made an entire look for YWLP, by creating a whole identity system for them. By doing this project I was able to be involved a little more in my community. It help gain real world experience, increase my communication skills, and most importantly it made me feel like I was finally part of something bigger than myself.
Graduate Leadership Scholarship ($400) An undertaking at the graduate level that proves exceptional leadership in working to create and implement the project that serves a need in the community. The effort will provide evidence that all members were equally involved and responsible to the success of the project. It will also be evident that the community partner(s) will have assisted in the group understanding of strong leadership qualities necessary to the particular project.
Winner: A Program Redesign: Titusville High School’s Positive Annual Progress (+AP) Minority Student Mentoring Program Patrick Craanen Course: IDS 7501 Seminar in Educational Research: Issues and Reseaerch in Education & IDS 7502 Case Studies in Educational Research Faculty Member: Dr. David Boote Community Partner: Titusville High School, Brevard County Public Schools Launched in 2005, Titusville High School’s (THS) Positive Annual Progress (+AP) Student Mentoring Program was designed to raise academic achievement levels and graduation rates of THS’ minority students. For several years, the program flourished. However, by the end of the 2009-2010 school year, something was definitely awry with program as most staff and several teachers ceased participating as mentors in the program. Thus I began the IRB process for a formal phenomenological program evaluation study in the fall of 2010, collected one-to-one semi-structured interview data from ten mentors, analyzed the data and identified six themes, and developed a prototype for a redesigned +AP program in partial fulfillment of the course requirements for IDS 7501-Seminar in Educational Research. The redesigned program, which was launched in the fall of 2011, included several mentor suggestions for improvement contained the program evaluation. As with any service-learning project, ongoing evaluation is key to the process, therefore, as part of the course requirements for IDS 7502-Case Studies in Educational Research, I evaluated the effects of the redesign by anonymously surveying 31 of the 41 teacher-mentors concerning their experiences, opinions, and perceptions of the newly redesigned program. Results were overwhelmingly positive with 95% of the mentees indicating they were well matched with their mentee and that the mentoring experience was mutually beneficial and a worthwhile use of their time. Finally, 100% of respondents indicated they were satisfied with the structure and organization of the program and further, that they will continue mentoring in the program next year.
Undergraduate Leadership Scholarship ($400) A group project at the undergraduate level that proves exceptional leadership in working together to create and implement a project that serves a need in the community. The team effort will provide evidence that all members were equally involved and responsible to the success of the project. It will also be evident that the community partner(s) will have assisted in the group understanding of strong leadership qualities necessary to the particular project. Team winners: Young Women Leaders Samantha Daley, Rachel Miles and Emily Vrostos Course: WST 4021 Girls and Leadership Faculty Member: Meredith Tweed Community Partner: Young Women Leaders Program College of Arts & Humanities This project was centered around the Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP), which works with the UCF Women’s Studies program to engage local seventh-grade girls in one-on-one peer mentoring and activities designed to build their critical-thinking and leadership skills. Instead of just focusing on YWLP as an organization, the researchers wanted to increase active girls’ leadership within the program. Reflecting YWLP’s new material on cyberawareness and cyberbullying, we also wanted to help the girls become familiar with virtual spaces as ones of potential empowerment and agency, if used in safe and appropriate means.
To accomplish these goals, we presented the girls with the task of creating and submitting original content to be compiled as a self-published ’zine, added their voices to the online conversation via an official YWLP Twitter, and put together a scrapbook using pages the girls designed and made themselves. Because we also wanted to this project to be specific to the little sisters of this semester, we refocused select parts on an additional anti-bullying initiative, which we felt best addressed these girls’ stated needs. We created and presented to the girls at UCF day a lesson plan on advocacy, bullying, and the importance of support, as well as shifted the topic of the video PSA we wanted to make with the girls to one of anti-bullying and bullying awareness. Combined, we hoped these initiatives would give the girls YWLP worked with in Fall 2012 new avenues to have their voices heard on the issues most important to them.
Capacity Building Scholarship ($400) The award recognizes a student group that worked with a partner agency in helping them develop mechanisms to guide growth and/or programming. Team Winners: Knight Owls Alicia DiGianvincenzo, Virgil Williams and Amy Yaros Course: GEB 3031L Cornerstone Lab: Professional Skills for Business Faculty Member: Christopher Leo Community Partner: Devereux Florida College of Business Administration Devereux is a leading nonprofit behavioral health organization that supports many of the most underserved and vulnerable members of our communities. They serve more than 1,300 children and families a week in over 50 programs that meet the behavioral health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and child welfare needs in our community. Unfortunately, many of their programs rely only on the community support and donations because there is not enough money and they cannot do it alone. Our group will be raising money towards the Children’s Benefit Fund that allows the children to attend summer camps and alleviate expenses for their after school activities. We would like to exceed our client’s expectations not only by making our target donation, but also by raising awareness and educating people about the organization and specifically the children and families in need in our community. We are planning to raise $1000 in donations for the Children’s Benefit fund to help children attend summer camps and after-school programs sponsored by Devereux Florida. We made the organization more efficient by raising awareness and educating the community (family, friends, coworkers and companies) about all the services and lives they touch every day. As of April 4, 2012,we have raised $1631 and beat our goal. Each member of our group was given the opportunity to be a project manager of one of the tasks and lead. We used the GroupTable website for our main means of communication, and it helped us to stay on top of things. We all worked as a team to come up with our SMART goal and the assigned tasks throughout the semester.
Literacy Engagement Scholarship ($400) The award recognizes a project that focuses on literacy in the traditional description, which concentrates on the ability to read and write. Team Winners: Catalina for College Amy Askren, Heather Burke, Brian Connelly, Kyle Davidson, Erin Grigley, Michael Gualandri and Destiny Shurte Course: LDR 3950 Leadership in Action: Capstone Experience for LEAD Scholars Faculty Member: Kelly Astro Community Partner: Catalina Elementary School Interdisciplinary Studies Catalina for College impacted the community through its work with Catalina Elementary and Achieve a College Education (ACE) Day. The project’s purpose was to inspire 5th graders in the surrounding areas to strive towards obtaining a college education. This was accomplished through two components, first visiting Catalina Elementary and talking to the 5th graders and second ACE Day. Our classroom visits gave the students a chance to learn about the steps one must take throughout their educational path such as getting good grades, doing well on the FCAT, making smart decisions, and always believing in themselves. They learned that college can be affordable through scholarships. ACE Day allowed everything we had told the students to take a physical form as they got to tour UCF, meet and talk with esteemed UCF professors and alumni, and see what campus life is really like. They were surrounded not only by their fellow classmates, but hundreds of fellow 5th graders from surrounding schools and many happy and successful college students like us. The students at Catalina Elementary face daily hardships in their lives and college is not always seen as a possibility. Being part of ACE Day, we were able to create a tangible goal for these students to hold on to and continue to strive towards. Being a member of Catalina for College impacted our team greatly as we saw the difference we made in their lives as they knew that there are others who believe in them.
Significant Impact Scholarship ($400) The greatest number of clients impacted by the service project using thoughtful and thorough procedures and assessment mechanism(s). UCF College of Medicine Teresa Martin and Megan Vu Course: Imbedded throughout College Experience Faculty Member: Dr. Judith Simms-Cendan Community Partner: LMSA at UCF, Project World Health at USF, Dr. Abbad (Physician in Dominican Republic) and Dr. Hidalgo (Physician in Miami and Dominican Republic) College of Medicine MedPACt is an organization at the UCF College of Medicine that focuses on increasing awareness of healthcare disparities while serving the needs of medically underserved populations on a global scale. In December 2011 we partnered with UCF nursing students and LMSA students from USF College of Medicine to provide medical care rural communities in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic. In the past, we have also partnered with Project World Health (PWH) at USF, in hopes of learning from their fifteen years of expertise. Our group has also succeeded in sustaining relationships with liaisons on site in the Dominican Republic. Dr. Abad, an Ob/Gyn in Jarabacoa, has been the Dominican Republic liaison for USF and UF visits for the last 15 years. MedPACt’s aim is to establish continuity of care to the region through involvement of local universities. We would like to collaborate with the UCATECI medical school in a nearby city of La Vega, as well as with other schools in the area. By bringing together and forging bonds among medical, nursing, pharmacy, and public health students, we can build a multidisciplinary team; one that is able to effect the broadest provision of healthcare needs in our outreach events abroad. Connections at La Vega will help keep us informed of the needs of the community throughout subsequent visits. It is our hope that collaborating with other Florida Institutions who visit the area at different times will serve to make our trips more sustainable.
Sustainability Scholarships: Environmental, Economic and Social Three awards possible here. Criteria for each from Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins (1999). In addition to the specific award criteria include project as: • Technologically feasible • Operationally viable • Socially desirable • Culturally acceptable • Psychologically nurturing
Environmental Sustainability Team Winners: Silly Willets: A Biodiversity and Restoration Service-Learning Project Focused on Shoreline Birds in Mosquito Lagoon ($400) Elissa Ashley, Christina Kontos, Robert Levinthal, Jennifer Manis, Gabriel Nickle, Jennifer Owen and Kari Wesighan Course: BSC 4312C Marine Biology Faculty Member: Dr. Linda Walters Community Partners: Carillon Elementary School and Department of Biology at UCF College of Sciences The purpose of our service-learning project was to spread awareness of ecosystem conservation and its significance to Carillon Elementary School students. Our presentation consisted of three parts, including a lecture about conservation incorporating our own research on shoreline birds, a pre- and post-test, and a hands-on activity. Speaking about conservation while integrating our focus on wading birds and oyster reef restoration, we discussed species survival, biological and genetic diversity, and the importance of a healthy and balanced ecosystem. This tied into our own research project of whether wading birds in Mosquito Lagoon prefer natural versus restored oyster reefs, making them our indicator of reef health. Next, we informed the twenty-five, gifted, fifth grade students about the importance of oysters and their services within the marine ecosystem. We discussed how oysters filter water and provide essential resources for a diversity of species, including wading birds.
The students were given a pre-test to examine their general knowledge, and a post-test followed our presentation to measure academic gains. After our presentation, we conducted a hands-on project in small groups with Carillon students by creating oyster mats, which are used in our oyster reef restoration project. This experience has benefited our UCF group by providing us with a chance to spread our knowledge about conservation with children willing to absorb our information. Thus, this presentation and hands-on activity bestowed the students with greater awareness of conservation and we all provided oyster mats that will be used in the restoration efforts at Mosquito Lagoon.
Economic Sustainability Team Winners: Knight Owls ($400) Alicia DiGianvincenzo, Virgil Williams and Amy Yaros Course: GEB 3031L Cornerstone Lab: Professional Skills for Business Faculty Member: Christopher Leo Community Partner: Devereux Florida College of Business Administration Devereux is a leading nonprofit behavioral health organization that supports many of the most underserved and vulnerable members of our communities. They serve more than 1,300 children and families a week in over 50 programs that meet the behavioral health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and child welfare needs in our community. Unfortunately, many of their programs rely only on the community support and donations because there is not enough money and they cannot do it alone. Our group will be raising money towards the Children’s Benefit Fund that allows the children to attend summer camps and alleviate expenses for their after school activities. We would like to exceed our client’s expectations not only by making our target donation, but also by raising awareness and educating people about the organization and specifically the children and families in need in our community. We are planning to raise $1000 in donations for the Children’s Benefit fund to help children attend summer camps and after-school programs sponsored by Devereux Florida.
We made the organization more efficient by raising awareness and educating the community (family, friends, coworkers and companies) about all the services and lives they touch every day. As of April 4, 2012, we have raised $1631 and beat our goal. Each member of our group was given the opportunity to be a project manager of one of the tasks and lead. We used the GroupTable website for our main means of communication, and it helped us to stay on top of things. We all worked as a team to come up with our SMART goal and the assigned tasks throughout the semester.
Social Sustainability Team Winners: Arden Court Jesters ($400) Brett Jeremy Cail, Madeline Hall and Justin Leblanc Course: SPA 6417 Cognitive/Communicative Disorders Faculty Member: Dr. Anthony Kong Community Partner: Arden Courts Retirement Community College of Health & Public Affairs For our service-learning project, we provided a multi-modal quiz based activity to stimulate language and memory in a group of 10 to 15 (attendance varied) individuals with dementia/memory impairments. Our approach was based on evidence that by providing multiple types of input for dementia patients, it is possible to stimulate memory by using relatively spared cognitive abilities by presenting pictures (visuo-spatial), music (auditory), and movie clips (auditory and visuo-spatial). We also based our work on evidence that using a multiple choice format would reduce the load on the memory-based aspects of cognition. Manipulation of topic selection was an additional technique that provided opportunities for reminiscence, which is an established technique for stimulating conversation and maintaining memory skills. Our presentation was a Jeopardy-type quiz game that used Powerpoint to allow questions to be displayed alongside answer choices, pictures, music, and videos. One of the presenters navigated through the Powerpoint program while two others elicited discussion of the questions and allowed participants time to comment and reminisce by telling stories related to the question topics.
Youth Development Scholarship ($400) As noted on the Center for Youth Development & Policy Research, the award recognizes a project that focuses on "...the ongoing growth process in which all youth are engaged in attempting to (1) meet their basic personal and social needs to be safe, feel cared for, be valued, be useful, and be spiritually grounded, and (2) to build skills and competencies that allow them to function and contribute in their daily lives." (Pittman, 1993, p. 8) http://cyd.aed.org/whatis.html.
Emilie Finney Course: ART 5949 Cooperative Education in Art Faculty Members: Terry Thaxton, Dr. Sheri Dressler, and Katie Snyder Community Partner: Passport Charter School College of Arts & Humanities This project was as a result of ArtsBridge, a program that matches college students from various creative disciplines to schools in the surrounding community searching for a creative approach to a project. The objective of the internship was for the college student to teach this class incorporating concepts from his or her discipline with the goal of an end project completed by the class. I was paired with Passport Charter School’s seventh grade Language Arts class. Throughout the semester I taught literary, visual art and design concepts, as well as how to use Microsoft Office programs. We created a periodical titled “7 th Grade News about Panther Pride” and the students collaborated to bring one issue to life. The students broke into groups in charge of writing articles, creating the artwork for the periodical, and organizing the periodical. Throughout the semester the students honed their creative writing skills and also learned about visual concepts they would otherwise have not learned. My specific goal was to help the students develop into independent writers enabling them to write well with few mistakes completely on their own. My hope was to empower these students; make them confident in their skills as writers. Upon reflection of my specific approach, I think that not only did I teach these students, they taught me. I learned much throughout the project and saw areas I could improve. I received positive feedback from my supervising teacher and positive support from the students. The project proved meaningful to us all.
Peer Choice Scholarship ($400) Student choice scholarship based on overall excellence of project and presentation. Team Winners: The Drama Chefs Amanda Hill and Brandon Yagel Course: THE 6756 Methods of Teaching Drama Faculty Member: Sybil St. Claire Community Partner: Orlando Repertory Theatre and Orlando Rescue Mission College of Arts & Humanities The Orlando Union Rescue Mission (OURM) is a homeless service provider which has served Orlando’s hungry and homeless for over sixty years. The community houses men, women, and families from all walks of life, affording them the opportunity to reestablish their lives. Our work targeted youth living at OURM between the ages of eleven and fifteen, giving us fifteen regular attendees at our residencies. Our residencies were encouraged by our Methods of Teaching Drama class. Here we were emboldened to find, understand, and gain confidence in our roles as facilitator and participant of drama education by working with community partners and exploring various source material for lesson activities. Our consecutive residencies centered were titled “The Recipe of Me” and “The Recipe of Us,” respectively. In the first residency we focused on encouraging artistic expression, building confidence, and building computer skills by working with the students to write a recipe of themselves, record an engaging voice-over, and create a digital story. The subsequent residency focused on the combination of the previously created recipes, thereby creating a Recipe of Us, using the voices of all the students. In this residency we focused on building trust and community by encouraging students to participate in theatre games and activities resulting in common goals, creating tableaux scenes, and creating a group movement piece. At the end of the second residency, we invited the OURM community to join us for a celebration of our students’ accomplishments, and about 100 community members came to celebrate.
College of Arts & Humanities ($500) Recognition of excellence awarded to one project Winner: Elizabeth Baez Course: GRA 3112C Intermediate Graphic Design II Faculty Member: Dr. Joo Kim Community Partner: Young Women’s Leadership Program College of Arts & Humanities I focused my project on the Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP). The Young Women Leader Program is a non-profit organization that needs as much support as they can to continue making a change in these girls lives. This mentoring program is sponsored by the UCF Women's Studies Program. YWLP gives middle school girls an opportunity to pair up with collegiate women. YWLP gives us the opportunity to mold our young women today into independent and extraordinary leaders of tomorrow. Where do I come in? During this project I had to treat YWLP as a real client versus looking at them as just another class assignment. I used my skills and knowledge to produce a brand for YWLP. I wanted my design to help the Program get better known so they can gain better funding in years to come. In my Intermediate Graphic Design class; I made an entire look for YWLP, by creating a whole identity system for them. By doing this project I was able to be involved a little more in my community. It help gain real world experience, increase my communication skills, and most importantly it made me feel like I was finally part of something bigger than myself.
The Burnett Honors College ($500) Recognition of excellence awarded to one project Panda Pride-ACE Team Shingle Creek Kristen Howell, Bradley Keena, Alexis Kimmel, Amelia Klug, Sabrina Restrepo, Michael Thomas and Alexis Wansac Course: LDR 3950 LEAD Scholars Capstone Faculty Member: Kelly Astro Community Partner: Shingle Creek Elementary, The Burnett Honors College and Orange County Public Schools Interdisciplinary Studies Each year, the Honors college brings 500 Fifth Grade students to the University of Central Florida campus through a program known as ACE Day – or Achieve a College Education Day. This event has the ultimate goal of inspiring these kids – all of whom are from underserved communities to want to one day attend college themselves – to show them that the dream is real and it is accomplishable. Our LEAD group went to Shingle Creek Elementary to help facilitate this experience, informing them of ACE Day prior to the event and building excitement for the day. On the day of the event, we rode the bus over from the school to UCF to ensure a smooth ride. We all also participated in ACE Day – leading Shingle Creek students around the campus and exposing them to different elements of UCF. We met the LEAD mission through engineering this project without help, taking charge of it and making sure that it was accomplished without failure.
College of Business Administration ($500) Recognition of excellence awarded to one project The White Knights Ronald Coates, Alayna Jackson, Brian Rust, Michelle Rymer, Bryan Shearon and James Sheets Course: GEB 3031L Cornerstone La: Professional Skills for Business Faculty Members: Ryan Wilcox and Emily Gay Community Partners: Junior Achievement of Central Florida and Dommerich Elementary School College of Business Administration
Our service-learning project involved us partnering with Junior Achievement to reach out and support a local school. In order to help Dommerich Elementary, we worked in the classroom and in the community to raise funds and educate the children. Teaching 8 total classes with 5 lessons a piece, we covered the importance of community, family and an education. In addition to teaching the children important life lessons, we also took on the task of raising funds for the school’s PE department. We held various fundraising activities within Dommerich’s school district and raised over $1000 for the school. Our funds were given to the PE department to assist with the costs of having a field day for grades 1-5. We then worked in sync with the coaches and field day planners to create and help run the activities at the event. Throughout the service-learning project, we got to interact with families, school faculty, and the children to benefit the entire community. Accomplishing our goals was a huge success but we benefitted more from the interaction with our classes. The greatest form of return we received was through our lessons and being able to bring a healthy active lifestyle to the kids. So many kids are not getting the proper activity to perform well and are becoming unhealthy as a result and our project succeeded in addressing these issues.
College of Education ($500) Recognition of excellence awarded to one project The Experience of Environment and Education (E –3) Project Sebastian Church Course: EDG 4948 Service-Learning Faculty Member: Dr. Deborah Becker Community Partner: Orange County Public Schools, University High School, Timber Creek High School College of Education The missions of The Experience of Environment and Education (E-3) Project are (1) to expose university students to pedagogy through authentic teaching experiences; and (2) to expose elementary/secondary school students to environmental science through problem solving. Without any budget or financial resources, all lesson plans and curriculum materials of The E-3 Project are original. University students perform service-learning as Instructors, teaching each class in Instructor Pairs. Students in each class join in groups to work on Initiative Proposals throughout the experience, which are projects that can be implemented to make their schools more sustainable. During the Fall 2011 semester, 5 UCF students taught lessons on Waste in 1 AP Environmental Science and 1 Integrated Science class at University High School. After this experience, Sebastian Church was honored as University HS’s volunteer of the year. The E-3 Project was asked to return for another set of lessons, and each university student who participated in Fall 2011 returned to participate in Spring 2012. During the Spring 2012 semester, 8 UCF students taught lessons on Energy in 4 high school AP Environmental Science classes at 2 high schools (University HS and Timber Creek HS) . The classes are ongoing, and presentations of Initiative Proposals will occur during the week of April 16. The Orlando Science Center has provided admission tickets as incentives for students working on Initiative Proposals and administrators will be in attendance on presentation day to evaluate the viability of Initiative Proposals.
College of Graduate Studies ($500) Recognition of excellence awarded to one project Team Winners: iCan Communicate: Team SL Peeps Joline Alexander, Randi Baumgartner, Andrea Barina, Sarah Brickner, Christina Burton, Kelly Carroll, Anastasia Creasy, Brittany Gonick, Caitlin Hagenbaumer, Melanie Margolies, Michele Matthews, Rachel Nagel, Lacey Timmons, Lauren Varnadore and Ana Zunga Course: SPA 6559 Augmentative and Alternative Communication Faculty Member: Dr. Jennifer Kent-Walsh Community Partner: The Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida and the Florida Alliance Assistive Services and Technology (FAAST) Center College of Health & Public Affairs Our team partnered with the Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida to plan and implement the iCan Communicate program. This semester, the foundation donated iPads with an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) “app” that we selected and programmed for each individual child. We first administered standardized assessment tools to gather data regarding each child’s language, speech, and other areas of development that would provide insights into how they might use an app for functional communication. We then researched and participated in training sessions for various apps with our clients’ individual needs and skills in mind. Once we had narrowed down the field of viable options for our assigned client, we conducted two supervised therapy sessions in which we tried out each carefully selected app with the client and their caregivers. This allowed us to reach a decision as to which app would be best able to meet communicative needs of each client. The last day of the iCan Communicate program allowed the children and their families to practice use of their new, individually programmed app in several spring themed activities. Through the iCan Communicate program, our knowledge of individuals with complex communication needs was demonstrated in an applied manner. We synthesized this knowledge with relevant research to provide evidence-based assessment and intervention for the participating families. The outcome made a lasting impression on all involved. Many parents watched their children communicate effectively and with significantly less frustration for the first time.
College of Health & Public Affairs ($500) Recognition of excellence awarded to one project Pathfinders: Helping others discover their path through service Carole Becker and Hiram Matos
Course: PAD 3930 American Humanics Human Service Workshop Faculty Member: Dr. Stephanie Krick Community Partners: Harvest Time International, Community Food and Outreach Center, Run for Her Life 5k, NiceServe, Clean the World Orlando, Miracle Miles, Orlando VA Community Living Center, Straight Street Orlando, Camp Quest Thunderbird, JDRF Gala, Habitat Restore, Boys and Girls Club, Pet Rescue by Judy, American Lung Association, Orlando Wetlands Park, Orlando Day Nursery, Christian Service Center, Boys Town, Give Kids the World, and Heart of Orlando United Way Through these tough economic times, the need for nonprofit agencies with qualified employees that posses a strong sense of civic responsibility and leadership is at an all-time high. In this three-semester course, Pathfinders received the skills needed to develop our own pathways as leaders in the nonprofit sector while giving back to the Central Florida Community. Beginning in our first semester, we effectively met the needs of those in our community through volunteering at nonprofit organizations. This service that began as first semester students has continued throughout our enrollment in this course. In our second semester, Pathfinders continued to serve the needs of our community by creating awareness videos for nonprofit agencies. This spring, Pathfinders has continued to pave the way to nonprofit success by planning and executing fundraisers to raise money not only for nonprofit organizations but to also assist UCF students with raising funds to attend a national conference. With the ability to create our own path, Pathfinders was able to fulfill all course requirements as well as those required to become nationally certified in nonprofit management. Through leadership, Pathfinders went above and beyond to help pave the way for other students. The values learned from this course motivated us to do more for our own community and help others discover their paths. By planning volunteer opportunities and becoming mentors for those embarking on their journey, we hope to leave footprints that will assist others in finding a sense of civic responsibility and their own passion for service.
College of Nursing ($500) Recognition of excellence awarded to one project UCF Nursing Students Meeting the Hispanic Need Ruth Castillo de Guzman and Amanda Oyola Course: NUR 4637L Public Health Nursing Faculty Member: Dr. Norma Conner and Erica Hoyt Community Partner: Hispanic Health initiatives College of Nursing Hispanic Health Initiatives (HHI) is a non-profit, volunteer driven, community based program located in Casselberry. Their overall goal is to address the health needs of medically underserved populations in Central Florida. It is the only Hispanic health organization in Central Florida specifically targeting the Hispanic community. UCF College of Nursing has been involved with HHI for several years using various levels of nursing students. The role of UCF undergraduate nursing students this semester started as volunteer case managers and has grown to educators. We have witnessed first-hand the value of HHI, and have committed to the organization as nursing partners to continue providing health education to their volunteers and clients even after the semester is completed. Through individual case-management, clients’ health statuses are assessed and referrals to community resources are made. Through health education, we train HHI leaders and volunteers on health topics such as obesity. After being educated, HHI employees are able to correctly instruct clients on healthy eating habits and physical activity. As Latino women we have experienced the unhealthy eating and lifestyle habits of our culture. Yet, we bring with us the scientific bases of nursing to understand the pervasiveness of the problem and recognize our role in intervention in reaching the Healthy People 2020 objectives. There is currently discussion on having us remain at HHI to train future nursing students as this service-learning project will continue in subsequent semesters. Ultimately, UCF nursing students are adding value to Hispanic Health Initiatives and the community.
College of Sciences ($500) Recognition of excellence awarded to one project Team Winners: Silly Willets: A Biodiversity and Restoration Service-Learning Project Focused on Shoreline Birds in Mosquito Lagoon Elissa Ashley, Christina Kontos, Robert Levinthal, Jennifer Manis, Gabriel Nickle, Jennifer Owen and Kari Wesighan Course: BSC 4312C Marine Biology Faculty Member: Dr. Linda Walters Community Partners: Carillon Elementary School and Department of Biology at UCF College of Sciences The purpose of our service-learning project was to spread awareness of ecosystem conservation and its significance to Carillon Elementary School students. Our presentation consisted of three parts, including a lecture about conservation incorporating our own research on shoreline birds, a pre- and post-test, and a hands-on activity. Speaking about conservation while integrating our focus on wading birds and oyster reef restoration, we discussed species survival, biological and genetic diversity, and the importance of a healthy and balanced ecosystem. This tied into our own research project of whether wading birds in Mosquito Lagoon prefer natural versus restored oyster reefs, making them our indicator of reef health. Next, we informed the twenty-five, gifted, fifth grade students about the importance of oysters and their services within the marine ecosystem. We discussed how oysters filter water and provide essential resources for a diversity of species, including wading birds. The students were given a pre-test to examine their general knowledge, and a post-test followed our presentation to measure academic gains. After our presentation, we conducted a hands-on project in small groups with Carillon students by creating oyster mats, which are used in our oyster reef restoration project. This experience has benefited our UCF group by providing us with a chance to spread our knowledge about conservation with children willing to absorb our information. Thus, this presentation and hands-on activity bestowed the students with greater awareness of conservation and we all provided oyster mats that will be used in the restoration efforts at Mosquito Lagoon.
Interdisciplinary Studies ($500) Recognition of excellence awarded to one project Team Winners: Lake Weston ACE Rachel Behr, Gianna Cifredo, Katarina Dos Santos, Oluwafunlola Falade, Amelia Mackarey, Jessica Slevin and Kristen Wiley Course: LDR 3950 LEAD Scholars Capstone Faculty Member: Kelly Astro Community Partner: Lake Weston Elementary School Interdisciplinary Studies As a group, we worked with Lake Weston Elementary as partners for Achieve a College Education (ACE) Day, where roughly 500 local fifth graders came to UCF to see what college is like. Lake Weston is a Title I school, and 95% of the students receive free or reduced lunch. These students are at risk of dropping out of school early and we wanted to encourage the students to focus on their future by showing them what is possible. After doing our research, we created a Powerpoint presentation and visited Lake Weston Elementary. We described the basic structure of the university and all of the things they can do in college, and got them excited for visiting UCF on March 19th. This connects to our course objectives to “think critically, perform in-depth research, and make interdisciplinary connections between leadership and other courses of study” and “speak in public and give compelling, persuasive presentations.” We also volunteered at ACE day with the Lake Weston students. One of our group members was the bus captain, and she went to Lake Weston and rode with them on the bus to UCF. As ACE volunteers, we all had to be engaging, as well as solving problems quickly and dealing with them effectively as they arose. This corresponded well to our course objective to “articulate personal leadership philosophy or style involved in solving problems on campus and in the community.”
The Experiential Learning Scholarship & Award ($1000) Best overall in project excellence and outstanding commitment to service-learning at UCF. Team Winners: Silly Willets: A Biodiversity and Restoration Service-Learning Project Focused on Shoreline Birds in Mosquito Lagoon Elissa Ashley, Christina Kontos, Robert Levinthal, Jennifer Manis, Gabriel Nickle, Jennifer Owen and Kari Wesighan Course: BSC 4312C Marine Biology Faculty Member: Dr. Linda Walters Community Partners: Carillon Elementary School and Department of Biology at UCF College of Sciences The purpose of our service-learning project was to spread awareness of ecosystem conservation and its significance to Carillon Elementary School students. Our presentation consisted of three parts, including a lecture about conservation incorporating our own research on shoreline birds, a pre- and post-test, and a hands-on activity. Speaking about conservation while integrating our focus on wading birds and oyster reef restoration, we discussed species survival, biological and genetic diversity, and the importance of a healthy and balanced ecosystem. This tied into our own research project of whether wading birds in Mosquito Lagoon prefer natural versus restored oyster reefs, making them our indicator of reef health. Next, we informed the twenty-five, gifted, fifth grade students about the importance of oysters and their services within the marine ecosystem. We discussed how oysters filter water and provide essential resources for a diversity of species, including wading birds. The students were given a pre-test to examine their general knowledge, and a post-test followed our presentation to measure academic gains. After our presentation, we conducted a hands-on project in small groups with Carillon students by creating oyster mats, which are used in our oyster reef restoration project. This experience has benefited our UCF group by providing us with a chance to spread our knowledge about conservation with children willing to absorb our information. Thus, this presentation and hands-on activity bestowed the students with greater awareness of conservation and we all provided oyster mats that will be used in the restoration efforts at Mosquito Lagoon.
Many thanks to all who have participated in Service-Learning Student Showcases at UCF.
For more information about this event please contact the Office of Experiential Learning at UCF. 407-823-2667 or
[email protected]
