WWC Service Program 2014-15 Annual Report

Service Program Annual Report 2014-2015

WARREN WILSON COLLEGE SERVICE PROGRAM 14-15

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The Mission of the Warren Wilson College Service Program is to prepare students for effective community engagement.

We fulfill our mission by: ❖ Providing opportunities for students to gain relevant knowledge, skills, and experiences, ❖ Supporting students in the development of civic responsibility, and ❖ Engaging in mutually beneficial community partnerships.

From the Dean of Service: Greetings, This has been another incredible year in the Service Program.

We continue the implementation of our Community Engagement Commitment and students are stepping up with incredibly creative and

Table of Contents 2014-15 Total Numbers….3 Who’s Who Staff and Committees…….4 Bonner Leaders Crew..…..5 Programs Orientation & Awards…….6 VISTA Report……………..7 Break Trip Program………8 Issue Area Programs……10 Campus Groups…………11 Academic Initiatives…….12 Faculty Development…..13 Presentations/ Publications……………..14

inspiring projects and contributions to the community as they move into experiences of deeper engagement.

We have continued to share our model with our colleagues and this year has marked an exciting local connection with Mars Hill University and UNC Asheville. We have hosted community partner events together and provided a joint professional development workshop for faculty. The collaboration has opened new possibilities for sharing information and

Numbers Geography……………….15 Class Year………………..15 Issue Areas………………16 Type of Service………….17 5-Year Review…………..18

partnering with the community.

We received the Carnegie Foundation’s Classification for Community

Recognitions……………19

Engagement for 2015. Unlike the Carnegie Foundation’s other classifications that rely on national data, this is an elective classification where institutions participate voluntarily by submitting materials describing the nature and extent of their engagement with the community. Submitting our application was an effort that really guided

Stories of Service Brian, Eco-Team………….7 Alexandra, Break Trip……8 Lilian, Issue Workshop….10

us in examining and evaluating our programs in a very thorough way and we felt great about the results!

Our Partners……………21

Best, Cathy

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During the 2014-15 academic year, 784 Warren Wilson College students served 257 Community Partners and engaged in 58,065 hours 
 of service to local, national, and global communities.

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Service Program Staff

Cathy Kramer

Brooke Millsaps

Shuli Archer

Dean of Service

Assistant Dean for Service-Learning

Director of Student Engagement

Mara McLaughlin-Taylor

Missy Harris

Kelsey Brown

Service Program Manager

Break Trip Program Coordinator

AmeriCorps VISTA

Special Recognition to Nora White, Temporary Director of Student Engagement, Fall 2014, and Annie Jonas, Service-Learning Faculty Liaison

Service Program Advisory Committee

Community Partner Advisory Committee

Students Isabel Harger, Ana Lara, Claire Lamberg, Delilah Scott Staff Brian Ammons, Stan Cross, Dan Seeger, Wendy Seligmann, Natasha Shipman Faculty Geoffrey Habron, Alisa Hove, Annie Jonas, Kevin Kehrberg, Jessa Madosky, Jill Overholt, Christine Swoap

Barbara Bell – Loving Food Resources Norma Brown –Children First/CIS Eric Bradford – Asheville Greenworks Ashely Campbell - Homeward Bound Jamye Davis – Big Brothers, Big Sisters Sandy Drake – Friends and Neighbors of Swannanoa Jill Edwards – Town of Black Mountain Brenda Ross - Black Mountain NeuroMedical Treatment Center Susan Sides – The Lord’s Acre

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Bonner Leaders Service Crew Greetings friends!

We’ve had another great year in the Bonner Leaders Program, full of exciting service opportunities led by our crew, as well as engaging and interesting cornerstone activities for our Bonner Leaders. Through leadership with weeklies and issue workshop program, our 25 Bonners provided Wilson students many ways to engage in the community, learn about themselves, and explore more about the issues. Through attending conferences and the annual Second Year Exchange with Wofford College and Mars Hill University, Bonners connected with students from other institutions engaged in this work. On our First Year Trip, we learned about the history of the Gullah Geechee Nation, shared a meal together, and engaged in service. We ended the year by taking a team to the Bonner Summer Leadership Institute and 25th anniversary celebration. We were elated to celebrate Norma Brown of the Family Resource Center at Emma for receiving one of the coveted B-Loved Awards, which honored a small group of people from the Bonner network for their commitment to Bonner’s mission and work.

With (Bonner) love to you all, Shuli

Senior Interns Ana Lara Amanda Wilson High Impact Intern Deanna Dragan Bonner Leaders Tayla Clark Sabrina Chmelir Patrick Downing Lyric Farmer Emily Fox Austin Fust Lia Kaz Hannah Kilpatrick

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Bonner Leaders Korey Largo Melvis Madrigal Stephanie Menjivar Emily Odgers Misha Perez Rafael Perez William Pioquinto Jada Sheeler Pearl-Lynnae Smith Sam Stone Maria-Betania Villalba Brian Wuertz Jasmine Woo

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Our Year Start to Finish: Orientation and Service Awards August 2014 New Student Orientation 291 students served 1746 hours with 22 organizations across Buncombe County addressing the issue of Food Security

January 2015 New Student Orientation/MLK Day More than 42 students served over 252 hours at Hall Fletcher Elementary in multiple projects addressing the issue of Youth and Education

Service Awards and Recognition Ceremony May 2015 Thomas Crumpler Award for Staff Leadership in Service: BK Segall, Library Andrew Summers Award for Faculty Leadership in Service: Jen Mozolic, Psychology Faculty Grace Lee Peace Award for Community Leadership in Service: Natalie Hand & Justin Levy, Conscious Alliance Work Crew Award: Katrina Hoven, Modern Languages Crew Service and Peace Awards (Undergraduates): Audrey VanderBoon & Melvis Aldevaran Madrigal Senior Awards: Ben Algeroy, Christina Brown, Kyle Crowder, Claire Doemland, Deanna Dragan, Lia Kaz, Ana Lara, Julia Lehr, De’Andrea Lottier, Peter Simmons, TK Young Frederick G. Ohler Senior Service Award: Christina Brown

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Capacity Building with our VISTA Kelsey Brown, our 2014-2015 Asheville City Schools Foundation AmeriCorps VISTA, was tasked with bringing individuals and communities out of poverty, specifically by creating and strengthening programming in the area of Youth and Education.

“I worked with a cohort of 13 other VISTAs from Asheville City Schools Foundation to fill unmet needs in the schools. One of the great things about working at Warren Wilson is that I constantly heard, ‘Warren Wilson volunteers are the best volunteers’ from many of the other VISTAs.” Kelsey oversaw the return of Eco-Team, a hands on, environmental education program for 3rd grade classrooms. This year 14 WWC students taught 15 classrooms in 5 elementary schools Other capacity building efforts: • Built partnerships with Asheville High Accelerate and YWCA • Provided training for Service Learning classes working with schools • Researched possibilities for creative reflection and community based work crews • Coordinated 4 education workshops to increase students’ understanding of complex social issues.

• Summer internships position with Hall Fletcher Elementary

“

I was part of EcoTeam as a third grader at Bell Elementary. It was one of the most influential parts of elementary school.

I remember each lesson and now I have the opportunity to teach…

It is a fun position to be in because for each lesson I know what was exciting and confusing as a third grader…

I was actually teaching in my second grade teacher's classroom, in the physical room next to my first grade classroom.

I love teaching with her because she challenged me as a student and continues to push me as an EcoTeam teacher. She plays an active role during our visits, modeling certain ways of communicating with the class and giving us the place to struggle. Teaching EcoTeam was the highlight of my week. It feels great to be able to go back to contribute to providing the experiences I was fortunate enough to have in elementary school.

Brian Wuertz, ‘18

Photo courtesy Asheville Citizen-Times

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Break Trips Each semester, student co-leaders plan and facilitate week-long service experiences for a group of Warren Wilson College students.

Students spend the week learning about a specific issue and engaging in service with a community organization. A faculty/staff Learning Partner accompanies each Break Trip.

Break Away, a national organization that promotes quality alternative break programs, ranked Warren Wilson number four in the country in percentage of break trip participants on campus, with more than 10% of the entire student population involved.

98% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that “I have a responsibility to be an engaged member of my community.”

We assisted with a variety of projects to help address the issue of mountaintop removal from multiple fronts. One of the biggest problems with the push to stop mining is that the economy would collapse entirely if the biggest industry around suddenly left.

Diversifying the economy of the affected areas is key to ensuring the people could withstand the shift. One way of bringing in alternative industry is through ecotourism. We helped a member of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards build mountain bike trails to draw in hikers and mountain bikers that would hopefully bring more business to local restaurants and other establishments.

-Alexandra Briggs (Mountaintop Removal – VA/WV)

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Break Trips in Detail 8 Trips (4 Fall, 4 Spring) 80 Student Participants 8 Faculty/Staff Learning Partners 8509 total miles

Fall 2014 Farming, Gardening, and Handcrafting in Kimberton Hills Camphill Village an intentional community for adults with developmental disabilities.

Kimberton, PA Clearing the Path for the Future of the Cumberland Island Wilderness Preserve National Park Service Cumberland Island, GA The Changing Landscape of Detroit Brother Nature/Earthworks Capuchin Soup Kitchen/Repair the World/D-Town Farm Detroit, MI Marine Education in Virginia Beach Virginia Beach Aquarium Virginia Beach, VA

Spring 2015 A Glimpse into Immigration Culture Alterna Community/Koinonia Farm/ Americus Mennonite Fellowship LaGrange, GA and Americus, GA Seas the Day Hugh Taylor Birch State Park Ft. Lauderdale, FL grassroots: The Fundamentals Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards Appalachia, VA On Rock? Rock On! Friends of Muir Valley Muir Valley/Red River Gorge, KY 

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Issue Area Programming Issue Workshops Through this program, students have the opportunity to engage in an eight week long workshop focusing on issue education, action, and policy/advocacy work, strengthening their understanding of the complexity of the issue.

• 4 issue workshops occurred in the spring semester • 10 Bonner Leaders facilitated • 28 Warren Wilson students participated Focus Areas: home weatherization, community gardens as a space for community building, nutrition education, and music therapy for people with developmental disabilities.

95% of participants agreed/strongly agreed that “I collaborated with a community partner in a way that I was able to contribute to their work and learn something.”

Site Placements Every year new Bonner Leaders commit to serving in a miniinternship with a community partner in their issue area. This year, they served over 250 hours with these partners: Asheville Greenworks Black Mountain Neuro-Medical Treatment Center Bounty & Soul Common Ground Family Resource Center at Emma Homeward Bound MANNA FoodBank Bonner Summer Internships In the summer of 2014, we provided scholarships to five crew members to spend their summers interning locally, nationally, and internationally with the following organizations: • A Living Library (San Francisco, CA) • Asheville GreenWorks (North Carolina) • Family Resource Center at Emma (Asheville, NC) • Foundation of Research and Support for the State of Amapa (Brazil) • HARBEL Community Organization (Baltimore, MD) Collectively, our five interns contributed over 1400 hours to these organizations.

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The Peg 2 nutrition workshop has given me so much by presenting me with the opportunity to not only give back to the community, but to learn more about the food issues that exist within communities. Very few workshops I've taken part in have made me want to delve into the subject deeper, but with this nutrition workshop, that's exactly what I did…

The guest speakers helped me shape my views on the food system, and the cooking class was a phenomenal success…

The service aspect of this workshop was without a doubt the most influential section to me…Getting to know the clients over the few weeks I spent volunteering made me want to continue to be a part of their lives so I can gaze on that strength once more and feel inspired, so I have made the decision to continue volunteering with Loving Food Resources.

Sincerely, Lillian

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Service By Issue Area Environment 7,629.25 hours weatherizing homes, cleaning rivers, collecting hard-to-recycle materials, and removing invasive plant species with Community Action Opportunities, Asheville GreenWorks, and MountainTrue Food Security 10,249.75 hours working in community gardens, local food banks, and pantries with Dr. Wilson Community Garden, The Lord’s Acre, Loving Food Resources, Bounty & Soul, and MANNA FoodBank Housing & Homelessness 6,076.75 hours building houses, collecting furniture donations for a permanent housing program, working at a day shelter, and with a mobile womens’ shelter. with Habitat for Humanity, Homeward Bound, AHOPE, and Room in the Inn Race & Immigration 5,747.25 hours participating in a community dialogue on race, mentoring Latino youth, and sharing a meal at a weekly community gathering with Building Bridges, Family Resource Center at Emma, and Shiloh Community Association Youth & Education 16,027 hours mentoring elementary and middle schoolers with Asheville City Schools Foundation, Buncombe County Schools, and Big Brothers Big Sisters In addition, students led weekly trips in the areas of Animal Welfare and Health.

Service in Campus Groups Athletics Teams: 741.5 Campus Organizations: 2,262.75 Residential Life: 94 Work Crews: 12,001

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Academic Initiatives/Collaborations With the implementation of the Community Engagement Commitment, the Service Program Office has expanded the collaborations with academic programs to include service-learning, faculty engaged scholarship, community-based research and community engaged senior projects. In particular, students enrolled in the Natural Science Undergraduate Research Sequence have increasingly chosen to work with community agencies to research a community-identified question. This past year, seven students in this sequence elected a community-engaged research approach. With the full implementation of the Community Engagement Commitment and emphasis on deep and sustained community engaged experiences for all students, we expect this trend to continue.

 

By the Numbers 44 classes: 12 First Year Seminars 25 service-learning designated courses 7 courses with significant service 24 faculty representing 12 departments Departments with Service-Learning Courses Anthropology, Art, Education, Environmental Studies, First Year Seminar, Modern Languages, Music, Outdoor Leadership, Psychology, Religious Studies, Social Work, Sociology

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Faculty Development and Scholarship Service-Learning Fellows The Service-Learning Fellows Program is a semester-long opportunity for faculty to engage in a series of workshops designed to increase the understanding and impact of service-learning courses.

2015 Service-Learning Fellows: ❖ Mark Brenner – Biology/Environmental Studies ❖ Christey Carwile – Anthropology ❖ Candace Taylor – Theatre Engaged Scholars Faculty at Warren Wilson College are increasingly pursuing Community Engaged Scholarship and the scholarship of service-learning. This past year, 9 faculty representing 10 departments participated in 2 half-day retreats that focused on learning about engaged scholarship, sharing ideas and best practices, and providing feedback regarding individual projects. Additionally, this group hosted a college-wide scholarship gathering which led to institutionally supported time for faculty to work on individual scholarship.

Scholarship: Burleson, K. A. (2015). Practicing life-long learning and global citizenship on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. In N. W. Sobania (Ed.) Putting the Local in Global Education: Models for Transformative Learning Through Domestic Off-Campus Programs. Stylus Press, Sterling, VA. Burleson, K.A. Development of Cultural Mindedness: A Guidebook for Generating Stronger Intercultural Service. Available at interculturalservice.org Burleson, K. A., Levy, J. Jones, T. & Lehr, J. (Sept. 2014). Learning journey towards leadership within an intercultural service learning program. Stakeholder panel presentation at International Association for Research in Service Learning and Community Engagement, New Orleans, LA. Jonas, A. High Impact Practices, Far Reaching Ripples for Transition for First Year Students, SC Campus Compact Civic Engagement Leadership Summit, April 17. 2015.

Institute on Community Engaged Learning & Research For the first time, Warren Wilson College, Mars Hill University and UNC Asheville collaborated to develop a 1 ½ day institute for faculty from all three schools. Dr. Richard Kiely, Director of Engaged Learning + Research at Cornell University, served as faculty-in-residence, guiding the interinstitutional and interdisciplinary group through facilitated conversations. 10 Warren Wilson faculty members representing 8 departments attended.

Recognitions ❖ The Director of the Common Ground ESL program at Hall Fletcher Elementary, a 2015 Asheville City Schools Foundation Community Champion, highlighted the value of the Warren Wilson College partnership to the success of the program. Students engage through through 4 Spanish servicelearning classes, a weekly site placement, a work crew assignment, and a Bonner-led weekly service opportunity. ❖ Black Mountain Neuro-Medical Treatment Center recognized Warren Wilson College Service Program as "Volunteers of the Year." Students engage through 2 service-learning classes - Adult Development and Mural Painting, a weekly site placement, and a Bonner-led weekly service opportunity.

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Presentations and Publications

Presentations by Service Program Staff and Crew ❖ ❖ ❖

❖ ❖ ❖ ❖

Bonner Director’s Meeting, “Making the Model Work for You: Service-Learning Seminars” Hugh O'Brian Advanced Leadership Academy, Featured Speaker Bonner Summer Leadership Institute: “The Vision of Service for 2020” “Lessons Learned: Designing Shared Professional Development Opportunities for Community Partners and Faculty” “Strategies and Conversations on Creative Reflection” Coalition of colleges (Mars Hill, WWC and UNCA): Community Partner Workshops Asheville City Schools VISTAs Training, “Facilitating Reflection” Campus Compact: “Citizenship, Service, Networking and Partnerships” Asheville MLK Day Program, “Ferguson Activism: Students’ First-Hand Accounts”

Student Published Work Deanna Dragan ‘15, Undergraduate Journal of Service-Learning and Community-Based Research Research Project: Exploration of the Relationship between Well-Being and Burden in Family Caregivers: A Community Based Research Project Reflection: It’s Not Always about the Final Product: The Challenges and Rewards of Community-Based Research

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2014-15 By the Numbers   Geography

3%

We continue to focus on developing key partnerships within the Asheville/Buncombe community in order to have a greater local impact. Two-thirds of our service took place in this community and almost 75% in North Carolina. The quarter of hours that occurred in the remainder of the United States increased slightly since last year and is likely due to students doing service while away from campus on breaks. International hours, are completed through classes.

25%

4%

Asheville/Buncombe US, Outside of NC

68%

North Carolina International

16%

By Class Year We continue to see the large majority of hours completed by juniors and seniors.

This can partly be explained by the prevalence of internships, which typically consist of several hundred hours. We will continue to track trends in service by class year as the Community Engagement Commitment moves forward.

47%

16%

22%

First Years WARREN WILSON COLLEGE SERVICE PROGRAM 14-15

Sophomores

Juniors

Seniors 15

Service Hours By Issue Area

Animal Welfare Arts and Culture Environment Food Security Health Housing & Homelessness LGBTQIA Other Race & Immigration Relationship Violence Youth & Education 0

4500

9000

13500

18000

The “Other” issue area includes, but is not limited to, service in the areas of geriatrics, community development, economic justice, and social justice work.

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Service Hours By Category  Athletics Break Trips Campus Organizations Independent Internships Issue Based Programs Residential Life SPO Sponsored Programs Service-Learning Courses Work Crews 0

3500

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7000

10500

14000

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Five-Year Look Enrollment

60000

Total Hours

58,065.5 54,330 45000

52,291

47,903

48,693

924

906

852

832

824

2010-2011

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

2014-15

30000

15000

0

Total service hours continue to rise through variable enrollment. 

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Recognitions Carnegie Classification: Warren Wilson College was awarded the Carnegie Foundation’s 2015 Community Engagement Classification. This is considered the national “gold standard” in recognizing programs that demonstrate collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources. We believe our growth and current strength in both the quantity and quality of offerings for student learning through service and our ability to understand and demonstrate our impact with the community led to our classification. Warren Wilson is among 17 baccalaureate colleges nationwide to receive the classification for the first time in 2015, joining a group of 361 prestigious programs awarded the classification since 2006.

President’s Honor Roll: Warren Wilson College has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction. Over 500 institutions are named to the Honor Roll each year by the Corporation for National and Community Service based on an extensive application outlining engagement of students with the community and the impact that they have on meeting critical community and national needs. Of those, the top 120 are identified as extraordinary and exemplary and are given the “With Distinction” designation.

US News and World Report: U.S. News and World Report has named Warren Wilson as one of the top 20 academic programs to watch in Service-Learning, defined as the use of volunteering in the community as an instructional strategy and a requirement of a student's course work. In spring 2014 they invited college presidents, chief academic officers, deans of students and deans of admissions from more than 1,500 schools to nominate up to 10 institutions with stellar examples of service learning. Colleges and universities that were mentioned most often are listed in this top 20.

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Thank You to ALL of Our Community Partners!

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