Champlain Center for Service Annual Report

Center

for

Annual Report and Statement of accounts 2011-2012

Service

Civic Engagement

Center for Service — Page 1

May 2012 Editor, Designer Kayla M. Hedman ‘14 kayla.hedman@mymail.champlain.edu

Special Thanks to: Stephen Mease Diana Gonsalves Brian Culmo ‘15

Page 2 — Center for Service

Contents Letter from the Director •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Page 4 Next Year and Beyond ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Page 6 Introduction ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Page 7 Staff ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Page 8 The Community We Live In ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Page 9 By the Numbers ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Page 10 Getting Out There •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Page 14 Connecting to Community Schools ••••••••••••••••••Page 16 Collaborative Efforts •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Page 20 Exciting On-Campus Programming •••••••••••••••••• Page 22

Above: The Center staff; spring 2011.

Center for Service — Page 3

Director’s Letter From the Director’s Desk: The creation of this Annual Report and Statement of Accounts occurs at a time of “fruition” for Champlain College’s Center for Service & Civic Engagement (the Center). Just as a plant that receives the proper nutrients will bear fruit, we feel like a number of our student engagement efforts over the past few years are beginning to blossom.

A powerful ethic of service is important in any college education. Champlain College’s Center for Service & Civic Engagement prepares students to lead from their minds and their hearts as they live lives of responsible, engaged citizenship. Ethical decision-making, concern for others, and action to make the world a better place are at the root of service learning at Champlain.

Above: During spring break 2011 and 2012, Kyle Dodson joined professor Miriam Horne to travel to Nicaragua with her junior level Human Rights course.

This service ethic runs throughout the Champlain College experience and can be found in initiatives such as: •

Service learning courses in various divisions of study, which link academics to community service.

•

The College’s Student Life Department is collaborating to integrate a wide range of community service and outreach projects, some as close as the College’s backyard and some on the other side of the globe.

•

The Center has a long-standing relationship with the greater-Burlington community, where students are involved in community-based projects that include working with the business community, schools, community shelters, and other local organizations.

In the spring of 2012, the Center launched a new outreach campaign, JUST ONE, which encourages and guides students to participate in one service project per school year. In the future it will increase to one service project a semester, and so on. Besides providing students with great experiences, it gives them a greater understanding of social problems, greater insight into possible solutions, and greater ability to effect change.

Page 4 — Center for Service

Evidence indicates that volunteering has a positive effect on social psychological factors such as a personal sense of purpose and accomplishment, and enhances a person’s social networks to buffer stress and reduce disease risk. (Herzog et al., 1998;Greenfield and Marks, 2004; Harlow and Cantor, 1996) A survey carried out by TimeBank through Reed Executive showed that among 200 of the UK’s leading businesses •

73% of employers would recruit a candidate with volunteering experience over one without

•

94% of employers believe that volunteering can add to skills

•

94% of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had benefited either by getting their first job, improving their salary, or being promoted

It has been a very productive year for the Center for Service and Civic Engagement. We are grateful for the countless hours that our students have devoted to serving our community and we are thankful to all of our wonderful partner organizations for providing us with such a rich array of engagement options. We hope that you enjoy learning more about our office and what we are passionate about as you read this report.

Best Regards,

Kyle Dodson Director; Center for Service & Civic Engagement

Center for Service — Page 5

Next year & beyond

JUST ONE Campaign

The JUST ONE campaign has been established to encourage students to complete one direct community service activity each semester. Once students complete just one activity, they become a member of the campaign and receive exclusive invitations to JUST ONE events sponsored by the Center. JUST ONE is a great way for students to show future employers that they are active members of an elite group of student leaders and participate in community service while in college. Work-study student Sadie Stone has taken on the campaign.

She hosted a soft launch, “Don’t be a wiener, do JUST ONE” on April 17. The office handed out hot dogs and JUST ONE wayfarer sunglasses to students who filled out a commitment card. She plans to follow up with an official launch in the fall of 2012.

As stated in Champlain 2020 Vision’s Strategic Plan:

“Champlain will develop a multi-layered engagement and outreach approach to community service that will provide targeted approaches to students wherever they lie on the engagement spectrum.”

Specific Goals: 1. 50% of the 90 students who filled out JUST ONE commitment cards will honor their pledge by participating in one of our service events.

2. Increase participation in our programs by 20% among students who have already completed their LEAD requirement.

3. Expand the number of concrete service activities from five community dinners to eight various service activities a month (62.5% increase in events offered each month).

Page 6 — Center for Service

Introduction

Our mission is to provide the encouragement, resources, and support that allow our students to become responsible, respectful, and engaged citizens - locally, nationally, and globally.

The Center for Service & Civic Engagement has been involved in a multitude of initiatives, programs, and service projects throughout this past school year. In the pages to come we will highlight various types of programs that have been successful here at Champlain and in the greater community. The Center is a part of the department of Student Life on campus. We often work independently on programming, but also take advantage of collaboration across offices within and outside of Student Life to create dynamic and interesting programs for Champlain students. We also have been a vehicle for individual students or groups of students to promote causes they are passionate about.

We see our commitment to the students, campus community, and greater Burlington community as follows: • We support, encourage, and motivate students to take individual or collective actions that address issues of unmet (human) needs or public concern.

• We engage the campus in a process of building our capacity as a community to discuss, debate, and have productive dialogue about the topics of the day.

• We create partnerships in the greater Chittenden County area with local non-profit organizations in order to expose students to a broad array of local needs.

The 2011-2012 academic school year was one of impressive accomplishment and growth for the Center for Service & Civic Engagement (the Center).

There was a significant influx of students taking initiative to visit the Center’s office in Skiff Annex, bringing their own ideas and enthusiasm for service.

There was an increased number of students coming to our office to seek service learning opportunities.

We had students from Core and Capstone classes, courses within the division of Business and Education and Human Services, and courses taught by Frank Robinson, John Stroup, Miriam Horne, Valerie Esposito, and Allison Estey, among others.

Students also visited the Center after they served in the community at Resident Assistant and Peer Advisor service activities integrated into their training.

We believe that the result of these initiatives will be an increase of upperclassmen participation and a more accommodating Center offering an expansive array of opportunities.

Right: A group of Champlain Cares volunteers spent hours this fall working at a Habitat for Humanity site in Richmond to rebuild the devastated areas hit by August’s Hurricane Irene.

Center for Service — Page 7

The Center Staff

Director: Kyle Dodson

Before joining the Champlain College staff in August of 2008, Kyle founded and spent four years as the Principal of the Lee Academy Pilot School in Dorchester, MA. He was a member of the inaugural cohort of the Boston Principal Fellows Program, a one-year intensive program to train new leaders for the Boston Public Schools. Before becoming a Principal, Kyle spent eight years as a Student Life Administrator at Saint Michael’s College. Prior to his career in education, he was a vice president of mortgage-backed securities trading at PaineWebber, Inc. in N.Y.C. He holds a B.A. in History from Harvard, an M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia, and an Ed.D. from the University of Vermont in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.

Service Coordinator: Maggie Melvin

Maggie’s passions for both service and photography helped fuel her studies in Anthropology at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, VT. She uses her unique way of understanding, documenting, and engaging with the world around her as she supports students at Champlain in their own pursuits of being engaged citizens. Another of Maggie’s passions is traveling and she has loved the opportunity to lead students on service trips to Virginia, Tanzania, and Uganda. She is excited to reach out to new students and help connect them with their local and global communities.

AmeriCorps*VISTA: David Madonna

Dave is a 2011 graduate of Champlain College, where he studied Digital Forensics.

Working as work-study student last year, he quickly transitioned into his new role as the AmeriCorps*VISTA Magnet School Coordinator. Working closely with the Sustainability Academy and the Integrated Arts Academy in the Old North End of Burlington, he runs the AIM: Allies in Mentoring program on Champlain’s campus as well as working as part of the Center for Service team. He has a passion for education and social justice, making his work in the Center highly enjoyable.

AmeriCorps*VISTA: Kiley Phelan

Kiley joined the Center staff as an AmeriCorps*VISTA focusing on the issue of Family Engagement in the local elementary schools. She works closely with the Burlington School District to help implement programs that allow for all families to feel welcome and appreciated in the school community. Kiley grew up in Connecticut, but spent the past four years studying Political Science and English at Providence College in Rhode Island. She was raised in a family that valued and encouraged service, but really attributes her passion to her time at PC. After graduation it only made sense to look for an experience that would incorporate her interest in service and education.

Student Staff Kayla Hedman ‘14, Marketing Hannah Andersen ‘14, Social Work Paisley Saltmarsh ‘15, Criminal Justice Sadie Stone ‘13, Hospitality (Spring 2012) Wilson Slader ‘13, Social Work (Fall 2011)

Page 8 — Center for Service

Above: Student staff 2011-2012 (not pictured - Wilson Slader).

The Community We Live In Burlington’s population of 42,417 has a high standard of service and civic engagement in the community. Burlington’s population swells by nearly 17,000 residents from college students at Champlain College, University of Vermont, and St. Michael’s in neighboring Colchester.

• • • • •

Burlington alone had 53,600 volunteers between 2007 and 2010, including the Census population and students at Burlington colleges and universities Burlington has a 37.7% volunteer rate compared to 26.5% nationwide (8th within 75 mid-size cities) Burlington residents average 42 service hours per year per resident (22nd out of 75 nationwide mid-size cities) Burlington residents serve approximately 6 million hours per year total in the midsized city 33.8% of service in Burlington is educational volunteer work

(http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/VT/Burlington)

2010 stats for Vermont: • 35.2% of Vermonters volunteer, 8.9% more than the nationwide average of 26.3% (6th in volunteer rank) • 178,717 Vermont residents volunteered 21.3 million hours of service through or for a nonprofit or community organization in 2010 • 16% (81,179 people) volunteered informally to work with neighbors to address or fix a community issue • Vermonters average 41.9 service hours per year per resident (10th rank in nation) • Areas in which people volunteer:

-Education 29.5%

-Hospital 10.8%

-Other 11.9%

-Religious 17.4%

-Social service 16.2%

-Athletics/Arts 5.8%

-Civic 8.5% • Top four service activities:

-Fundraising 29.7%

-General labor 25.5%

-Professional/management 22.6%

-Collect/distribute food 21.4% Nationally, college students are two times more likely to volunteer than a working person. Benefits include: • Volunteers feel a sense of accomplishment and purpose that causes a positive effect on physical and mental health, as well as builds healthy relationships.

• Volunteers watch about an hour less of television per day.

Across the board, service is important for personal and professional well-being and valued within our community.

Right: Main St., Burlington.

Center for Service — Page 9

By the Numbers

To attain our goal of 20% increase in voluntary upperclassmen engagement, we have increased our on-campus programming to catch students on their way to class and invited students back to campus in the evenings (p 20).

In addition to increasing on-campus programming, we have targeted upperclassmen by integrating service into leadership training across Student Life offices. Exposing active Resident Assistants, Peer Advisors and Orientation Leaders to service has brought back more students than any other initiative (p 18).

Lastly, we have tapped into service learning courses and other upperclassmen courses to incorporate academics and career interests into service (p 19). Students have taken initiative to evolve service projects into Capstone and other academic requirements.

To retain the high levels of participation of first year students, the Center hosts workshops at Accepted Students Days (March 31, April 14) and hosts two Summer Launch programs that incorporate service and familiarize the incoming students with the Office’s work.

One of the Center’s primary responsibilities is to work collaboratively with the LEAD office (p 18) to ensure that each first year student has an enriching community service/engagement experience. This past year we offered hundreds of those opportunities, giving students a chance to connect with a wide variety of local organizations. Just over 45% of the Freshman class chose to participate in a community service program through the Center, rather than an on-campus alternative provided by LEAD. Through the Center’s service activities, students were introduced to organizations such as COTS, Ronald McDonald House, Dismas, and Spectrum. To better serve the Freshman class and other interested students, we increased the number of community dinners offered each month to five. We now serve community dinners at COTS (beginning in December), and have added a second Dismas House dinner each month.

This year we discontinued offering Service Fairs because students were not following through and it was unproductive for the organizations.

The Center has seen a trend in the past few years and validates the ‘80/20 rule.’ The same 20% of the student body (approximately 100 students) are most active and produce 80% of the service through our office.

This year we admit to not having the best data as a result of not having access to DataTel. We have scanned placements with names, but lack the essential information of class, major, etc. in order to cross-tabulate information. For example, ‘____% of active participants represent Marketing majors.’

Page 10 — Center for Service

Above: Students volunteer as first-year’s for Lead on the long trail in fall 2010.

LEAD Data

209 out of 465 first-year students participated in hands-on service activities through the Center for LEAD credit (Tent City, Community Dinners, Trail Maintenance, ACT Week, Invisible Children, etc.).

• The Division of Education and Human Studies represents 24.4% of first-year LEAD participants. Many continue serving with AIM, DREAM and other programs collaborating with community schools and other organizations, relevant to their major.

• Bankus Hall had the most participants with 29 out of 40 residents actively participating in service. After completing their LEAD credit through serving at Community Clean-up Day at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Cherry/Battery St, attending the fall screening of Invisible Children, participating in Tent City, or attending a community dinner, Bankus residents continue to serve community dinners at COTS and the Ronald McDonald House twice each month.

Representation of the % of first-year students who performed a hands-on service project for LEAD Credit 45% value: 208 first-years

55% value: 254 first-years

The Center 2011-2012 Donations

The Center has contributed to collecting donations for various organizations throughout the year. The table below represents those donations.

Organization

Method

Donation

COTS

Tent City

$1,350

DREAM

Appeal to staff and faculty

$1,200.00

$1,100 from Town Hall; $100 from ACT Week

Invisible Children

Bake sale, Rail Jam, etc.

$4,689.00

In addition to $3,000 in the Spring of 2011

Malayaka House, Uganda

Bake sale, craft sale, henna, individual fund raising

$6,500 to date

Grand Total

Right: A group of first-year students from Bankus and Whiting Halls, lead by their Resident Assistants, volunteer at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Cherry St to earn their Lead credit.

Notes

$12, 239.00

Center for Service — Page 11

Numerical Data The Center Events

# of Observances 2010-2011

# of Observances 2011-2012

A.C.T. Week Mon., 3/12 Tabling

# of Lead Participants 20

Press Conference with Senator Leahy

8

A.C.T. Week Tues., 3/13 Invisible Children Screening

175

A.C.T. Week Wed., 3/14 Malayaka House Film Screening

30

A.C.T. Week Thurs., 3/15 Charity Water

20

A.C.T. Week Fri., 3/16 DREAM Kickball AIM @ SA & IAA (Formerly Lunch & Recess Program @ IAA)

40 384

Active Based Learning (IAA) Community Clean Up Day (AIM) Coffee Connection (IAA)

1

26

2

3

5

1

36

20

SA - Local Food Night IAA & SA Pancake Breakfasts

334

1 2

C.P. Smith Harvest Dinner

8 1

IAA Wolcott School Visit

1

IAA & SA Halloween Celebrations

14

Anti-Racism Dinner (IAA)

8

SA Math Night

4

SA Champlain Campus Tour

15

AIM Recognition Dinner

8

SA PTO Childcare

10

Barnes Fall 2010

26

Card Making for Ronald McDonald

5

CCCivics Outreach Community Service Club

7

Community Service Day (10/22) Community Dinner: COTS (4 Dinners) Community Dinner: Dismas House (14 Dinners)

3 40

13 N/A

17

4

6

40

12

Community Dinner: Ronald McDonald House (7 Dinners)

20

21

7

Community Dinner: Spectrum (8 Dinners)

13

23

9

COTS Awareness Tabling

28

COTS Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast

7

CTA & Long Trail Maintenance

14

6

Dear Hillary Campaign for Congo

33

N/A

Education Conversation

16

EES Sound of Music Behind the Scenes Help

3

EES/EMS Volunteers

7

EMS - Dialogue Night Fall Invisible Children Screening

2 150

Fall Tabling Engagement (2 separate times) 8

Habitat for Humanity Richmond (Champlain Cares)

4

Holiday Baking for COTS

2

JUST ONE Spring Tabling 4/17

225

33

Organic Farming

16

Page 12 — Center for Service

15

7

Nicaragua Dance Performance - WIA

Orientation Service at Very Merry Theatre January

130

75

Greatest Silence Movie at Quarry

Knit for Those in Need

250

2 17

2

PA Service Day (August) RA Service Days (August & January)

58 35

Service Learning Outreach

45

SAT Student Leader Meetings SAT Trip to Virginia

2 11

SAT Trip Meetings Service Fair

100

8 54

32

N/A

Spirit Week Global Trivia

125

Spring Meltdown

175

Spring Tabling

75

Summer Launch Bike Montreal

7

Summer Launch Community Connections

6

Summer Launch Reunion Dinner Teach for Tomorrow Trip to Uganda

12 10 (Tanzania)

Teach for Tomorrow: Uganda Trip Meeting Tent City

104 (13 meetings * 8 participants) 164

Tent City Debrief

4

Tent City Planning Committee

5

Tent City Reality Bites Dinner with ODI Voter Registration

Grand Total

147 (21 days * 8 participants)

69

40

7 24

28

1

1077

2409

208

Total 2409 Lead 208 Volunteer Total 2201 Much of this data represents the number of times an individual participated in a community service or engagement activity. Students who participated more than once may be counted multiples times (# of observances).

2011-2012 2409 2010-2011 1077 Difference 1332

/ 1077

123% increase

Increase in student participant observances from 2010-2011 to 2011-2012

Center for Service — Page 13

Getting Out there Champlain Cares

A group of students aiming to complete their Capstone approached the Center in the fall to expand the existing program Champlain Cares. This group consisted of seniors Lauren Lavallee, Hillary Green, AJ Oden, and Derek Frobel. With the recent damage Hurricane Irene left on Central and Southern Vermont on August 28, students wanted to assist in cleaning and rebuilding these effected communities. They rallied a group of Champlain students, faculty, staff and local businesses to provide physical labor and sponsorship for Hurricane Irene relief. Throughout the month of November, Champlain Cares worked with Habitat for Humanity in Richmond to accomplish as much as possible before winter settled in.

Community Dinners

Community Dinners are one of the most engaging short-term service opportunities for students to participate in. First year students looking to complete their LEAD credit often participate in community dinners, but this year we have seen increased participation in upperclassmen as well as first years serving for a second time. As an office, we have increased our community dinner commitment, offering two Dismas House dinners each month, and one of each Ronald McDonald House, Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS), and Spectrum Teen and Youth Drop-In Center.

Service in Action Trips

Service in Action Trips (SAT) are service trips held each spring break to expose Champlain College students to various cultures within our country.

This spring, eight students and two staff members traveled to Exmore, VA to serve in the New Road Community that was primarily African American.

Students learned that making connections with community members was just as important and influential as doing physical labor, as opposed to the Habitat for Humanity SAT to Lexington, VA last spring. During a reflection, students concluded that they were on the trip to help maintain a self-sustainable community while developing relationships that encourage the community to keep working towards their goals. The group was privileged to work in a community that was united through their drive for fair treatment, and improvement for both their community in general as well as the youth within their community.

Teach for Tomorrow

Teach for Tomorrow is a type of service trip that gives Champlain College students the opportunity to engage in international community service. The students see first-hand the affects of poverty in cultures that are vastly different from their own through working with vulnerable youth. This May, seven students and two staff members will travel to Entebbe, Uganda for three weeks to work with an orphanage named the Malayaka House. Champlain students will help fill the needs of the Malayaka House over the course of their visit by providing helping hands with construction projects, assisting the older children to develop business plans, and teaching and tutoring the 36 children who call the Malayaka House home. Teach for Tomorrow aims to instill a meaningful global appreciation for students, and facilitates the development of aware, active, and responsible world citizens.

Page 14 — Center for Service

Above: A community dinner at the Ronald McDonald House in Burlington.

Left: Students participating in an SAT to Exmore, VA.

Summer Launch Program(s)

Each summer the Center for Service leads one or more Summer Launch Programs in order to create enthusiasm around service for incoming First Year students. As a division of Student Life, the Center is hosting two recharged programs for the summer of 2012, Community Service in Montreal and Vermont Bike Tour. In the past, the Center’s Summer Launch Programs have been successful in retaining student involvement in the office as well as resulting in friendships that have lasted throughout the students’ time at Champlain.

Community Service in Montreal: July 24-26 Students learn about Champlain’s commitment to community service by volunteering with a local non-profit organization in Montreal. This Summer Launch program is a fun filled, hands-on opportunity where students will build relationships with other incoming students, experience a sense of accomplishment that comes when you give back to the community, and have the opportunity to get a local’s view of a world-class cosmopolitan city. There will also be a tour of Champlain’s own Montreal Campus where students may decide to study abroad.

VT Bike Tour: July 17-19 Formerly Bike Montreal, Vermont Bike Tour will allow incoming first year students to take in the sights and sounds of the breathtaking biking trails of the Champlain Islands and experience all that Champlain’s beautiful city has to offer.

Millennium Campus Conference 2011

Last Fall four Champlain Students attended the Millennium Campus Network’s annual conference in Boston.

The Millennium Campus Network (MCN) is a non-profit network of university student organizations working to end extreme poverty and achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. This year’s events were held at Harvard University, and featured an impressive line-up of workshops and speakers, including the founder and CEO of the Global Poverty Project, Hugh Evans.

Representatives from YMCA, Bicycles Against Poverty, and UNICEF also spoke.

The conference keynote speakers included Dr. Vanessa Bradford Kerry (daughter of Sen. John Kerry), Gillian Sorenson, the senior advisor at the United Nations, and Jason Russell, founder of Invisible Children. The Center is arranging for students to attend the 2012 MCN Conference at Northeastern.

Aside from these service opportunities, we have maintained relationships with many local organizations, including: HOPE Works (Women’s Rape Crisis Center), Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, VT CARES, Howard Center, Lund Family Center, Boys and Girls Club, Greater Burlington YMCA, King Street Youth Center, Intervale Center, Catamount Trails Association, Peace and Justice Center, and many more.

These organizations are our outlets for when we have large groups on Resident Assistant, Peer Advisor, and Orientation service days, as well as when students come to us with specific interests.

Above: Bike Montreal summer launch.

Center for Service — Page 15

Connecting to Community Schools Allies In Mentoring

Allies in Mentoring (AIM) is a program designed to connect Champlain College students with local elementary schools. Champlain has partnered with the Sustainability Academy (SA) at Lawrence Barnes and the Integrated Arts Academy (IAA) at H.O. Wheeler, two magnet elementary schools in the Old North End of Burlington, VT with the highest proportion of students living in poverty. Before transitioning to magnet schools in 2008, these two schools were 90% free or reduced lunch.

Champlain students act as group mentors and individual mentors to provide support to K-5th grade students and staff during the lunch and recess period. Group mentors help out in the lunchroom for at least two hours a week serving as role models to these elementary students during their unstructured time while individual mentors are matched with a student and provide them with support, counsel, friendship, reinforcement, and a constructive example during that time.

“Just having the kids acknowledge you or ask you to sit with them, practically tripping over their words because they have so much to tell you - it’s awesome. I think I get more out of it than they do!”

This program is not only beneficial to the elementary students, but the mentors as well. They get as much, if not more, than they give and learn about themselves. They have called the program “rewarding” and look forward to visiting every week.

Becoming a mentor is a new experience for many Champlain students, but is beneficial to both their academic and cultural growth. After serving for a semester, many mentors stay with the program to retain the connections they made with students, their peers, and faculty and staff at the schools.

“I had never worked with children before. Having now done so, I feel that working with children is an important experience for everyone to have at some point.”

Page 16 — Center for Service

Above: Alyssa Neville and students during lunch at AIM.

The AIM Program is lead by two AmeriCorps*VISTAs. This year the Center is thrilled to have AmeriCorps*VISTAs David Madonna (Champlain ‘11) and Kiley Phelan (Providence College ‘11).

Madonna and Phelan work directly with the Burlington School District, principally with the Family-School Partnership Coordinator for the district. They bridge the gap between Champlain College and the family engagement work being done in the district. The district extends further than just the Integrated Arts Academy (IAA) and the Sustainability Academy (SA); it also includes Edmunds Elementary School (EES) and Edmunds Middle School (EMS).

At IAA and SA, the influx of middle class families in 2008 created a need for the original families of the neighborhood to retain their voice at the school. In contrast to the Magnet Schools in the Old North End, EES and EMS are the two Burlington Public Schools that are located on Main Street, just adjacent to the Champlain campus. These two schools draw largely from the Hill Section and as a result serve some of the wealthiest and most well-educated households in the district. Edmunds Elementary consistently has the highest test scores in the district. However, despite the relatively high proportion of “Hill” families, the elementary school is approximately 25 percent free or reduced lunch, and the middle school is approximately 50 percent. One of the biggest challenges that both schools face is family involvement, particularly figuring out how to engage the most disenfranchised families at both schools (many of which are low-income and minority families). There seems to be a growing number of families at EES who do not feel it is a welcoming and inclusive environment. Some families are so dissatisfied that they are taking their children out of EES and moving them to IAA. The Burlington School District is working to alleviate these concerns through the implementation of FamilySchool Partnership (FSP) teams. The school district has designed teams of parents, teachers, and administrators at each school to create an action plan that will create a more inclusive and welcoming school environment. The VISTAs are responsible for working with the Coordinator to build capacity for these teams. The VISTAs also work directly with the FSP teams at each school to help the disenfranchised have a consistent and powerful voice.

The following activities throughout the district were supported by the VISTAs and Champlain College volunteers in the past year: • Welcome Survey: Our office assisted in a research project aimed to allow all families to have a voice in the school community and culture at EES. We worked with the school to make sure that the survey we designed was distributed and collected from as much of the school population as possible, especially the families that are typically uninvolved in school activities. This project will help to increase access to higher education for low income children. Giving low income families a voice in education is the first step in creating a more inclusive school culture.

• College Tours: Our office worked with EMS and SA to provide college tours for first-generation college students. Champlain students volunteered to lead the tours, present work and stories in a panel discussion, and eat lunch with students in the Champlain dining hall. This experience helped the students understand that higher education is both fun and attainable.

Above: Sustainability Academy students in back of Champlain’s Welcome and Admissions building, Roger H. Perry Hall.

Center for Service — Page 17

• Coffee Connection: Every Monday morning we help IAA host a coffee hour for parents from all communities. It’s an opportunity for parents to talk with teachers and administrators in an informal setting.

This event helps to contribute to a welcoming environment at the school. Champlain volunteers help to set up the event and join the community building.

• Dialogue Night: Dialogue Night was organized by the EMS social worker to have groups of parents, teachers, and students come together to talk about hot topic issues. Dialogue in each small group was facilitated by an eighth grade student and Champlain volunteer. Some of the topics addressed were: bullying, cliques, substance abuse, technology, etc.

• Literacy Breakfast: IAA has hosted four Literacy Breakfasts throughout the year to invite parents into the classroom with their kids, have breakfast, and listen to their kids read. Champlain students volunteer to read with the children whose parents are unable to attend.

• Kindergarten Active Base Learning: Every Wednesday morning Champlain volunteers assist the Physical Education teacher at IAA to run a program called Active Base Learning with the Kindergartners. Each volunteer is responsible for guiding four to five kids through simultaneous activities such as tossing a ball while reading words aloud. IAA is currently a failing school; it is really beneficial to integrate academic skills into as much of the school day as possible. This program would not be possible without the assistance of Champlain volunteers.

• Anti-Racism Dinner: In October, IAA and SA hosted an Anti-Racism Dinner for the community.

There were over 100 people in attendance. There was a very diverse group of both families and school staff and faculty members. The event included speakers from the community who addressed issues of diversity and inclusion. Champlain volunteers helped to serve dinner and were engaged in the program.

• Local Lunch for Dinner: In October, SA hosted a dinner to bring families into the school through the celebration of local food. Champlain volunteers were invited to the event to spend time with the children and families and support the students in a small art project.

• Family Halloween Party: IAA and SA each hosted a Halloween party for students and families. The school asked Champlain for fourteen volunteers to help run games for the young kids.

• Pancake Breakfast: To bring the community closer and create a welcoming environment, IAA and SA each hosted a pancake breakfast with local music and entertainment. Champlain volunteers assisted parents by serving food and spending time with the kids.

• Harvest Dinner: CP Smith Elementary hosted a Harvest Dinner for the families of their school community to create a welcoming environment. Champlain volunteers attended to help serve food and document the event through photos.

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Above: Brittany Porydzy with a student at the Integrated Arts Academy’s Family Halloween Party

• Wolcott School Visit: In December, IAA teachers, administrators, parents, Champlain volunteers, and three fourth grade students traveled to West Hartford, CT to visit the Wolcott School. The Wolcott School has won an impressive amount of awards for the success they have had; however, it is a school that is very similar in demographics to IAA. The funding is the same per pupil, and many of the children are eligible for free or reduced lunch. It is also racially diverse, like IAA. It was inspiring for IAA, in addition to being important for Champlain students in the division of EHS to see what an effective teacher looks like. It was also a great opportunity for Champlain students to network with the local educators.

• Fill the Bowl: Third graders at IAA hosted this event to raise money for the Chittenden County food bank.

The kids sold hand-crafted bowls filled with soup to friends and family for $5 each. All of the soup was donated by local eateries such as Chubby Muffin, Sugarsnap, and City Market. There were also a slew of local artists who donated work to be sold in a silent auction. The event raised $1,800 total, half of which came from the food and half from the silent auction. Prior to the event, our office helped find local potters willing to donate their work to the cause.

Brittany Porydzy “The first time that I met Abby I knew that we would get along perfectly. Even though she was a fourth grader and I am in my second year of college we had one fundamental thing in common, we both love Harry Potter. Luckily our commonalities did not stop there because I soon was assigned to mentor Abby once a week during her lunch and recess time.

Abby is wise beyond her years, there are times that I forget that I am speaking with a fourth grader. We have spent much of our time together talking about various issues that even my collegiate peers are learning to deal with such as friends, time management, and various other “girly” topics.

As much as I can pretend and boast or brag about the “great service I am doing for the students at Sustainability Academy,” the reality of it is that they do more for me than I do for them. I have already gotten into college and received all my scholarships, and I am not even a education major, yet I still created my schedule with enough time to spend two days a week mentoring. I do this not only for Abby and the other students but for myself.

Working at Sustainability Academy has become the highlight of my week, something that gets me out of bed in the morning. It reminds me that I am a role model and keeps me working hard. It reminds me that everyone is a kid on the inside and keeps me having fun.”

To fully understand the impact of a mentor relationship, one needs to hear a first-hand account. Below stories provided by Abby, a fourth grade student at the Sustainability Academy, and her mentor, Champlain student Brittany Porydzy ‘14.

Abby “Hi my name is Abby. I am in 4th grade and am part of the mentoring program at my school. This program connects kids in my school to students in your school [Champlain]. I like this program because I get to know new people and learn new things. My mentor and I spend time together at recess and lunch and do things like read, paint and more.

I’ve met Brittany, Alexa, Holly, and Paige [all AIM mentors]. If I didn’t have these people to talk to and look forward to seeing I probably wouldn’t make it through the week. For example, I had a friend issue a ways back and got so mad I completely lost it, I had to go to the principal’s office, but then I remembered Brittany and managed to pull myself together.

That day we talked about how I felt and the next day I was fine. Since that day I used that strategy to control myself so that I do not get sent to the principal’s office.

I have so much fun with everything we do. I intend to continue on with the mentoring program. It is probably the best experience I have had. I have really enjoyed this experience and I would I think about being a mentor myself.”

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Collaborative Efforts Elevator Pitch

The Fifth Annual Elevator Pitch Competition, held on Feb. 28, 2012, featured the top nineteen of a record-number of 82 initial participants representing all years and academic divisions. Students have their best 90-second pitch in one of three categories: entrepreneurs, job/internship seekers, and non-profit/social advocates. They competed hoping to win the top prize of $500 from sponsor KeyBank, in addition to bragging rights to having the best “pitch” in Champlain College’s annual spring competition. The Center for Service collaborates with the Bring Your Own Business (BYOBiz) program, Champlain Career Services, the Oral Communication Lab, and the Office of Advancement to host E-Pitch each spring.

LEAD

The Life Experience & Action Dimension of Champlain’s Integrated Education includes a first year requirement for students to broaden cultural and community awareness by engaging in the community.

Students can fulfill their requirements by cooking a community dinner at a local shelter, participating in the DREAM program, AIM, a night of Tent City, or one of many other options promoted by our office. Next year we plan to corroboratively launch the Service Track for LEAD Peer Advisors as well.

Student Leader Volunteer Days

Other areas of Student Life have taken note of students’ lack of community awareness and addressed it in their training and orientation sessions. Resident Assistants, Peer Advisors, Orientation Leaders and students have been divided into groups and taken part in service at local organizations and private residences in the greater-Champlain neighborhood.

Sustain Champlain

The Center has a firm commitment to protecting the environment and supporting green living. We work closely with the college’s Environmental Policy Program and also with our sustainability initiative, Sustain Champlain. This year our office sponsored service activities with a sustainability theme: Catamount trail maintenance at Mt. Mansfield, organic farming, and harvesting and gleaning at the Burlington Intervale.

Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI)

Prior to the opening of ODI in the fall of 2007, the Center supported many of the college’s diversity and inclusion programs such as the Martin Luther King Day celebration, the New American’s Scholarship and the INCLUDE LGBTQA organization. Since, the Center’s primary Diversity and Inclusion work has been in the area of educational equity and access (p 14-17). Our most recent collaboration was helping promote the International Education Week in November. In addition, Service Coordinator Maggie Melvin completed ODI’s Intercultural U faculty and staff program in the fall. We have a close working relationship with the current Director of the ODI, Ame Lambert, and we continue to explore ways to partner with that office on service and engagement initiatives.

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Top: Eric Pollock ‘12 was the winner in the Non-Profit/Social Advocacy category during the 2012 Elevator Pitch.

Right: Billy St. Louis ‘15, Paxton Hall ‘14 and Scott Moretto ‘12 volunteer at Very Merry Theatre during January Orientation.

Service Learning Courses

Each year, the Center encourages faculty to incorporate service-learning into their curriculums, and further acts as a resource and provides support to these professors. This academic year, the Center has worked with several faculty members including John Stroup, John Meyer, Frank Robinson, Rebecca Estey, and Hadley Bunting. All of these professors with the exception of Hadley Bunting, who plans to pursue it in the future, incorporated some service-learning aspect to their courses which allowed the students to engage in their academics by serving the local Burlington Community. Over the past year the Center was able to assist in growing service-learning at Champlain by the following: Engaging in dialogue with these professors about proper implementation and functionality, placing students enrolled in these courses in the community, creating community partnerships to support service-learning students, and providing the students in these classes a resource to connect them to the community. In addition, director of the Center, Kyle Dodson, also co-taught Miriam Horne’s Global Studies II: Human Rights course for the second year, traveling to Nicaragua with students over spring break.

SGA Initiative

Since the spring of 2011, the Center has been communicating with members of the Student Government Association to brainstorm ways to make volunteerism and community involvement an element of all Champlain’s student run clubs. It will not be a requirement for student run clubs to add service to their agenda, but it will be encouraged. The Center proposed a financial solution to withhold a ‘bonus’ amount from each club’s budget that would be unlocked after completing a service activity, or to receive extra funding for completing the most volunteer programs in a competition format. Many groups, including Champlain’s Running Club, have shown interest and are looking forward to volunteering in the fall. We plan to work with the new SGA representatives to elicit this initiative in the fall and at the start of each semester from that point on. Our office hopes that by creating this program via the SGA, we will be able to engage more students in service and civic engagement by providing them with a way to serve the local community by incorporating their interests.

DREAM Program

DREAM (Directing through Recreation, Education, Adventure, and Mentoring) is a New England based program that partners college students with children in a nearby low-income housing community and helps create a true and lasting bond between the two communities. Champlain’s DREAM Program is run entirely by Champlain students with the support of the Central DREAM Office in Burlington and is one of the most well run and effective programs in the state. 25 Champlain students dedicate 4-5 hours per week to DREAM; both planning for events and spending one-on-one and group time with their mentees.

DREAM student leaders reached out to the Center this year and we have happily strengthened our collaborations with them. Service Coordinator, Maggie Melvin became their staff advisor and we have been involved with several of their events on campus, including: presenting to Champlain Staff and Faculty at a Town Hall meeting that resulted in increased awareness of Champlain’s DREAM program and over $1,200 in donations; other fund raising events that totaled over $500; a fun and successful Staff and Faculty Kickball Tournament with the DREAM mentors and mentees; a day of awareness during Activate Campus Thinking Week; and a volunteer “Beautification” event at DREAM’s partner community, Birchwood in Milton, VT in which staff, faculty, and students dedicated the day to help spruce up Birchwood’s mobile home community. We look forward to another great year working with DREAM. Above: DREAM kickball tournament during the Center’s ACT Week.

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Presence on-campus Tent City

Tent City is an annual week-long solidarity event focused on educating and raising awareness about the complex issues of homelessness and hunger on a local and national level.

Each year during National Hunger and Homeless Awareness week, students attend nightly speakers, panels and watch films that highlight the ever-growing issue. This fall, Tent City fell on Nov. 14th to the 18th, 2011.

During the week 69 students not only attended speakers, but also spent the evenings in tents on Aiken Green and used on-campus public facilities to fufill their needs, all while raising money for COTS (Committee On Temporary Shelter) and educating their community about this ever-growing issue present in Vermont and our nation. This year the Tent City planning committee and other Tent City participants raised $1,300 for COTS.

ACT Week

The Center for Service & Civic Engagement celebrated its 2nd annual Activate Campus Thinking (ACT) Week from March 12th to 16th. We featured a cause a day to encourage dialogue and create awareness around campus about the featured causes. On Monday, the Center launched ACT week by tabling in Hauke Courtyard. In addition, we welcomed U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Adonga Quinto, a representative from Northern Uganda, to be featured speakers at a press event about the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Champlain President David F. Finney and student advocate Sadie Stone also spoke at the event. A clip from the press conference is now featured in the film KONY 2012 Part II: Beyond Famous.

On Tuesday, Invisible Children roadies and Quinto brought the campaign and film called KONY 2012 to Alumni Auditorium.

Quinto shared his story of when he was abducted by Kony’s rebels from the LRA. There were over 175 students, staff and faculty in attendance.

On Wednesday, Champlain’s Teach for Tomorrow program featured a film about the Malayaka House, a Ugandan home that provides a safe, educational and loving environment for over 35 children in Entebbe. This summer seven Champlain students are traveling to the Malayaka House from May 8th to 31st. The group has done an outstanding job fundraising thus far; they will likely surpass their $6,000 goal in order to pay for a year’s worth of school for all the children.

Thursday’s cause was Charity: Water. Student advocate Kirstie Grant gave the campus an opportunity to see the difference between clean and unsafe drinking water, and learn more about the inaccessibility of clean drinking water plaguing communities all over the world.

On the last day of ACT week, Champlain’s DREAM Program provided information and new opportunities to become a DREAM mentor. They also hosted a Champlain Faculty vs. DREAM Kickball Tournament in the Gym, followed by a pizza party to wrap up the week. Overall, ACT week was a great success and it was due largely to the fact that all of the activities were student organized.

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Above: Sadie Stone ‘13 with U.S. Senator Leahy and Ugandan Adonga Quinto.

Left: Students in Tanzania on a Teach for Tomorrow Trip, 2010.

Invisible Children (I.C.)

This year was filled with a lot of excitement and buzz about Invisible Children (I.C). Champlain College has been no stranger to the cause, in fact, student advocates Sadie Stone and Angie Cummings have been holding film screenings and presentations at Champlain each semester for the last two years. The Champlain for I.C. group strongly believes in the words of Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Champlain for I.C. is a small, but very committed group that has raised over $7,000 in 2011. They believe that the I.C. organization has created a vehicle for educating the western world about the use of child soldiers in Central Africa, and the brutality of Joseph Kony and his rebel army, the LRA. With a handful of screenings and events, the group has accomplished great things this year: they brought a U.S. Senator to Champlain College to speak about Kony and the LRA, increased student awareness, and became a part of numerous campaigns that work to stop the world’s worst war criminal. With the recent criticisms of the KONY 2012 campaign, the group recognizes that they are committed to the cause and we will not stop until justice prevails.

Tabling

On average, the Center tables once a month to promote the office, whether this means getting more students involved in service or to thank past volunteers for the work that they have done. We simply see benefits in getting the name of ‘The Center’ out of Skiff Annex. We have done a range of promotional events. If the weather permits, we set up outside in Hauke Courtyard, handing out hot chocolate or coffee to students and staff making their way across campus. The participation in the office seems to increase as a result of the events because it is a very friendly yet aggressive way to get students aware of the Center.

When students, staff or faculty stop to talk to us, we give them a rackslip that includes service opportunities we promote. The events are well received as a result of free food, stickers and fun flyers that we hand out. Afterwards, we have students that follow up with the office because they appreciated the direct promotion and making a connection.

‘Thank You’ Events

The Center holds ‘thank you’ events for several different purposes throughout the year. We have held ‘thank you’ events for participants in Tent City, AIM, and for general volunteer work. There is always free food and some sort of formal recognition by the Center staff. It is also important for us to engage in discussions on what others thought was successful and what can be improved on in the future. This feedback is one of the most important aspects; student-input and ownership of events makes them more successful because of the passion and peer-to-peer promotion backing it.

Above: Alumni Auditorium filled up at an Invisible Children screening in the fall of 2011.

Right: Work-study Kayla Hedman ‘14 informs students while tabling.

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Thank you for all your support.

Champlain Center for Service & Civic Engagement Mailbox 20, P.O. Box 670 Burlington, VT 05402 Tel: (802) 383-6600 GO.CHAMPLAIN.EDU/SERVICE

created by: Kayla Hedman ‘14

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