Honors students present improvement plan for Mount Vernon neighborhood

Bethany Flanagan (’13)

In Spring 2022, a group of Mount Vernon Nazarene University Honors students completed an assessment of the west side neighborhood of Mount Vernon on behalf of the Knox County Area Development Foundation (ADF) as part of an Honors Seminar.

“I was connected with Sam Filkins at Knox ADF, and they asked us to complete a third neighborhood assessment of an area of Mount Vernon,” said Dr. Brett Wiley, MVNU’s Honor Program Director. “ The focus on the Westside neighborhood of Mount Vernon meant that it was conducted in order to improve conditions, opportunities, and offerings to Mount Vernon residents in that area specifically.”

"I decided to accept this opportunity for a couple of different reasons,” said Chase Brown. “I saw it as an opportunity to build leadership, delegation, and public speaking skills. More importantly, I saw an opportunity to better the community. While I am not a resident of Mount Vernon, I wanted to leave this community better than I found it. This project offered a small way to do this," said Chase Brown.

“I spent an entire semester studying a community and looking for anything that could be changed to improve the lives of its residents, from something as simple as sidewalk quality to the complexities of flood flood insurance," said Judy Bennett.

Dr. Wiley, along with Chase Brown and Judy Bennett, formally presented the group’s findings to the ADF board in Fall 2022, and took questions from the board members and ADF staff.

“This project offered students an opportunity to see how local affairs work, to assist the Mount Vernon community in a tangible way, and represented MVNU to the city community,” said Wiley.

Twenty students, led by student leaders Hunter Winey, Judy Bennett, and Chase Brown, completed the assessment. Students participating included Jeremiah Archer, Jonathan Backus, Hunter Billman, Nathaniel Dersom, Olivia Harris, Brooke Hurst, Molly Kichline, Gina Lawhon, Benjamin Leskey, Joseph Leskey, Emily Ludwig, Roston Miller, Isaac Stein, Benjamin Stupakewicz, Tyler Tipton, Julia Trotti, and Kiersten Winey.

The students, working in three groups, created an almost 50-page document that looked at the history of the area as well as current issues affecting the neighborhood, including economic factors, zoning and homeownership statistics, infrastructure, crime rates, etc. The students conducted research via observation, human survey, the Internet, and other resources. A visual assessment of the area was completed, and a survey was conducted targeting residents of the area.

In the end, the document named nine recommendations to ADF aimed at improving the quality of life and potential of the neighborhood.

To learn more about MVNU’s Honors Program, visit mvnu.edu/honorsprogram