Telling Our Story Wartburg College Center for Community Engagement
DISTINCTIVE ◆ • MISSION-DRIVEN ◆ • SIGNATURE PROGRAMS ◆ • THE FUTURE
Center for Community Engagement Awards and Recognition ◆ The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, four times, twice with “distinction” ◆ Community Engagement Classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching ◆ The MacJannet Prize for Global Citizenship ◆ The Washington Center’s Higher Education Civic Engagement Award ◆ State of Iowa Governor’s Volunteer Award (Special Disaster Award) ◆ No. 1 ranking (2010) among local chapters of Break Away, national alternative break organization, for percentage of students on service trips during breaks ◆ Key to the City of Waverly, Iowa (Flood Disaster Work)
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Where We Began artburg College began a new initiative, Discovering and Claiming Our Callings, in 2002 to focus on vocational discernment and preparation. Supported by a $2 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, the initiative was designed to touch every aspect of campus life through the enhancement of leadership, service, and civic engagements endeavors.
Among the many recommendations was the need for a center to act as a “door to the community.” The administration and Board of Regents subsequently created the Center for Community Engagement in 2005 for that purpose. Today, the CCE is the umbrella for signature programs connecting students, faculty, and staff with local and regional partners—whether it is with schools, through internships, faith-based connections, courses dedicated to a service curriculum, or service trips across America. Or, as in the case of the Midwest flood of ’08, the CCE coordinated relief efforts, becoming the place where people devastated by the flood and those wishing to volunteer could come together for a common cause. Wartburg College is pleased to provide a snapshot of the accomplishments and challenges of the Center for Community Engagement. We are proud and yet humbled by our mission, and look forward to the next five years … and beyond.
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“My service trip was one of the most life-changing experiences I’ve ever had. I had no idea I could learn so much about life and myself within the span of one week—I came back a changed person with a renewed sense of purpose in helping others.” – Winter Break ’10 Participant
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Co-curricular Service to the Nation ven though the current generation of students is 50 years removed from President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural call to service, the answer to that call has never been greater at Wartburg College. Wartburg students come to campus with a desire to serve. Faculty and staff of the Center for Community Engagement help their goals become reality.
Since 1994, when the student-led Service Trips program was established, it has grown from a range of six to eight trips per year to 15-20. The positive impact has also expanded from a few locations to more than 80 different sites. Students have been a part of building houses for low-income families, gulf coast disaster relief, tutoring refugee immigrants, and even service through music in Chicago.
Pre-CCE
Post-CCE
In 2010, Break Away ranked Wartburg No. 1 of 150 alternative Spring Break chapter schools for the percentage of students involved in our program. On average, more than 15 percent of Wartburg’s student body participates in service trips.
The Volunteer Action Center Gives Back Locally Whether it is the track team serving at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, volunteers tutoring teens at the Bremwood Residential Treatment Center, visiting with the elderly at the Bartels Lutheran Retirement Community, or completing a painting project at a flooded retail store, Wartburg students show their eagerness to help. The student-led Volunteer Action Center responds to more than 50 volunteer requests and coordinates 900-plus student volunteers annually.
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Students and faculty from the IS 201: Disaster and Diversity course traveled to New Orleans on a servicelearning trip after spending time in the classroom learning about the effects of Hurricane Katrina.
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Serving Others Through the Classroom
ince service-based learning became a priority for Wartburg College, approximately 25 percent of Wartburg faculty now teach a service-learning course, resulting in more than 40 course-based community engagement opportunities for students.These curricular offerings are pervasive; therefore, Wartburg students graduate having engaged in intellectual, moral, and vocational pursuits that enrich communities.This ensures that Wartburg graduates are lifelong learners who positively impact their communities.The Center for Community Engagement and the Dean of the Faculty Office provide resources to faculty to ensure student learning and measurable community impact.Those resources include funding, evaluation tools, workshops, and an in-house developed faculty resource website for service-learning.
“Service-learning connects classroom learning to the real world. The experiences provided at service sites help students relate class discussion and readings to the issues and the very individuals who experience it.” – Dr. Kathy Book, associate professor of education
“There is nothing more valuable than witnessing a student transform from classroom learner to community leader.” – Dr. Tammy Faux, associate professor of social work
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Institute for Leadership Education
ne of the stronger collaborative relationships on campus is that which has evolved between the CCE and the Institute for Leadership Education. Dr. Fred Waldstein, director of the ILE and professor of political science, remarks,“The Center for Community Engagement has been a real asset in providing support services for programs undertaken by the Institute for Leadership Education.” Based on principles grounded in the Wartburg mission of challenging students for lives of leadership and service, the Institute for Leadership Education is an academic department committed to helping students understand and practice its definition of leadership,“taking responsibility for their communities and making them better through public action.” This has been accomplished through the Leadership Certificate Program, an academic minor, Community Builders, and the High School Leadership Institute, among others.The CCE has played a vital role in helping students meet their potential within the context of all of these programs.
LCP Graduates—Growth Over 10 Years
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Community Builders
artburg College believes it is more important than ever to take an intergenerational approach to better understand serving our communities locally and internationally. Community Builders was initiated in 2000 to promote discussion among Wartburg students, sixth-grade youth, and Cedar Valley adults who would lead by example for the younger generations. Each academic term, 80 Wartburg students, 200 elementary students from the Waverly-Shell Rock School District and St. Paul’s Lutheran School, and 25 adult volunteers participate in “neighborhoods” to focus on needs in local and global communities. During the fall, projects focus on the communities of Waverly and Shell Rock, while in the winter the attention shifts to the global community, such as providing feeding kits for babies in Central America and Nicaragua. During Wartburg’s four-week May Term, students travel to Nicaragua to complete service projects with two nongovernmental organizations—Waverly-based Self-Help International, which promotes self-reliance, and El Porvenir, a Nicaraguan NGO that seeks to improve the quality of life in rural areas.
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“Community Builders is unique in its ability to have three generations of citizens interacting with each other to learn how a healthy community operates and to extend this knowledge beyond community borders. The program also helps to bring awareness about the issues of hunger and poverty in other countries of the world, such as Nicaragua.” – Merry Fredrick, executive director, Self-Help International
Leane Yoder ’11, student teaching in 3rd grade classroom at West Cedar Elementary, Waverly.
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“Partnering motivated college students with our elementary students adds value to the total educational experience. It fosters positive relationships between the college student and K-4 students, and enhances the reciprocal nature of the partnerships between Wartburg College and the Waverly-Shell Rock Community School District.” – Micky Bahlmann, Carey and Shell Rock principal, Waverly
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Partnering in the Schools
ne of the most notable crossroads in the community is reached through Wartburg’s commitment to youth in the local schools and providing Wartburg education majors the opportunity to hone their knowledge, skills, and dispositions in preparation for a professional career in the classroom. In excess of 600 Wartburg students are placed annually in either field experiences or student teaching placements throughout the Cedar Valley. In addition, the Center for Community Engagement staff has developed numerous partnerships within the Waverly-Shell Rock School District and with surrounding schools such as St. Paul’s Lutheran School in Waverly, St. Patrick Catholic School in Cedar Falls, and Janesville Consolidated Schools. These valuable partnerships range from mentoring, tutoring, and childcare opportunities to programmatic initiatives and professional development experiences. A compliment to the college, the local community, and the state is that a high proportion of Wartburg graduates in education secure teaching positions and stay in Iowa, carrying on the college’s positive reputation.
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“A key element to improving student achievement is the development of meaningful partnerships. The Waverly-Shell Rock Community School District is fortunate to have such a relationship with Wartburg College.” – Jere Vyverberg, superintendent Waverly-Shell Rock Community School District
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“Because of the creation of The Center for Community Engagement, I went places. The value of the CCE isn’t simply in the internship placements it gives students or in the reference materials they provide. The value of the CCE is in how much the people who work there care and mentor students like me.”
Ryan Hahn ’08 attends the Grammy Awards in his position as International Marketing Assistant at Sony Music Entertainment
Internships Complement the Classroom
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ith the creation of the Center for Community Engagement and a dedicated internship coordinator, the college has been able to provide resources to students in all 50 majors. Since 2005, the coordinator has worked with the Dean of Faculty to increase for-credit internship standards and develop reflection and evaluation tools for both community partners and students.This has aided the college in assessing the success of Wartburg students in their out-of-the classroom experiences and providing students with deep learning opportunities through assigned curricular projects.The college is pleased that 40 percent of Wartburg students complete a minimum of one internship for-credit before graduation, and another 25 percent complete an internship for the experience alone. The CCE staff also helps coordinate the Career, Internship, Graduate School, and Post-Grad fairs to benefit students in their vocational search and to provide host opportunities to our community partners. Internships provide valuable vocational exploration and professional growth skills that often lead to full-time employment after graduation.
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“Wartburg interns? ‘Priceless.’ I have said to many, the kids coming out of Wartburg have a work ethic, drive, knowledge, and professionalism that is incredible.“ – Jim Mudd, Jr., CEO, Mudd Advertising
“The St. Paul’s Task Force is meeting regularly to expand partnerships between Wartburg College and St. Paul’s Lutheran School. Starting in the fall of 2011, look for special programs in the areas of science, mathematics, reading, and vocation. We celebrate our many current partnerships with Wartburg and are excited about these new initiatives.” – Christi Lines, principal St. Paul’s Lutheran School, Waverly
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Church Relations and Faith Community Outreach artburg College is a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Church Relations and Faith Community Outreach is a recent addition to the Center for Community Engagement. The CCE recognizes an ever-growing interest in reaching out to congregations of all faiths to share fellowship, ideas, and service.
Wartburg students find a variety of ways to explore their faith. • The CCE connects college resources to faith community partners. ◆ • Spiritual Life and Campus Ministry, in partnership with the CCE, provides students with opportunities ◆ for faith formation, interfaith dialogue, worship, spiritual life, and leadership.
• Faith community outreach celebrates religious diversity. ◆ The CCE looks forward to developing new opportunities to promote student learning, meet community needs, and enrich the Wartburg mission.
Blankets of Love for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Wartburg students created no-sew blankets for children of the Bremwood Residential Treatment Center, affiliated with Lutheran Services in Iowa. Before finishing each blanket, volunteers placed their hands on a felt heart, recited a prayer for the blanket recipient, and inserted the heart in the blanket.
“St. Mary’s Parish and Wartburg College have a long history of working together. This relationship strengthens both communities. It allows us to share our gifts and talents with one another. Working together helps form people of faith with a spirit of justice and peace. To this we say: ‘Amen!’” – Father Mike Tauke St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Waverly
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Wartburg West
or 25 years, Wartburg College has encouraged students to “live their learning” and explore vocational goals by spending a term off-campus in Denver, Colo. Each term, up to 20 Wartburg students representing majors across the academic horizon, live and study together in the college-owned facility in downtown Denver. Third- and fourth-year students are engaged in coursework in religion and interdisciplinary studies, while completing either an internship, social work practicum, or student teach. A new Sophomore Program, created in the fall of 2010, allows younger students to take classes and also gain valuable experiential learning through a beginning field experience in their major. The college also offers a summer program where students participate in an internship experience only. This distinguished program, led by two members of the Wartburg faculty, truly embodies Wartburg’s commitment to preparing students for lives of leadership and service following graduation. In addition to the formal curricular activities, students engage in service projects throughout Denver and study the urban issues of homelessness, poverty, and minority population growth in the West.
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“Spending a semester at Wartburg West was one of the best decisions I made while at Wartburg. Working in a downtown setting opened my eyes to life in an urban environment and allowed me to access what will be best for me in the future. The real-life internship provided me with knowledge you don’t get in the classroom. I believe I became more mature and better prepared for the workplace because of my experiences in Denver.” – Amy Daniels ’09, communication arts Wartburg students studying in Denver participate in the Pajama Crawl to raise awareness of homelessness in Denver, Colo.
Wartburg students visit the Center for Community Engagement to learn more about service trips, engaging in the classroom, leadership, internships, and faith-based opportunities.
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Looking to the Future hile we celebrate the accomplishments of the past, Wartburg College is eager to build on its vision for the Center for Community Engagement. We seek to strengthen Wartburg’s commitment to being internationally recognized for civic engagement, meeting the needs of the community while providing opportunities for students to learn and grow.
It’s an ambitious undertaking. Here are some thoughts about what the future might hold.The CCE will:
◆• Provide students with deep learning and reflection opportunities through programs and mentoring that connect to the Wartburg mission by challenging and nurturing students for lives of leadership and service as a spirited expression of their faith and learning.
◆• Capitalize on the addition of staff to expand opportunities for students to live their learning in communities of faith.
◆• Continue to grow the Center of Community Engagement as a distinctive and internationally recognized resource that positively impacts both students and the community.
◆• Strengthen our shared purpose with other experiential programs on campus, most notably the Institute for Leadership Education.
◆• Engage and serve the Cedar Valley and wider communities in ways that are mutually beneficial by leveraging talents and skills unique to the Wartburg College community.
◆• Actively seek to enrich the work of the CCE by inviting the ideas and cooperation of the broader Wartburg community.
Thank you to the students, administration, faculty, staff, and our community partners for their support. Without you we couldn’t do the important work of the Center for Community Engagement.
The Center for Community Engagement supports and encourages students, staff, and faculty in the development, coordination, and evaluation of external relationships that are effective for student learning and vocational development, advance public scholarship, and benefit our community partners.
Center for Community Engagement 204 Vogel Library 319-352-8701 cce@wartburg.edu www.wartburg.edu/cce
100 Wartburg Blvd. PO Box 1003 Waverly, IA 50677-0903 1-800-772-2085
Dedicated to challenging and nurturing students for lives of leadership and service as a spirited expression of their faith and learning