Meet BalletRox, a New Service-Learning Community Partner

Contributed by Co-op Matt Goreham

On Monday, October 6th Service-Learning co-ops Christine Beluk and Matt Goreham went to visit a new Service-Learning community partner, BalletRox. BalletRox is located a few miles from Northeastern in Jamaica Plain. Chrissy and Matt sat down with program Director Carol Knox to get an overview of how the relationship between BalletRox and Northeastern was going so far. Carol was excited about the numerous Northeastern volunteers who serve both in the BalletRox center as well as the schools with which they are partnered. Carol stated the Northeastern students have been a “God send” and she would love to continue this partnership for a long time to come. The Service-Learning students do various activities while serving with BalletRox, mainly assisting the ballet students during class and keeping them up to speed. The students have a lot of fun working with the ballet dancers who range from elementary to high school. 

If you would like to learn more about BalletRox, visit their website http://www.balletrox.info/ and be sure to stop by their open house November 15th at 45 Danforth Street in Jamaica Plain.

Interview with Enabling Engineering Faculty Member Waleed Meleis

Contributed by Co-op Matt Goreham

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with faculty member Dr. Waleed Meleis from The College of Engineering to learn more about his course Enabling Engineering. Enabling Engineering is also a student group at Northeastern that focuses on serving those who are disabled or elderly. The students take on projects each semester they feel will make the greatest impact.

When I asked about the student’s reaction to the course, Dr. Meleis had nothing but positive things to say. “The course is filled with students who are committed to helping others. Every week the students write a reflection about their service. I’m incredibly impressed how moved they are [as well as] how inspired they are by the end users that we hear about. They [the students] are really inspired and engaged.” I also wanted to know how service-learning has affected his teaching. He said “This has been a way for me to engage with the community. It has really inspired and enriched my teaching.” He let me know that it was a way for him to make sure what he was teaching was relevant, because students are taking what they learn and bringing it into the communities around us to help those in need.

As the conversation continued I asked Dr. Meleis if he had any tips for other Northeastern faculty members about Service-Learning and the affect it has. He offers “Something I’ve learned myself is that we really have to rethink how our courses are structured. I think there is a real need for courses at the university that break down the barriers of the classroom.” He went on to speak about how he is traveling along with his student to schools in the Northeastern area, “I’m learning along with the students.” Building on this he reflects, “I’m inspired and reinvigorated. I can see that this has really captured the interest of the students. They see that the world around us is so interesting and inspiring and they want to go into it.”

To wrap up the conversation I asked Dr. Meleis if there was anything he would like to add about Enabling Engineering. He summed it up by stating “Enabling Engineering is a really vibrant organization; I encourage people to find ways to get involved either as volunteers in the students group, by taking the course in the spring, or by suggesting end users or partners we can work with.” 

To learn more about Enabling Engineering, visit the website at www.northeastern.edu/enable 

Faculty Workshop: Working with an S-LTA

The Service-Learning Program hosted a small faculty workshop September 26^th that focused on the utilization of Service-Learning Teaching assistants (S-LTAs). The group was welcomed with Haley House sandwiches and an agenda full of ideas and activities that were primarily based on how we can maximize our S-LTAs and to highlight just what it is they do. The group participated in a small activity that required participants to conceptualize the differences and similarities of a traditional Teaching Assistant and a Service-Learning Teaching Assistant. What we found (that was no secret to the Service-Learning Program already) was that S-LTA's are a great connection to the students, faculty, and community partners. The S-LTAs act as liaisons both inside and outside of the classroom. It is important to recognize that the faculty members play a large role in the connection between the community partners and the class, however the S-LTAs are a key part in the relationship as a whole. On top of these conversations the group talked about the S-LTA training and spoke about the best strategies to use in training so that our S-LTAs are ready to facilitate classroom activities and keep the students concentrated. The group made a lot of progress over the hour and a half on September 26^th and took away many key ideas to help the Service-Learning program keep striving forward.

                                                               Contributed by Matt Goreham

Social Justice Scavenger Hunt in Community Learning

Contributed by Faculty Member Julie Miller

On Saturday, September 13, approximately 70 students from 10 the Community Learning cours sections (formerly known as Global Experience) in The American Classroom program participated in the 3rd Annual Social Justice Scavenger Hunt. Peace through Play, a student organization on campus, led fun and interactive games with students. Then, faculty members Julie Miller, Daryl Morazzini, and Lisa Roe, along with several undergraduate Service-Learning Teaching Assistants, sent students out on the town! Students were given a list of local sites to visit and students were tasked with finding these sites, describing how they relate to social justice, and then taking creative group photos. Here are some of the photos from the event!

 

 

Let's take a closer look at what happens in the classroom of Community Learning! 
Contributed by Service-Learning Teaching Assistant Nikki Makwinski

In class, students are learning about building communities, working as part of a team, and cross-cultural communication through interactive lessons and challenges. In one class section students learned about what it means to be part of a community by playing games like Connection! in which they have to find things they have in common, and activities like The Human Knot which required the students to work as one unit to untangle themselves into one circle. Most recently, students in this section of Community Learning experienced cross-cultural communication by having to first organize themselves in order of birthday without using verbal or written communication, and then by working in a team for a tower-building competition.

These activities that may seem silly to do in class, but have sparked rich discussion and reflections about how the Community Learning students might feel in the new communities that they live and are serving with. Students have had to think creatively and are able to bring that creativity and the lessons they have learned to their community partner organizations.

 

This is the first time that 10 sections of Community Learning have happened in the same semester. Lead faculty member Julie Miller brought on Francis Griffin, Charline Melon, Michelle Matuszak, Daryl Morazzini, and Lisa Roe to teach other sections of the course.

What's going on in the neighborhood?

Contributed by Co-op Chrissy Beluk

Since Northeastern is uniquely integrated within four neighborhoods, the Service-Learning Program is always excited when they have the opportunity to show new students around the area and introduce them to our neighbors. In collaboration with the Honors Program and more than 600 first year Honors students moving onto campus this September, the Service-Learning Program set up tours to introduce them to Mission Hill, Roxbury, the South End, and Fenway. 

Although we would have enjoyed showing each student around personally, that didn’t seem possible for a team of four! Therefore, we created a training model to teach Honors student leaders the routes so they’d be able to lead their students through the communities themselves. On the first Saturday in September, bracing the heat and humidity the Service-Learning team ventured off into the sweltering sun with some pretty brave Honors student leaders. Although it was 90 degrees, the students were attentive as we showed them the ins and outs of giving one of the four community tours.  

The leaders were put to the test at the end of September when they went out to give the tours to their group solo! The tours for the Honors Program were unique to each neighborhood and led them through an interactive route to reflect the dynamic history, rich culture, and some of the community partners, students volunteer with throughout their time at Northeastern. Each group also stopped along the way for a snack from a local restaurant.

Although we weren’t able to go on the tours with every student, we were able to check in on them when they posted photos with the hashtag #NUHONORS – and from the looks of it, it seemed like quite a success!

International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE)

Contributed by Associate Director & Service-Learning Coordinator Dr. Becca Berkey

Northeastern had a large presence at this year’s International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE) conference, held September 29-October 1 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Two undergraduate students, Daniel McKenna and Barak Soreff, were funded by the Office of the Provost’s undergraduate research grant program to attend to present their collaborative research, Perspectives on Sustainability and the Partnership as the Unit of Analysis: A Case Study from the University and Partner Viewpoint, along with Becca Berkey and Lisa Roe. In addition, faculty members Emily Mann and Lori Gardinier presented a session on Poverty Attributions among Service-Learners: A Mixed Methods Exploration; Julie Miller, Becca Berkey, and Francis Griffin presented on Using Service-Learning as a Tool for Language-Learning, Culture-Exploration, and Professional Development with ESOL Students; and Lori Gardinier, Julie Miller, Becca Berkey, and Lisa Roe presented on Cultural Gatekeepers and Professional Coaches: Learning from Supervisors of International Service-Learning Students. In addition to all of those presenting, John Tobin, the Vice President of City and Community Affairs attended.

A highlight of the conference was the announcement that Northeastern University will serve as the institutional host for the 2015 IARSLCE conference, which will take place next fall in Boston. Dr. Lori Gardinier and Dr. Becca Berkey will serve as conference co-chairs, and the planning committee is comprised of a diverse group of faculty and staff across campus. More information will be forthcoming both about opportunities to present at next year's conference and ways to get involved with planning.