By Taylor Ware Last week, we followed Anneliese Kerr on her journey from service-learning to Springfield Community Gardens (SCG). Anneliese’s story is not an outlier. Other service-learners have had similar journeys. So, this week, we speak with Missouri State alum, Amanda Drewel about her experience. Amanda Drewel opted into a 1-credit service-learning course in the spring of 2018. She was placed with Robberson Community School— an elementary school that supports children in finding their purpose and developing long-term skills – while also providing resources to their family. As a Math and Science Education major, Amanda fit in well at Robberson. “I was excited to have my first self-directed project. It was empowering to see a need and be able to implement a solution" She ran a club called Math LegoLand, where students replicated the Springfield community built out of Legos. Their activities involved learning about the community, identifying civil issues, workshopping solutions, and developing their math skills. The following year, Amanda created the school’s robotics … [Read more...] about From service-learning course to career – part 2: how math and science education got Amanda Drewel a job
During the fall semester 2018, the office of Citizenship & Service-Learning partnered with the Springfield Dream Center, The Fairbanks/Northwest Project, and Dr. Alex Jean-Charles and Dr. Ann Marie Daehn's service-learning students to host a brand-new program called “Around the World in 80 Days.” “Around the World in 80 Days” developed out of Dr. Ann Marie Daehn’s service-learning courses MUS 293,393 and 493 and Dr. Alex Jean-Charles EDC 345 Multi-cultural Education and Diversity class and in partnership with the CASL office. In these classes, students discussed ideas for giving back to the community with culture. Service-learning director, Dr. Kathy Nordyke was more than happy to help build this vision of using multiple departments to create a community educational event. Ultimately, education students from CFD 560/660 Family Engagement course and Professor Sarah Murray’s BMS 340 Nutrition Education students, along with a host of students from French, Sociology, Biology, Management, Psychology, First-Year Programs and the Honor's College also joined in with Music and … [Read more...] about Departmental collaboration the key to community education event
Although she had a full-time job and a 13-credit hour load this semester, Childhood Education and Family Studies student Kristin Lierz still took on the challenge of service-learning. She made an impact at Robberson Community School, where she helped teach Math to 2nd and 3rd graders. While she was only required to complete a minimum of 40 service hours, she spent 60 hours at the school because she enjoyed being in a classroom and loved working with the kids. She recently shared more information about her service-learning experience. 1) Why did you choose to take on service-learning? I decided to do service-learning because I love working with children or students, and this semester I didn’t have a practicum or something for a class to put me in the classroom. Also, the staff who presented about service-learning in my MTH 360 class mentioned it is a great resume builder, as well as getting connections, which I have to say is a plus in doing it. 2) What interested you about being involved with Robberson Community School? I got interested in Roberson Community School … [Read more...] about Service-learning spotlight: Kristin Lierz