COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Community Engagement: ID308
ID 308 is an interactive and collaborative community action course aimed at engaging community with students in a service learning project.
This semester, Spring 2008, we have seventeen students who are creating, developing, and participating in projects in the Greeley community. The first requirement of this course was to survey members of the community with the aim of discovering what services or projects are most “needed,” or “desired.” Responses were strong in a need for assistance in ESL and computer technology training.
Students are currently volunteering at four local District #6 schools in the evenings for ESL training for adult community members; and are developing courses to be offered on Monday and Thursday evenings at UNC and a Saturday course offered at Our Lady Of Peace Church. This project has involved public relations with community and business members, advertising, fund raising projects, and working with community and university members in a collaborative plan.
In addition, since only one student speaks fluent Spanish, students are observing and researching methods in teaching ESL, with the intention of learning Spanish on an “equal-footing” through immersion. The other project is aimed at providing computers for a new lab at Our Lady of Peace School. Father Stephen is working with us to develop an opportunity for new community members to learn computer skills at the Church.
Our task is to earn monies for computers and supplies, so that after the semester this project will be a continuing amenity to the community. Coming up is a bake sale at Ross, and volunteering to earn monies on McFamily nights at the local McDonald’s. Monies from these projects will be used to purchase computers for the new “computer lab” at Our Lady of Peace school.