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Barry Students Help Refugee and Migrant Families Celebrate Their First Thanksgiving Nursing Students Practice Public Health Interventions through Service-Learning Projects Alexis Toussaint Sees Mentorship as Important Practice in Community PACE Student Reflects on Learning to Become ‘Better Citizen in Our World” Two Service-Learning Fellowships Available for Next Academic Year Award Nominations: Community Engagement Educator, Service-Learning Faculty CCSI Accepting Presentation Proposals for Community Engagement Symposium Students, Faculty, and Staff Urged to Support Box Tops for Education Drive Variety of Community Engagement Literature Available in CEMS
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Barry Students Help Refugee and Migrant Families Celebrate Their First Thanksgiving
Church World Service Says Thanks for Support
Refugee and migrant families from eight countries experienced their first U.S. Thanksgiving last month with support from Barry students.
More than 80 recent arrivals from Colombia, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Venezuela attended Church World Service (CWS) Miami’s 11th Annual Thanksgiving Celebration at the Miami Lakes Congregational Church.
As part of the celebration, the 19-member group from Barry facilitated games, arts and crafts, and other activities. Most members of the group were students taking service-learning courses in theology and sociology.
“This was part of the 10-hour service-learning experience in the ‘New Americans’ category,” said Liz James, experiential learning coordinator. She explained that the goal of the experience was “to inform and expose students to the issues of migration and refugee resettlement.”
Jose Sanchez, a CWS resettlement program coordinator, and Kenneth Fuentes, a case manager, expressed gratitude to Barry students and staff for supporting refugee resettlement.
“In the current political climate, I have seen institutions step back their support of refugees,” Sanchez said. “To see Barry continue to deepen their work with this group is encouraging and refreshing.”
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Nursing Students Practice Public Health Interventions through Service-Learning Projects
Students taking NUR 422, Community/Public Health Nursing, practiced public health interventions by implementing service-learning projects this semester.
Working in teams, the 58 senior BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) students from the main campus and the Barry Baptist Bond Scholars Program focused on specific population groups – agricultural workers, school-aged children, resettled refugees, and underinsured women. Each team was assigned to a related community partner and project and was required to spend at least 40 hours on the project.
The community partners and service sites were La Salle Educational Center, Homestead; RCMA (Redlands Christian Migrant Association), Homestead; St. Mary’s Cathedral School, Miami; Women’s Breast and Heart Initiative, North Miami and Cutler Bay; and Church World Service, North Miami, as well as the Barry Urban Garden on campus.
The nursing students presented posters showcasing the community projects in which they were engaged this semester. A poster featuring a project designed to help refugees navigate the U.S. healthcare system was selected as the winner. The poster presenters were Olivia Ferguson, Christina Gucciardo, Gabriela Guttierez, Roselaure Isma, Nickayla Richards, Yesenia Serra, and Madison Shields.
The clinical instructors for NUR 422 were Marni Hochman, Faye Holloman, Marie-Paule Lafontant, Dr. Ann Lamet, Alice Lewis Weldy, Dr. Faye Milne, Rosanne Sonshine, and Deborah Tice.
“Being able to provide meaningful partnerships through the CCSI and community organizations really helped the nursing students translate theory learning from the classroom into public health nursing practice,” said Daryl Hawkins, the course coordinator. “In addition, the work that the students did really showcased their ability to listen to the needs of the population in order to tailor interventions to the population.”
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Alexis Toussaint Sees Mentorship as Important Practice in Community
Sometimes we get so caught up in the trying to do something big that we forget the little things that can add up.
Alexis Toussaint is a Barry sophomore who started her community service journey as simply as you can imagine. A conversation in passing with a resident assistant combined with a passion for activism was all it took for this 20-year-old to get involved.
The aspiring pediatrician had very little community service experience before she found herself in the CCSI (Center for Community Service Initiatives) and with Valerie Scott.
Then the program coordinator for Federal Work-Study Community Service, Scott gave Toussaint a work assignment with Gang Alternative, a Miami-based non-for-profit organization whose mission is to keep at-risk youth from being lured into youth violence and delinquency.
Students in Federal Work-Study Community Service – known as the Barry Service Corps – helped Gang Alternative youth with homework and even did some counseling.
“I was able to be a leader to them by showing them what’s wrong and right,” Toussaint said.
She believes mentorship is an important practice, especially when dealing with at-risk youth. So she reveled in the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those kids.
Toussaint said, “I love them, I miss them now. … When I went back there, they were so happy to see me; they were really joyful.”
Now a fellow in the Barry Service Corps, Toussaint is a strong advocate for more mentorship for kids. She believes that it can prevent them from heading down the wrong path in the first place.
The message she wants to pass on to her peers is: “Action, not reaction.”
She said, “There are a lot of problems out there in the world, and I feel people need to go out there and try to help; to be the voice of the community. If there’s a problem in the world, I don’t think you should just sit and look at it. You should do something about it.”
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PACE Student Reflects on Learning to Become ‘Better Citizen in Our World’
By Deborah Montoya
I am a third-year PACE student in the Bachelor of Liberal Studies program, with a specialization in psychology. In my first year of school, I was given a service-learning assignment that at first made me think: “What? I really don’t have time for this.” We were asked to come to campus every Sunday afternoon for two hours to work with teenagers from a local crisis shelter.
As the semester wore on, I began to understand that I was not back in school for the sole purpose of obtaining a degree, but to become a better citizen in our world. Through Carnival Arts, spearheaded by Dr. (Celeste) Landeros, I learned about a dynamic group of students from an underserved population in our very own Miami. I interacted with artists from different parts of the world and I became very familiar with the idea that we are living in a society that values materialism versus the quality of the human spirit.
I spent eight weeks practicing with these individuals, and what we created was an awesome feat, considering the resources that we were working with. We used everything, from recycled materials to costumes that we made with our own hands. Creativity, resourcefulness, collaboration, and inclusive community made this project come to life at the grand opening of the Faena Arts District.
Today I look back and say thank you for the opportunity to put our Barry core commitments into practice and for making me a better, well-rounded human being that cares for her community.
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Two Service-Learning Fellowships Available for Next Academic Year
Two service-learning fellowships will be available for the 2019–2020 academic year to full-time faculty members who teach undergraduate or graduate courses.
The Service-Learning Faculty Fellows Program is designed primarily to increasing the number and quality of service-learning courses and faculty who use the pedagogy effectively.
The service-learning fellows also participate in the Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship.
Faculty members interested in the program are asked to contact Dr. Glenn Bowen in the CCSI.
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Award Nominations: Community Engagement Educator, Service-Learning Faculty
“Community Engagement Educator” and “Service-Learning Faculty” are two of the seven categories for which Community Engagement Award nominations are being accepted.
Students, faculty, staff, and administrators are invited to submit nominations by January 28, 2019.
The other award categories are “Community Impact,” “Community Partnership,” “Community-Based Research,” “Engaged Scholarship,” and “Engaged Department.”
The Center for Community Service Initiatives will host Barry’s sixth annual Community Engagement Awards on March 27.
The nomination forms are available in the Community Engagement Management System <http://web.barry.edu/service/ProgramView.aspx?ID=1494>.
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CCSI Accepting Presentation Proposals for Community Engagement Symposium
The Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) is accepting proposals for presentations at Barry’s sixth annual Community Engagement Symposium. Students, faculty, staff, and community partners are invited to submit proposals for oral (or podium) and poster presentations by February 1.
The theme of the symposium is “Bringing Learning to Life through Community Engagement.”
Community engagement includes experiential learning practices such as service-learning, community-based research, fieldwork, study abroad, capstones, and internships.
Proposals should address the theme of the symposium and identify the experiential learning practice that was implemented. Successful proposals will specify the course or co-curricular project, the social or community issue addressed, the related activities undertaken, and the actual learning outcomes. Proposals should also emphasize how learning “came to life”—that is, how learning was enhanced or enriched and made meaningful for the student.
Scheduled for March 27, the 2019 symposium will highlight student learning outcomes of community engagement practices in the context of Barry’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) titled “Fostering Personal and Social Responsibility through Experiential Learning.”
For additional information on the symposium, contact the CCSI at service@barry.edu.
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Students, Faculty, and Staff Urged to Support Box Tops for Education Drive
Students, faculty, and staff are urged to support the Box Tops for Education Drive.
Proceeds of the project benefit two South Florida elementary schools – North Miami in Miami-Dade County and Sheridan Hills in Broward. The schools earn 10 cents for each Box Tops clip.
Box Tops clips from household products may be dropped in the labeled boxes found in the CCSI office (Adrian 208), the Monsignor William Barry Memorial Library, and Thompson Hall. Alternatively, donations may be sent to Dr. Stephanie Bingham in the Department of Biology, Siena 309.
Cereals, household-cleaning supplies, paper products, and school supplies are on the list of eligible products found at the following site: <http://www.boxtops4education.com/earn/participating-products>.
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Variety of Community Engagement Literature Available in CEMS
A variety of community engagement literature is available through the Community Engagement Management System, or CEMS. Among the literature are books and book chapters, journals and journal articles, manuals, and fact sheets.
The literature may be accessed directly from the “Resources” section of CEMS.
Examples of books in CEMS are Community-Based Research and Higher Education: Principles and Practices; Service-Learning and the Liberal Arts: How and Why It Works; and The Promise of Partnerships: Tapping into the College as a Community Asset. A monograph titled At a Glance: What We Know about the Effects of Service-Learning on College Students, Faculty, Institutions, and Communities is available as well.
Articles in CEMS include “Assessment of Service Learning: An Often Overlooked Vital Link”; “Canton Connections: A University-Community Partnership for Post-Disaster Revitalization”; “Civic Engagement in the Field of Psychology”; “Community Partner Perceptions about Community Engagement Experiences for Nursing Students”; “Designing Effective Reflection: What Matters to Service-Learning?”; “Peace in Every Relationship: Building an Interdisciplinary, Holistic Domestic Violence Program on College Campuses”; “Service Learning in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Effective Practices”; and “Situating Civic Engagement in a Global Context: A Review of Higher Education and Civic Engagement.”
Available journals include the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (Special Issue – Service Learning); International Undergraduate Journal for Service-Learning, Leadership, and Social Change; Journal for Civic Commitment; Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education; Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship; Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement; Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning; PRISM: A Journal of Regional Engagement; and the Undergraduate Journal of Service Learning and Community-Based Research.
“Engagement and Related Concepts in Higher Education” and “Indicators of Engagement” are among the fact sheets in CEMS. A Corporation for National & Community Service issue brief, “The Impact of Service-Learning: A Review of Current Research,” also may be accessed in CEMS.
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