Service-Learning in China

Written by Cheryl Kirby-Stokes, Service-Learning Coordinator

As some of you may know, I was fortunate enough to be placed on a federal grant that allowed me travel to China from December 28th through January 24th. The purpose of my visit was to establish volunteer and/or service-learning projects for WKU students participating in the Chinese Flagship Program. This program provides students with four years of intensive, accelerated Chinese language study, and by the end of the four year program, students will be able to read, write and speak Chinese fluently. This skill set will provide numerous job opportunities both nationally and internationally. In addition to language study, the program also provides overseas immersion opportunities during the Winter and Summer terms, and it is during these extended stays in-country that the program wants students to be interacting with the local community.

It was my job, then, on this first-time trip to China, to scout out potential community partners and identify ways in which students could interact with the community, a complicated and complex task considering the concepts of volunteerism and service-learning are unfamiliar to most Chinese. I was lucky, though, because after a class I taught about service-learning on the campus of Sichuan International Studies Institute, I had three very excited and passionate young women say they wanted to begin a volunteer program on-campus. They were also interested in partnering on the volunteer work with WKU students. Molly Wind, Chang Ping (my translator for this trip) and Jia Jia are now my team on the ground, and it’s with them I hope to complete this task successfully.



My first thought was to work at an elder care facility near campus. Chang Ping and I met the Director of the facility, but she let us know outright it would be difficult acquiring approval from the Chinese government (this was a state-run institution) to let American students work there, and she was also concerned the students would inadvertently offend the residents because they would be unfamiliar with the cultural norms. I also discovered in a meeting with an American student studying at SISU, Matt, that the type of volunteering we would be doing at the facility would actually take jobs away from people.

Time to move to another idea! Molly Wind and Chang Ping have told me how popular “English Corners” are in the city, and maybe we could start a new one. English Corners are literally corner spots in plazas or courtyards where anyone that wants to practice conversational English may do so. These English Corners are located all over Chongqing, and Molly Wind and Chang Ping said one was needed on the campus of SISU. English has become a vey popular language in China, and college students, in particular, are eager to hone their skills. Our plan is to market our English Corner to not only SISU students, but the community surrounding the university, as well. There is much planning and preparation for this activity, but I have a great team on the ground, and since I was able to spend a full month with students from the Chinese Flagship Program, I know they are up to the task, too.

Socially Responsible for Each Other

Written by Aurelia Spaulding

“As people, we are all responsible for each other,” Senior Susie Jonica Montgomery said.

Montgomery, Communications major with a minor in American Humanics, utilizes her belief in social responsibility throughout her involvement at Western Kentucky University. As a member of various organizations, she strives to expand beyond volunteerism.

Currently, Montgomery serves on the Relay for Life Committee at WKU, as well as the Multi-Cultural Committee for the Campus Activities Board. However, it is her involvement in Amazing Tones of Joy (student gospel choir) that has recently allowed her to expand her reach.

As president of Amazing Tones of Joy, Montgomery set a goal for the choir to serve in the community monthly. Through their involvement, the group has worked with Trinity Full Gospel Church, within a nursing home, as well as partnered with another group on campus for a blood drive.

One notable event includes the Amazing Tones of Joy (ATJ) Fall Concert. Each year, ATJ has a fall and spring concert to fundraise for the choir. However, this year, Montgomery met a young boy that changed the choir’s routine.

One choir member mentioned Caden Modaff’s story to Montgomery after she had heard of service dogs for autism. Montgomery learned of the Modaff’s quest to raise money for a service dog to help with Caden’s autism. The organization, 4 Paws for Ability, requires the family to raise $13,000 for the service dog through donations. Hearing this, Montgomery immediately wanted to help.

Amazing Tones of Joy agreed to give all the money raised from the concert to Caden’s efforts. On December 6, 2009, the choir raised $600. Caden’s father, Dan Modaff, Communication Department Head, attended the concert with his family.

Montgomery believes there is a movement taking place at Western Kentucky University where students are working to make things better.

“When you think of Western, you think of the Hilltoppers. You think of Big Red. But, maybe in ten years or so, when you think of Western you will think of it as the place that not only helps out the community, but somehow impacts the world.“

In the fall of 2009, Montgomery participated in the Student Retreat sponsored by the Institute for Citizenship & Social Responsibility. At the retreat, Montgomery communicated with twenty other students with similar ideas of impacting the world through utilizing their own interests. Montgomery looks forward to students utilizing the public space of ICSR to grow their passions.

New Learning Approach

Written by: Leah Ashwill

Thang Le, Phuong Vu, and Greg Capillo live in a house on East Eleventh Street.

In this house, once riddled by criminal activity, the three students seek to turn the renovations of a house into a central location for students to communicate with neighbors, develop projects, and in turn, use their interests and knowledge to make a difference in the area.

Thang Le, Phuong Vu, and Greg Capillo serve as the first students to take part in the Community Engagement House, which will provide four graduate students each year with the opportunity to complete projects in a local neighborhood bordering Western Kentucky University’s campus.

“This work brings me a great opportunity to live in an America practical life, as well as bring my academic knowledge out to apply into real life. Also, I realize that I’m gradually becoming a part of this community,” Thang Le said.

Le, an MBA student, assesses the housing, real estate market, and rental properties for the neighborhood. However, all three students are mapping the needs and assets of the neighborhood, in addition to developing a list of project ideas and concerns that they can match with community and university resources. For example, one primary concern of many neighbors is the speed of traffic in the area. Students are working to partner with the Bowling Green Police Department to conduct a speed study to determine if measures should be taken to address this traffic issue.

Greg Capillo, a Philosophy and Mass Communication major in the Honors College, brings experience in community organizing to this project. Greg states, “In addition to working with Thang and Phuong on our neighborhood mapping efforts, I am also making progress organizing around fair housing in Bowling Green in partnership with groups like Habitat for Humanity and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.”

Just as the students work to create partnerships within the community to develop and meet needs, the creation of the house stemmed from a partnership as well. The Community Engagement House began as a partnership between a local homeowner, neighborhood professionals and residents, the Office of Graduate Studies and Research, and the ALIVE Center to promote sustainable community development efforts in underserved neighborhoods.

Students work not only within their home; they literally work for it. They are not doing service, so much as taking responsibility for making a better community to live in. This has the potential to not only transform the neighborhood, but also the students themselves, rendering them “citizen professionals” with the capacity to work together to address issues, utilize assets, and create change in whatever communities they encounter after leaving WKU.

As students create and execute their projects, they draw upon knowledge gained from their graduate coursework. Students maintain activity journals, the CE House blog, and a neighborhood email exchange to stay in communication with their neighbors.

“This is a very challenging job, but when you get into it, your great passion will lead you through,” Vu said, also a graduate student in the house.

On November 30, 2009, the students were awarded the “Groundbreakers” Neighborhood Builders Award through the City of Bowling Green’s Neighborhood Action Office. They were recognized for creating a unique and innovative neighborhood improvement project.

If you would like more information about the CE House, visit http://cehouse.blogspot.com/.

Transforming Lives Through Dance

Written by Aurelia Spaulding
Photo by Benjamin Severance

Nadia De Leon believes dance, as a form of social activism, can be used to transform the lives of youth, as well as adults.

A few summers ago, De Leon began working with a program called Raices - Identity in Motion. Raices, meaning roots, taught the youth about Hispanic arts and cultures. They discussed music, dance, and leadership topics. Older students talked about immigration, being bi-lingual, and topics unique to them.

De Leon’s work with Raices expanded as she traveled to Miami, Florida to teach at different afterschool centers in low socio-economic areas. She included a physical education aspect, then dance and education, and finishing with yoga.

“You don’t always have to be the one teaching. You can even work with things you don’t know about, and pull it out from the kids themselves,” De Leon said regarding her work with youth and what other teachers discussed at the American Dance Therapy Association Conference in the spring.

As De Leon finishes up her Master’s Degree in Folk Studies, she reflects on previous accounts of social activism with dance and looks forward to upcoming efforts produced through Kali Collective.

“For a lot of girls, dance is something they can be proud of. For girls that do ballet specifically, they develop a lot of discipline and self-confidence. Getting up on stage, a lot of teenage girls, I think, really have issues with self-confidence, and getting up on stage can really change that.“

With self-confidence building in mind, Nadia works through Kali Collective “to generate dance/movement educational programming that serve our communities.”

According to their website, De Leon, along with Crystal Kaya, started Kali Collective to address body-image and emotional wellbeing; fitness; community building; and empowerment for girls and women.
Growing up dancing, De Leon started teaching dance at age 12. “That (dancing) is what I have done all my life. So, when I think of what I can do in any situation, to help, or to teach, or anything, dance is what I do.”

De Leon teaches Latin dances such as Zumba, Salsa, Tango, Latin Dances, Belly Dance, and Yogalates, a mix of yoga, ballet, and palates.

In the last year, she has worked with youth at Cumberland Trace Elementary as part of their MultiCultural Enhancement Program, as well as a few sessions of dance for the youth in Kaleidoscope Youth in Arts Program.

As De Leon finishes up her Master’s, she looks forward to working more with youth through Kali Collective to address social issues.

Student Thinking in Terms of Engagement

Student Thinking in Terms of Engagement

By: Aurelia Spaulding

10-20-09

Louisville Senior Emily Wilcox believes that most people have the potential to do what they want to do. “But it’s a matter of whether or not they have had the experience to see it’s something they can do.”

Wilcox is one of a growing “activist community” here at WKU. She uses the term activist community to describe the creation and growth of student groups such as GreenToppers and Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition (KSEC), and students “loosely organizing and doing community building” outside of organizations over the past few years.

Wilcox says she has been involved in arts and activism all her life. She grew up doing art, and then participated with Do-It-Yourself (D.I.Y.) Punk Community in high school. Now, she is a student in the WKU Honors College involved in a variety of student groups.

“With that [Art] as my field, as an activist, and also as someone who feels strongly that you need to try to empower yourself and empower the people around you and actually try to make positive changes when things are going in ways you don’t want them to go, it was kind of a natural thing for me to try to find a way to marry those two [Arts and Activism].”

Bringing Arts and Activism groups to WKU was only natural for her. Wilcox started her senior year coordinating plans to bring the Bread and Puppet: Cheap Art and Political Theatre and the Beehive Design Collective to Western Kentucky University.

Wilcox worked with the Theatre Department to bring the Bread and Puppet dance company to WKU in late September. The group performed scenes relating to a variety of issues. Wilcox worked with numerous programs at WKU to provide funding for the Beehive Collective. She led a team of individuals who took part in the event held at Java City on October 7^th in which countless students viewed the presentation by the Beehive Design Collective.

After meeting the members of the Beehive Design Collective at a previous event, Wilcox began corresponding with them. She found out they were going on tour through email, and immediately she began work to bring them to Western Kentucky University to share their ideas related to mountaintop removal issues.

“They use storytelling, they use pictures, and they use firsthand accounts of things that they have talked to people about with what has happened,” Wilcox said. The Beehive Designers talked to people living in the Appalachian Mountains about their experiences regarding mountaintop removal. The artwork presented on Oct 7^th depicted the people’s stories from a past and present view as well as a futuristic point-of-view depicting possible solutions.

“People aren’t always sure where to start, but just knowing you can start where you are, you can start at the grassroots level with the culture around you,” Wilcox said. She uses her experiences with art to contribute to the community and believes others can do the same just by “taking things into your own hands and deciding you’re going to learn something whether or not there is someone there to teach you. That has a lot to do with empowering yourself. ”

Update in Kenya

The following is an update from WKU student, Lindsey Filiatreau, who is working in Rukanga, Kenya through January 2010. She is part of a new International Leadership Studies Initiative, and her project is addressing water conservation in the Kasigau area. We are all very proud of her!

"As of now, all the initial survey data has been collected, over 250 surveys were taken and 40 families (those with metal roofs, traveling the farthest to the water point) were chosen to participate in the actual research portion of the project. 20 families have been selected to serve as the experimental group and are working on digging their hole for the installation of the low cost water tank. Last week a meeting was held to explain to all participants how the research process will work (i.e. how to fill out their daily time diaries, etc.) and further explain to those getting the tank the importance of what tasks they can use their harvested rainwater for. I have also been visiting the homes of these families to draw the circle where their holes should be dug for the tank, give them the dimensions of the hole, and deliver the pipes, gutters and pumps necessary for the installation. Kate has also been helping put together the actual plastic tubes for the tank (it takes so much longer than expected, about 2 hours per tank) and helping hammer out the final design for the entire catchment system. By the end of next week the systems should be installed on all 20 homes. If you need any more information I would be happy to elaborate, just wasn't sure how much blabbing you wanted. I've attached a couple of pictures."

Service-Learning Grows in Kasigau

Service-learning continues to grow in the Kasigau area of Kenya with ever-expanding projects and contributions from WKU students, student organizations, faculty and staff. This year students from Americans for Informed Democracy traveled to Kenya to work with the communities and provide some relief from the current two-year drought. During the Spring 2009 semester, these students raised funds in the United States which were used to purchase seed grain upon arrival in Kenya. Enough money was raised to buy grain for all seven of the communities WKU has been working with for the past five years. In addition, the WKU Students In Free Enterprise Program (SIFE) continued its work with the seven Basket Guilds, purchasing a total of three hundred baskets, one hundred more than were bought last year. These baskets will be sold here in the United States through local civic organizations and at the WKU Bookstore. one hundred percent of the proceeds from the sales go back to the Guilds to fund school fees for needy students, build structures for community use, buy seed grain and purchase medical supplies for the three health clinics in the area.

In January of 2010, WKU pre-med students and three Bowling Green physicians will make their second trip to Kenya to work at these health clinics for a ten day period. And last, Rotaract, the University version of Rotary, provided shoes that went to the Widow and Orphans organizations in each village. As the partnership grows stronger with these communities, WKU hopes to provide more initiatives which will meet community needs and bring sustainable projects to the area.