2012-13 warren wilson college service program annual report
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SERVICE PROGRAM OFFICE
2012-2013 Annual Report
2
Top 10 Ranking
Service Category
Honor Roll With Distinction
2013
2012-2013
Service Program
Recognition
Greetings, This year was a very successful one in the Service Program with new beginnings, continued successes and the revival of some exciting initiatives. We implemented the Community Engagement Commitment, our new developmentally based service requirement for students. Based on two years of study, research and planning this unique and innovative model moves us from an hours based requirement to a commitment that asks all students to engage more deeply in exploring their own passions and also in understanding the social and environmental issues that they care about. In support of our new model, we have continued to increase the number and the quality of our course-based service-learning opportunities with more faculty teaching more courses than ever before. We have also re-energized our issue workshop offerings providing education, direct service and advocacy opportunities around specific topics. Finally, our relationships with community partners continue to grow and we are excited to have a vibrant 10-member Community Partner Advisory Board to consult with us on making sure our program meets community needs in a meaningful way. It is a time of transition, excitement, growth and all the challenges that go along with that for our program. We appreciate the broad support we receive from both campus and community partners and collaborators and look forward to another productive year ahead! Best, Cathy
Fro
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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.
Top 25 Academic Programs to Look For
Service-Learning
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Service Program
Advisory Committee
Faculty
Amy Boyd • Siti Kusujiarti • Lucy Lawrence
Erin Montero • Marty O’Keefe • Graham Paul
Students
Marissa Bramlett • Felicia Hall
Isabel Harger • Beau Ohlgren • Ilinca Popescu
Emily Sprouse • Nora White
Staff
Dustin Rhodes • Dan Seeger
Wendy Seligman • Ally Wilson
Service Program Staff
Cathy Kramer
Dean of Service
Shuli Archer
Director of Student Engagement
Karen Kyle
Service Coordinator
Siti Kusujiarti
Faculty Liaison for Service-Learning
Brooke Millsaps
Director of Service-Learning
Jacqui Trillo
AmeriCorps VISTA
Community Partner
Advisory Committee
Norma Brown
Children First/Communities in Schools
Ashley Campbell
Homeward Bound
Jamye Davis
Big Brothers Big Sisters
Jill Edwards
Town of Black Mountain
Bob Gale
Western North Carolina Alliance
Jay Lively
Asheville City Schools Foundation
Sophia Papadopoulos
Friends and Neighbors of Swannanoa
Susan Sides
The Lord’s Acre
Jack St. Clair
Black Mountain Neuro-Medical
Treatment Center
Mike Stevenson
Loving Food Resources
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2012-2013
Bonner Senior
Interns
Meron Amare
Emily Chiara
Bonner Leaders
Service Crew
Marissa Bramlett
Rob Compton
Deanna Dragan
Caroline Duble
Rita Gunter
Iliana Hernandez
Lia Kaz
Hannah Kilpatrick
Ana Lara
Ben Malmborg
Autum Martin
Manhattan Mathurin-Neville
Blanca Perez
Misha Perez
Emma Post
Delilah Scott
Samrawit Sisay
Emily Sprouse
Emma Van Scoy
Nora White
Vivian Williamson
Amanda Wilson
Jasmine Woo
Bonner Leaders Service Crew
1st Year Trip
The First Year Trip takes first year crew members to participate in educational and service activities in a
geographic region outside their campus community. This year, 11 crew members and 1 staff member travelled to
Washington, DC for a trip focused on advocacy and engagement. Highlights of the trip include: visits to DC
landmarks, a panel presentation by non-profit leaders, and service as peacekeepers for a march for marriage equality.
2nd Year Exchange
The second year exchange facilitates community building in the larger Bonner network and provides the opportunity for
training, service and reflection. This year, WWC hosted Bonner scholars from Wofford College. Together, WWC and Wofford students participated in WWC’s Spring Into Action
conference, a student-run conference focused on engagement, advocacy, and action. The day ended with
time to reflect on the workshops and learn more about the
similarities and differences between the two schools.
Presentations
Crew members present at various conferences, both on and off campus, throughout the year. Presentations this year
included:
The WWC Community Engagement Commitment - NC Campus Compact Student Conference, Wilmington, NC
The Language of Service - Warren Wilson College MLK Day Conference
Spirituality and Service - IMPACT, Albuquerque, NM
The Language of Service - Warren Wilson College Spring Into
Action Conference
Internships
Each year the Service Program is able to offer scholarships to
Bonner Leaders Service Crew students to engage in internships
around the country and the world. In the summer of 2012, six students
received funding:
Meron Amare - Counseling Intern
Mountain BizWorks - Asheville, NC
Emily Chiara - Garden Intern
The Lord’s Acre - Fairview, NC
Autum Martin - Farm Intern
Garden Raised Bounty (GRuB) - Olympia, WA
Blanca Perez - Education Outreach
Intern
South Central Farmers’ Health & Education Fund - Los Angeles, CA
Breanna Ryan - English Teacher
Love Volunteers - Rabat, Morocco
Nora White - Garden Intern
Bread & Roses - Olympia, WA
The Warren Wilson College Bonner Leader Program is supported in part through the Corella and
Bertram F. Bonner Foundation, which provides funding, training and technical assistance to
community service and service-learning scholarship and leadership programs at colleges and
universities across the eastern United States. The mission of the Bonner Foundation is to transform
the lives of students, their campuses and local communities through providing access to education
and the experience to serve. 20-25 Warren Wilson students participate on the Bonner Leaders
Service crew and their efforts are centralized through the College's Service Program. As crew
members in the Warren Wilson College Work Program, students dedicate 15 hours per week to the
establishment and leadership of community engagement activities such as co-curricular and service
-learning projects, alternative break trips and issue education workshops.
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Year
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Aquatics • Campus Support • Ceramics • Environmental Justice • Forestry
Landscaping • Library • Basketball • Old Time String Band • Rentals & Renovations
Residence Hall • Swim Team • Women’s Basketball • Women’s Soccer
B� T ! N#$%!&'
Work Crews
9 crews engaged in
632.5 hours of service
Athletic Teams
4 athletic teams engaged in
690 hours of service
Campus Organizations & Residence Life
2 organizations and multiple
residence life communities engaged
in 159 hours of service
Campus Groups
During the 2012-2013 academic year,
818 Warren Wilson College Students
served over 275 Community Partners
and
engaged in over 54,613 hours of service to
local, national, and global communities.
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Fall Break
• 4o students participated in 4 trips and completed 1,411 hours of service
Spring Break
• 45 students participated in 5 trips and completed 1,608 hours of service
I left the trip feeling incredibly inspired and impassioned. I felt this strong need to change
everything about my life at Wilson. I changed my major, my work crew, my housing situation. I
realized that if I was going to be anywhere close to being as happy and driven as the people I
had met on my trip that I needed to start with myself. I needed to change my path so that I
could eventually go on to help others on their path. I met so many people who were beautiful
examples of how it really only takes one person who is willing to commit to a cause to make a
viable difference to a community. I have never felt as hopeful about the future as I did when I
left New York that week. - WWC Break Trip Participant
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Break Trip Program
90% of students agreed or strongly agreed
that they have a deeper understanding of
the issue as a result of the Break Trip
experience.
89% of students have a better
understanding about how to get involved in
the trip’s social and/or environmental issue
as a result of their break trip experience.
Each year, student co-leaders plan and facilitate weeklong service experiences for a group of Warren Wilson College students. Students spend the week learning about an
issue and engaging in service with the community.
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WWC was recognized by Break Away as #2 in the country for
“Highest Percentage of Breakers on Campus.”
Fall 2012 Break Trips
Camping on Cumberland: Preserving a Georgia Barrier Island
Dumping in Dixie: Environmental Discrimination and Community Marginalization in New Orleans
Growing Apples in the Big Apple: Urban Agriculture and Community Sustainability in New York City
Shovels ‘N’ Rope: Land Conservation in Muir Valley, KY
Spring 2013 Break Trips
Living La Vida Local: Agricultural Approaches to Food Security in Buncombe County, NC
Missouri Loves Company…And Conservation!: Conservation and Education in St. Louis, MO
Rally in Raleigh: Community Development in Sanford, NC
Shovels ‘N’ Rope: Land Conservation in Muir Valley, KY
Spreading the Mulch: Expanding Access to Farming in Lynchburg, VA
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Year
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This year, issue workshops were revitalized with 11 Bonner Leaders facilitating and 32 Warren Wilson
students participating in the workshops. Through this program, students have the opportunity to
engage in an 8-week-long workshop focusing on issue education, action,
and policy and/or advocacy work, thus strengthening their understanding of the complexity of the issue and their capacity to be effectively involved.
By the Numbers:
When asked “As a result of this
workshop…”
• 82.8% of students responded that
they can identify root causes of the
issue.
• 81.07% of students indicated they
would continue to engage with the
issue and/or agency they partnered
with.
“I had such a great experience for
sure, and I feel like I have a great
appreciation for what a community
garden can mean and symbolize to
individuals (as a result of this
workshop).”
–WWC Issue Workshop Participant
“The long-term effect the Housing and Homelessness experience has had on my life stretches
even further since I have incorporated what I learned into my studies at Warren Wilson in
Social Work and into other experiences where I engaged in strengthening community
relationships.”—WWC Issue Workshop Participant
Issue Area Programming
Issue area programming is led by our Bonner Leaders Service Crew. Crew members collaborate with
community partners to organize and facilitate ongoing service opportunities and issue workshops for
other Warren Wilson College students. Issue workshops are designed to deepen students'
understanding of and involvement with a particular issue through education and action.
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Environment: Students served 15,433 hours
Regular Service Opportunities: Home weatherization for low-income families
Issue Workshop: Land Conservation
Key Community Partners: Asheville Greenworks, Community Action Opportunities, Western North Carolina Alliance
Food Security: Students served 7,644 hours
Regular Service Opportunities: 2 community gardens, local food bank, and local food pantry
Issue Workshop: Community Gardens & Empowerment
Key Community Partners: Black Mountain Community Garden, Loving Food Resources, MANNA Food Bank, The Lord’s Acre
Housing & Homelessness: Students served 4,524 hours
Regular Service Opportunities: Move-ins and canvassing with a permanent housing program
Issue Workshop: Housing First
Key Community Partners: Habitat for Humanity, Homeward Bound
Race & Immigration: Students served 2,023 hours
Regular Service Opportunities: Leadership development with Latino youth; community dialogue on race
Issue Workshop: Collaborated with Community Gardens & Empowerment and Education Reform workshops
Key Community Partners: Building Bridges, Buncombe County Migrant Education Program, Emma Family Resource Center
Youth & Education: Students served 12,998 hours
Regular Service Opportunities: 3 mentoring programs
Issue Workshop: Education Reform
Key Community Partners: ArtSpace Charter School, Asheville City Schools Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Buncombe County - Owen District schools
The Service Program has given increased attention to strengthening partnerships in the following five issue areas.
The ongoing partnerships facilitated by the Bonner Leader Service Crew and the overall student engagement
within these issue areas are shown below.
Other Issue Areas In addition to the five key issue area partners, Warren Wilson College also partners with the following agencies
Regular Service Opportunities: Animal Welfare -Weekly caretaking of animals at an animal shelter;
Health - participate in weekly music activity with residents of health care center.
Key Community Partners: Animal Compassion Network, Black Mountain Neuro-Medical Treatment Center, Friends and Neighbors of Swannanoa (FANS), Global Village, Just Economics
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Year
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81.07% of students agreed or strongly agreed that service-learning strengthened the learning experience of the course.
“I think the course concepts were
very intertwined with the service
trips. The classroom concepts were
not only demonstrated, but served
as a framework for how to reflect
and engage with the
service. Really enjoyable and
fruitful experience.”
- WWC Service-Learning
Student
By The Numbers
47 Courses
• 8 First Year Seminars
• 4 study abroad courses
• 2 immersion experiences
368 students served 8,075 hours
through service-learning courses
26 faculty, representing
11 departments, taught service-
learning courses
Service-Learning
Departments with Service-Learning Courses
Anthropology • Biology • Chemistry • Education • Environmental Studies
First Year Seminar • Global Studies • Modern Languages • Outdoor Leadership
Psychology • Social Work
Service-Learning has a long history at Warren Wilson College and continues to evolve. In the
past two years an increasing number of faculty have engaged with service-learning and
students have increased community engagement through service-learning courses by 60%.
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Team Fellows
Sydney Idzikowski Student
Lucy Lawrence Social Work Faculty
Deborah Lundy Community Partner with First at Blue Ridge
SWK 320 - Practice I course
Jessa Madosky Biology/Environmental Studies Faculty
Sue Stuska Community Partner with National Park Service
Kelly Wilson Student
ENS 310 - Conservation Biology
Individual Fellows
Jill Edwards - Community Partner with the Town of Black Mountain.
Will partner with Biology Plant Physiology Course in 2014-2015
Jeff Keith - Global Studies Faculty
GBL 298 - Engaging Appalachia
Jay Lively - Community Partner with Asheville City Schools Foundation.
Partnering with 2 First Year Seminars: Voices of the Caribbean and
Music of the 19th and 20th Centuries
Erin Montero - Modern Languages Faculty
LAN 353 - Latin American Culture
Julie Wilson - Director of Writing Center
WRI 120 - College Composition I: Incarceration
“I loved being able to work with my team in order to shape our service-learning course. The
guidance from the workshops helped substantially and I'm really glad I took part in it!”
- 2013 Service-Learning Fellow
“I really enjoyed being part of a group that included students, community partners, and faculty. This
is a phenomenal part of the program.” - 2013 Service-Learning Fellow
Service-Learning Fellows Program
In its second year, the Service-Learning Fellows Program invited community partners, faculty and
students to participate and adopted a hybrid model of individual and team participants.
The 2013 Service-Learning Fellows Program was funded by the Black Mountain - Swannanoa Valley Foundation, Lipscomb
Family Foundation Fund, and Janirve Legacy Fund of The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina.
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Each year the Service Program recognizes
the exceptional service careers of
graduating seniors and one faculty, staff
member and community partner.
Senior Service Award Winners
Tsepak Dolker • Meron Amare • Nicholas Biemiller
Emily Chiara • Felicia Hall • Casey McManus
Courtney Newsome • Beau Ohlgren
The Andrew Summers Award for Faculty Leadership in Service-Learning
Annie Jonas - Education Department
The Tom Crumpler Award for Staff Leadership in Service
Dan Seeger - Director of Student Activities
The Grace Lee Peace Community Partner Award
Bob Gale - Western North Carolina Alliance
At the beginning of each semester, the Service Program At the beginning of each semester, the Service Program At the beginning of each semester, the Service Program At the beginning of each semester, the Service Program
organizes an orientation service event for all new students. organizes an orientation service event for all new students. organizes an orientation service event for all new students. organizes an orientation service event for all new students.
Service Day: Fall orientation with focus on food security:
• 19 Community Partners, including school gardens, community
gardens and food banks
• Over 300 participants
• Over 1,700 hours served
MLK Challenge: Winter orientation with focus on education
• Partnered with Hall Fletcher Elementary
• 25 students participated
• Over 150 hours served Orientation
Senior Service
Awards
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2012-2
013 b
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bers
During the past few years, the Service Program has focused on developing key partnerships within the
Asheville/Buncombe community in specific issue areas. Through this focused partnership development in our
local community, we hope to have a greater community impact. This graph indicates that a significant portion
of students’ community engagement occurs in the Asheville/Buncombe County region and that our increased
efforts to engage students locally continue to be successful.
43,300
79%
2,266
4%
2,427
5%
6,619
12%
Asheville/Buncombe Area
International Projects
North Carolina (except
Buncombe County)
United States (except North
Carolina)
Service Hours by Geographic Area
Service Hours by Academic Year The following graph shows the breakdown of service hours by students’ year in school. Please note that
community engagement hours through the Eco-team and MACFC work crews as well as ELC internships are
excluded from this particular data set.
6,220.65
21%
6,010
20%
7,951.96
26%
10,170
33%
63
0%
1st Year
2nd Year
3rd Year
4th Year
Other
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Service Hours by Issue Area
The Service Program Office focuses its programming around 5 issue areas:
Environment, Food Security, Housing & Homelessness, Race & Immigration and
Youth & Education. We also support students and faculty who pursue
meaningful partnerships outside of these 5 areas. The graph below shows the
issue areas in which Warren Wilson College students engaged during the 2012-
2013 academic year.
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
15
2008-2009 2009-2010 *2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013
Service Hours 29,394 26,950 47,903 48,693 54,330
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
2008-2009 2009-2010 *2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013
2012-2
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bers
5 Year Look at Total Service Hours
In the *2010-2011 academic year we started including student internship and work
crew hours that are consistent with the goals of the Service Program and our
external reporting. This includes Eco-team, MACFC, and Service Program work
crews as well as Bonner, ELC, and Social Work Internships. Of particular interest
to the Service Program is that the number of hours continues to increase at the
same time that the number of students enrolled in the college each academic
year has decreased. We infer from this that individually, students are engaging
with more service each year.
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0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013
5 Year Look at Service Hours by Category
Break Trips Campus and Non-Crew Led Groups
Individual Orientation
SPO Crew-led Service Service-Learning Courses
2012-2
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During the past 5 years, the Service Program has changed focus on types of programming
offered in order to better support student learning and respond more appropriately to
community needs. Some particular points of consideration:
• The organization of the Bonner Leaders Service Crew has changed considerably since 2008
-2009. During the 2010-2011 academic year, the Service Program made a conscious choice
to significantly decrease one-time trip offerings facilitated by the Bonner Leaders Service
Crew and focus on more in-depth opportunities. As a result, the Bonner Leaders Service
crew has been able to focus on strengthening the quality of community engagement and
not just the quantity of opportunities. Additionally, crew members have increased the
time in which they serve as resources for students interested in finding meaningful ways to
engage in the community.
• The Director of Service-Learning and Faculty Liaison for Service-Learning positions started
during the 2009-2010 year. These positions focus primarily on academic initiatives and
strengthening the quality and quantity of service-learning course offerings.
5 Year Look at
Service Hours by Category