September 20, 2021

IN THIS ISSUE

• Voter Registration and Engagement Efforts Begin This Month as Part of Campus Democracy Project
• Program and Event Committees Contribute Significantly to Community Engagement Leadership
• Samuel Vilmeau Takes Pride in Urban Gardening to Relieve Neighborhood Food Insecurity
• Barry Faculty Members Present Workshop Session at International Conference on Engaged Scholarship

Voter Registration And Engagement Efforts Begin This Month As Part Of Campus Democracy Project

Committee Members Attend Florida Student Voting Summit

Campus Vote Project has awarded $1,000 to Barry’s Campus Democracy Project (CDP) in support of voter registration and engagement efforts, which will get underway this month.

The monetary award was presented through the Florida Student Voting Summit’s Mini-Grant Program for “nonpartisan voter engagement work on your campus for upcoming elections,” Campus Vote Project says in the award letter.

The CDP, which was represented at the summit held earlier this month, will purchase two demonstration voting booths.

As part of the CDP’s BucsVote initiative, students will take the lead in marking National Voter Registration Day with a forum on Barry’s main campus. The event on September 28 will signal the start of the voter registration and engagement efforts for this year. 

Student Voting Summit

Student leaders Liz Calvo, Sklyar Smith, and Diego Torres and faculty members Drs. Jalane Meloun, Fabio Naranjo, and Sean Foreman attended the Florida Student Voting Summit virtually on September 10.

The three student leaders are members of Barry Service Corps Fellows Civic Health Team and participate in BucsVote. The three faculty members serve on the CDP Committee.

Summit attendees heard from civic leaders, political consultants, and elected officials. Topics included the importance of student voting and how to become a student voting leader who engages peers on campus.

State Sen. Jeff Brandes, R–St. Petersburg, and State Rep. Michael Grieco, D–Miami, talked about the state legislature and the redistricting process. Redistricting is the redrawing of legislative districts, which occurs every 10 years based on the U.S. Census count.

“It is one of the most political processes in the voting system,” Foreman explains, “but one that takes place often largely out of the public view.”

Attendees also heard from Jamara Wilson, redistricting program manager for Equal Ground Education. Wilson gave an extensive overview of how redistricting takes place and how citizens—and especially students—can get involved in the process.

Campus Vote Project works with universities, community colleges, faculty, students, and election officials to reduce barriers to student voting. The organization’s goal is “to help campuses institutionalize reforms that empower students with the information they need to register and vote.”

National Voter Registration Day

On National Voter Registration Day, BucsVote leaders and the newly chartered Barry Student Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) will lead a voter registration and civic awareness forum. 

The theme of the forum is “Youth Suffrage and the Student Bill of Rights.” The organizers will use the occasion to recognize the 50th anniversary of the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution and to promote student interest in current political issues.

Throughout the 50th anniversary of the 26th Amendment, the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition (SLSVC) is celebrating the youth vote. Barry University participates in SLSVC through the CDP.

Amid the 26th Amendment anniversary celebration, SLSVC recognizes that “the voting barriers facing young people, and particularly college students, have prevented us from fulfilling the full promise of this landmark Amendment.”

The NAACP Student Chapter is emphasizing the need for student participation in American democracy. Events Coordinator Amanda Garcia Gonzalez elaborates: “One of our action steps for this year is to spread awareness of the importance of voter registration and participation. In other words, ensuring that all [eligible] individuals are registered to vote, ready to participate in [our] democracy.”

Garcia Gonzalez, who is also Barry’s Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF) Presidential Fellow, will play a leading role in the National Voter Registration Day event. So, too, will Barry’s Campus Vote Project Democracy Fellow Jessica Gomez.

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Program And Event Committees Contribute Significantly To Community Engagement Leadership

Committees that assist the CCSI with organizing, implementing, and evaluating programs and events contribute significantly to community engagement leadership at Barry.

The Community Engagement Symposium Committee, Community Engagement Awards Committee, and Service-Learning Designation Committee are among them.

And the facilitators of the Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship also play a community engagement leadership role. The co-facilitators are Drs. Laura Finley, Pamela Hall, and Celeste Landeros. 

Community Engagement Symposium Committee 

Dr. Raul Machuca, an associate professor of counseling and former service-learning faculty fellow, will serve on the Community Engagement Symposium Committee this year as the proposal review chair. Machuca was a concurrent session presenter at the symposium every year since 2016. The 2020 symposium was cancelled in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

Symposium Committee members include Dr. Mureen Shaw, an assistant professor of nursing and former service-learning faculty fellow. Two doctoral students in the School of Education, Marie Jasmin and Philip Corr, are committee members.

Community Engagement Awards Committee

Dr. Stephanie Bingham, a professor of biology, will remain chair of the Community Engagement Awards Committee. She is a 2017 winner of the Community Engagement Educator Award.

Two community partners and award winners, Florence French Fagan (Bread for the World) and Nadie Mondestin (Haitian Youth and Community Center for Florida) have been named to the Awards Committee. Also on the committee are four faculty members and award winners, Drs. Pamela Hall, Kevin Kemerer, Fabio Naranjo, and Lauren Shure, with students Emmanuel Ikpuri and Joseph Minani rounding out the committee.

Service-Learning Designation Committee

Dr. Tamara Hamilton, professor of chemistry, is chair of the Service-Learning Designation Committee. The other members are Dr. Pamela Hall, Dr. Kevin Kemerer, Dr. Mitchell Rosenwald, and Dr. Heidi Whitford.

Hamilton, Hall, Kemerer, and Rosenwald are winners of the Service-Learning Faculty Award.

Campus Democracy Project Committee

An additional leadership group for community engagement is the Campus Democracy Project Committee. The co-chairs are Dr. Sean Foreman, professor of political science, and Holly Kachler, a former Campus Election Engagement Fellow.

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Samuel Vilmeau Takes Pride In Urban Gardening To Relieve Neighborhood Food Insecurity

Samuel Vilmeau is contributing to community impact through the Barry Urban Garden (BUG). The Barry Service Corps (BSC) Fellow is committed to doing his part to address food insecurity by serving in the BUG. 

“To have a successful garden and produce,” Samuel says, “we must first ensure that our garden is thriving.” For it to thrive, he explains, it needs maintenance. 

And that’s where Samuel comes in. He has embraced the role of urban gardener, helping to maintain the garden throughout the year. 

“Everything I do in the garden ensures we can grow more and learn from each season,” he says.

Just recently, for example, he put a trellis in place to support the growth of dragon fruit.

The BUG is “a community agriculture initiative that provides … produce to low-income residents of Miami neighborhoods that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has categorized as urban food deserts.” The project also encourages healthy eating among residents of Miami-Dade County.

Barry students, along with faculty and staff, promote awareness of food insecurity. Students, supervised by the BUG coordinator, do most of the planting, weeding, harvesting, and distribution of the produce from the BUG.

“Samuel came into the garden with a positive attitude,” recalls Kaitlyn Gallagher, the BUG coordinator. “He has kept up with an amazing work ethic since day one.”

Samuel does take pride in urban gardening to relieve neighborhood food insecurity.

According to Ms. Gallagher, Samuel “has dedicated hours in the garden to ensuring the crops grow to their fullest potential. He has directly contributed to providing fresh produce to the community.” She is “confident that he will do great with introducing students to the gardening experience.”

A junior exercise physiology major, Samuel hopes one day to build a community gym or clinic “with a safe space for family, friends, and everyone in between.” This won’t be your regular gym, however, as it will include a community garden.

Samuel remembers that it was an MLK Day of Service experience that increased his motivation to serve. As he assisted with work in the BUG then, he knew where he should concentrate his efforts in giving back to the community. 

He became a BSC Fellow at the start of this academic year and got himself assigned to the BSC Urban Gardeners, one of six social justice teams.

“BSC has helped me realize that I want to do more for others using my success. And there is so much to be done,” Samuel says with passion. “Being a member of the BSC has motivated me a lot. ... I have clearer long-term goals now.”

The setbacks and adversities that Samuel has faced have never stopped him from attaining what he desires. Born and raised in Cavalier, Haiti, he has learned to focus on what’s important in life.

“Haitians have a saying about the most important thing in your life at any point. [It] is [one of] the three Ls: lekól (school), legliz (church), lakay (home).”

Samuel also understands the importance of work, and of serving the community. The transfer student (from Miami Dade College), who came to the United States at an early age, has been drawing on his sociology courses through which his awareness of societal issues has grown. 

Here at Barry University, his personal mission is centered on learning new ways in which he can apply what he has learned in the classroom to issues in his community—the place where he knows his service is needed most. 

Editor’s Note: Writer Amanda Gonzalez Garcia is a Barry Service Corps member assigned to the CCSI. To read how previously featured students contributed to community impact, visit the feature page at the CCSI website.

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