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.

A Student’s Campaign for Causes

Greg Capillo is originally from Lexington, Kentucky. His dad had always been very progressive, protesting the Vietnam War and pushing his small Catholic college to include the social sciences. He informed a lot of Greg’s beliefs about life and people. Greg’s mom has always been very committed. She moved to Kentucky right after high school to work in Wolfe County as part of a relief program set up by the Catholic church and has been there and working for the people ever since. When Greg was younger, she was a domestic violence victims’ advocate, and many times she would bring home the women and their children if she felt she needed to. Her commitment to doing the right thing inspired Greg to take action for what he believes.

Greg originally came to WKU for the Journalism program. It was while Greg was writing for the WKU Herald that he was assigned to cover the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day festivities in Bowling Green. Talking to Linda McCray, Executive Director of the Bowling Green Human Rights Commission, about the status of social justice in Bowling Green and the legacy of Dr. King blew him away.

Greg continued to cover housing stories alongside Kaleidoscope Youth Programming and through those efforts met Jessica Hays and Dana Brown with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC). Greg also began working with other WKU students affiliated with the ONE campaign to end global poverty. He felt they were doing great work, and he wanted to share with them information about the social justice issues right here in Bowling Green.
Eventually Greg and his friends were able to organize a WKU campus chapter of KFTC that became a part of Bowling Green’s Chapter. One of their biggest efforts was in the primary elections last May, when turnout rose almost 15% in the precincts which they worked. Over the course of the next semester, KFTC and Americans for Informed Democracy canvassed every Saturday and registered 750 new voters.

Greg’s favorite moment last Fall was an interaction with a Bosnian family whose father,

Mehmed, desperately wanted to register to vote but wasn’t home. When Greg was on his way back through their neighborhood, one of the daughters ran up to tell him that her dad was back. Greg helped him fill out his registration card, as the gentleman did not understand the difference between the political parties. KFTC is a non-partisan organization, so in these instances you name candidates from each of the parties. Greg explained that John McCain was the Republican candidate and that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were the Democratic candidates.

Greg continues to be inspired to do the work that he does with KFTC and the ONE Campaign, and he expresses much enthusiasm about being a part of history in a time when social issues are such a priority for our nation’s leaders. We will no doubt continue to see Greg’s mark on the world here at WKU and beyond.

The ALIVE CCP is proud of the many WKU students that make their mark on the world. Regardless of idealosy or political orientation, we celebrate our student’s efforts to work together to address some of the world’s most complex problems. As the number of student’s becoming active in our community continues to grow, we thank you for the role you play in educating a generation to become active citizens working to improve the quality of life in Kentucky and beyond.

M.A.S.T.E.R. Plan event engages students and community

Thank you to all those who participated in this year’s Big Red’s Blitz and Butterfly Effect Canned Food Drive. Approximately 60 boxes and 10 bags of food were collected through the Butterfly Effect Canned Food Drive for Helping Others Through Extended Love In The Name of Christ (HOTEL INC) and the Salvation Army. Not only did WKU faculty, staff, and M.A.S.T.E.R. Plan students donate food 45 boxes, but numerous community members took part. Community organizations that contributed were the Barren River District Health Department, Gamma Sigma Sigma National Service Sorority, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

When food collections ended, the service still continued. On Thursday, August 27th, forty WKU students took part in the annual Big Red’s Blitz. Students volunteered with six organizations including: Habitat for Humanity, Lost River Cave, Potter Children’s Home, Salvation Army, Bowling Green Public Works, and Kentucky Library & Museum. The students worked in the environment with landscaping and area clean up for Bowling Green Public Works and Lost River Cave. At Potter Children’s Home, they painted and prepared for their Fall Festival. At the Salvation Army, students worked in the food pantry, and Habitat for Humanity volunteers deconstructed a home.