th
12
Annual Service-Learning
Student Showcase
Office of Experiential Learning
The annual event showcases service-learning projects where students
compete for over $12,000 in scholarships. Much like the Graduate and
Undergraduate Research Showcases, students from UCF colleges participate and benefit
from learning about academic programming experienced in various disciplines. Students
are required to create posters about their projects then present to scholarship
committee members and the general public. Each student or student team shares how
their service project aligns with course objectives, the value to the community,
and fosters civic responsibility.
Service-Learning Student Showcase Scholarships
($150-$1000 each)
Through the generosity of UCF’s Student Government Association, Colleges,
Interdisciplinary Studies, and the Office of Experiential Learning over $12,000 in
scholarships were awarded in 2015 to service-learning projects presented at the
showcase. The scholarship awards include:
Excellence in Graduate Engagement
Innovative Project
Youth Development
Capacity Building
Pedagogical Value
Quality of Display
Caliber of Reflection
Sustainability
•Environmental Sustainability
•Economic Sustainability
•Social Sustainability
Excellence in Graduate Engagement
Excellence in Undergraduate Engagement
Significant Impact
Literacy Engagement
Value to Agency
Enhancement of Civic Responsibility
Leadership
Peer Choice
Engaging Community Online Scholarship
The Office of Experiential Learning Scholarship
Students also receive Recognition Awards for Excellence for the following:
Non-Traditional Literacy Engagement
Social Justice
Technological Integration
Engaging the Arts
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
12th Annual Service-Learning Student Showcase Award Recipients 2015
Non-Traditional Literacy Engagement Award
Lyndsay Burginger
Course: CRW 3211 Introduction to Creative Nonfiction
Faculty Member(s): Laurie Uttich
Community Partner(s): UCF Storyteller Project
This project involves discovering the stories of American Veterans in the Central Florida area. Working closely with the UCF History
Project (Riches) I have been able to record and document the experience of a Veteran of the United States Army. The UCF History
project has a goal to show the realities of war and document their experiences for citizens to see.
Upon completion of the project, the records and documents combined will be a part of a documented work on the UCF media library
and vie for a place in the United States Library of Congress. I will then turn the interview into a work of art to compile into the UCF
Storyteller project. This project has potential for national impact and recognition.
Approximate impact numbers: Potential for national impact and recognition
Social Justice Award
Traffic Jammers: A Global and Transnational Feminist Project
Melanie Archibald, Hilary Blank, Natalie Casal, Carolina Fernandez, Brittany Gil, Taylor Johnson, Amy Maitner, Daniala Muino, Matthew
Murray, and Chelsea Wolfe
Course: WST 4415 Global and Transnational Feminisms
Faculty Member(s): Meredith Tweed
Community Partner(s): International Justice Mission and YAYA
Our group’s goal is to initiate and facilitate awareness at the University of Central Florida on the signs and symptoms of human trafficking,
and to build partnerships between different community partners primarily with International Justice Mission (IJM). We seek to build
sustainable local consciousness of this global issue and to support the transformation of our cultural narrative on sexual and labor
exploitation through grassroots activism, in-class discussion and recording our progress online. Our vision is to initiate awareness at a local
level where students, community members and institutional leaders can make global connections on issues affecting women and workers.
At the micro level, we will engage individuals through activism on the UCF campus and through volunteer work with the IJM. Selfeducation is the key to our involvement. At the meso level, our group will work with the IJM, but will be contacting other local Central
Florida-based organizations.
By conducting our work on the UCF campus we will have access to a diverse population that will be impacted by this project. The UCF
population comes from a wide range of places. Meso level influence becomes macro as they and their ideas travel back to their place of
origin and to their future residences.
Human trafficking is a transnational issue - victims are often undocumented citizens or new immigrants. By partnering with IJM, we will be
working with an organization that operates on a transnational level and currently works with 19 countries.
Approximate impact numbers: 10,000 people
Technological Integration Award
U.P.T.
Daniel Robertson and Christina Moore
Course: PHY 4932 Teaching Introductory Physics
Faculty Member(s): Keven Thomas and Dr. Jackie Chini
Community Partner(s): Winter Springs High School (Ms. Varzano) and Vanguard High School (Dr. Cruz)
One of the greatest civil duties that can benefit society is helping young students develop into successful adults. A lot of research goes
into the best teaching methods to help students successfully learn material. We have the opportunity to observe and work with physics
students in two different counties (Marion and Seminole) that have instructors that teach in two different ways. One is lecture/lab based
learning mostly from the teacher while the other is more reading/assignment based where students are responsible for their learning.
We will also teach lessons using the modeling method that we have learned in our course. The modeling method is a teaching strategy
where students observe a phenomenon and describe what they can see, measure, and manipulate. The students perform a lab with two
variables and identify a relationship between them. The idea is that the students will have a deeper understanding of the concepts
involved and apply those concepts correctly to more abstract problems.
We will ask students their opinions on their classroom methods, the methods we introduced, and what they expect to see when they
get into college. By giving these students this experience, they are coming into contact with a variety of learning methods to prepare
them for future physics classes and real world events. We plan on sharing our results with our supervising teachers, which possibly may
improve their teaching skills, and we will be analyzing the students’ opinions to prepare ourselves to become better teachers for our
future students.
Engaging the Arts Award
Ashley Rose Torres
Course: WST 3015 Introduction to Women’s Studies
Faculty Member(s): Meredith Tweed
Community Partner(s): Days for Girls
Making use of the internet and its capabilities to provide a platform to spread awareness, I uploaded tutorials, both in video and written
form, that instructed people on how to create kits for Days for Girls, an organization that provides hand-made and lasting feminine hygiene
items to women in underserved areas all over the world. Taking examples from the Days for Girls website and YouTube itself, I expanded
on how to make the items the organization needs so that beginners can feel that they can join and help as well. Using both my own
personal blog to promote these videos as well as popular sites such as Facebook and Instagram, I spread awareness about the Days for
Girls mission and ways in which others can pass on information and help out in the kit creation process. To further fuel the project, I
created a GoFundMe account which helped to gather the funds necessary to buy the supplies to create these kits.
Beginner sewers, feminist activists and women in underserved areas were the main focus of my service-learning project. The project
realized the vital importance of womens’ access to feminine hygiene products and how these kits can greatly impact their educational and
employment opportunities. I also wanted to focus on the empowerment of learning a new skill such as sewing and how you can use
something that makes you feel good to help others feel good. My original website still features sewing tutorials and feminist-centered
posts.
Approximate impact numbers: My tutorial videos have a total of 69 views. Our tutorial information is featured on Tumblr, Blogspot, and
Facebook and was partially funded by a GoFundMe account. Although I cannot know the extent to which my websites were viewed, they
are still up and running and will exist to any Tumblr/YouTube/Google users who search for anything related to: feminism, Days for Girls,
feminine hygiene, sewing, and tutorials.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Award
Team AP
Westley James and Christopher Tiller
Course: PHY 4932 Teaching Introductory Physics
Faculty Member(s): Kevin Thomas
Community Partner(s): Apopka High School
In this academic year Apopka High School has for the first time offered AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism course to students. The
teacher, Karen Musser, has taught AP Physics B and AP Physics C: Mechanics, however this was her first time teaching this class. Because
of this, the teacher and class was in need of additional help concerning the understanding of some of this new material. As students in
PHY 4932, and as physics majors, this was an opportunity to use teaching skills we have gained to help fill in these conceptual gaps in
understanding.
We began by first contacting the teacher in order to arrange when we would come in and also find the main focal points of difficulty
that she wished for us to address. We then followed up on this by observing her class to understand the structure and atmosphere of
the classroom. From there we devised two lessons that we implemented on Friday 3/16 and Tuesday 3/17. We also left material with
the teacher to continue to use to help strengthen these areas of difficulty.
We believe that the students benefitted significantly based on our observations of improved confidence/understanding as the lessons
progressed and also based on feedback from Ms. Musser. As the instructors, we were gifted with the opportunity to not only implement
teaching skills learned in the classroom, but also to interact with and encourage future collegiate students.
Approximate impact numbers: 10
12th Annual Service-Learning Student Showcase Scholarship Recipients 2015
Pedagogical Value Scholarship
Making a Difference
Alexis George and Madison Ellis
Course: NUR 4637 Public Health Nursing
Faculty Member(s): Donna Breit
Community Partner(s): Rock Lake Elementary School and Orange County Public Schools
Our service-learning project experience included going to Rock Lake Elementary School and teaching Human Growth and Development
to 5th grade females. Together we thought of creative, engaging, informative lesson plans in order to make the most out of the six
weeks that we were given to cover everything we had hoped to address. The lessons that we taught all focused on human growth and
development and expected changes that these girls might encounter as they enter puberty (topics of sensitivity). We talked about
normal anatomy and changes that come along with puberty (changing body). We talked about proper hygienic practices and the
importance of staying clean. We discussed menstruation, along with self-esteem and empowerment.
It has truly been one of the greatest experiences, and we know that it has really had an impact and made a difference on these girls.
Upon our first interaction in the Rock Lake community two years ago, we were able to detect the demand and need for a program like
this to be implemented because there was not one in place. This is such an important change in their lives that needs to be discussedotherwise these girls will experience these changes and think they are abnormal, and they might fear speaking to a trusted adult about
them. Our goal was to stress that the changes are normal and allow them to express their questions, fears, and concerns.
Approximate impact numbers: 15-20 (we taught the same group of girls every week)
Quality of Display
Because We’re Worth It
Suzanne Connor and Christian Pilato
Course: BSC 4861L Systems Sustainability: Socially & Economically Viable Environmental Protection
Faculty Member(s): Alaina Bernard and Jennifer Elliott
Community Partner(s): Creative School for Children at UCF
Our service-learning project allowed us to integrate the knowledge we gained in class, and through the fieldwork required of our class
project, into an educational-outreach opportunity with the Creative School for Children on the UCF Orlando campus. Our class project
focused on evaluating and quantifying several categories of campus natural lands and greenspaces, including the ecosystem services that
these natural areas provide. Specifically, one important aspect of these ecosystem services is the ability of both natural lakes and manmade retention ponds to filter rainwater and stormwater runoff.
A critical component of any conservation effort is education and outreach, and we believe that the ability to positively impact future
generations is an exciting responsibility. With the assistance of the children at the Creative School, we installed a rain garden in their play
area. Rain gardens mimic the actions of lakes and retention ponds by filtering rainwater in an effort to reduce erosion and clean the water
before it enters the underground aquifer. To carry home the important message of ecosystem services such as storm water filtration, we
designed an illustrated instruction booklet for the children to give their parents, showing how they could create their own rain garden at
home. This service-learning project simply reinforced to us the importance of reaching out and impacting future generations in
preserving and maintaining our shared environment.
Approximate impact numbers: 30
Value to Agency & Community Scholarship
Nutrition Nurses
Lindsay Broadhurst, Katherine Jacob, and Lauren Savasuk
Course: NUR 4637L Public Health Nursing Clinical
Faculty Member(s): Heather Peralta
Community Partner(s): GROWS Literacy Council and Bravos Supermarket
The community members we served included Hispanic mothers and pre-school aged children learning English as a second language. The
program coordinator requested that we do a teaching project on nutrition and how to read a nutrition label. Many of the families at this
facility had diets high in carbohydrates and sodium. Our project addressed these issues and explained how to determine if a food
product is healthy by reading the nutrition label. We also addressed how to incorporate fruits and vegetables into meals to create a
well-rounded diet. We focused on the following Healthy People 2020 objectives: NWS-15: Increase the variety and contribution of
vegetables to the diets of the population aged two years and older; NWS-17: Reduce consumption of calories from solid fats and added
sugars in the population aged two years and older; and NWS-19: Reduce consumption of sodium in the population aged two years and
older.
The course objectives met during the course of this project were: incorporate the various roles and principles of ethical decision making
as well as professional behavior in public health nursing practice, use community assessment data to formulate and refine community
health interventions, conduct a health promotion project in the community in collaboration with community partners, integrate the use
of technology in the delivery of nursing care in the community setting, and formulate a method to evaluate the outcomes of community
health interventions.
Approximate impact numbers: 14
Caliber of Reflection Scholarship
Knight Nurses
Annabeth Huff and Lindsay Sernka
Course: NUR 4637L Public Health Nursing
Faculty Member(s): Donna Breit
Community Partner(s): Rock Lake Elementary
In the Little Egypt community there is limited access to health care. At Rock Lake Elementary, we implemented a health promotion
program titled, “Being a Fit and Healthy Kid,” in kindergarten and first grade classrooms. We incorporated the various roles, principles of
ethical decision making and professional behavior in public health nursing practice.
Using our community assessment data, we formulated and refined community health interventions. We recognized that children in this
community needed education on dental hygiene, hand hygiene, safety, yoga, nutrition, and exercise. We created teaching projects, which
integrated the use of technology in the delivery of nursing care in the community setting. Prior to each session, we created obtainable
objectives and following each session, we evaluated the outcomes of community health interventions.
Approximate impact numbers: 500
Enhancement of Civic Responsibility Scholarship
Panda’s Party Planners for Shingle Creek
Marielena Burdge, Alexis Ghersi, Rachel Friant, Allie Sawicki, Diana Carvel, Anthony Morales, Whitney Sylvia, Clarence Emile, and
Maverick Manasco
Course: LDR 3950 Capstone-LEAD Scholars
Faculty Member(s): Kelly Astro
Community Partner(s): Shingle Creek Elementary School
For our service-learning project, our team collaborated with the faculty and staff at Shingle Creek Elementary in order to present their fifth
graders an informational and inspirational college preparation presentation. Shingle Creek Elementary is a Title I school in Orange County,
meaning 100% of their students receive free and reduced lunch. Over 95% of their student population represents a minority race, and they
have an elevated mobility rate. Many of the students’ parents work multiple jobs and don’t have much experience with college. All of
these factors make the students at Shingle Creek at risk of dropping out of school before they graduate.
Our team came in to guide students as to what life at college is like, using the University of Central Florida as an example. We provided
them with crucial information about what they can do now to ensure a college education in their future, and we assured them that
whatever circumstance they may be in, they can attend a college or university if they set goals. We were able to interact more with the
students at ACE Day, where the Shingle Creek students toured the school, learned about all of the exciting activities to do, and understand
the services provided to them. Our presentation and tour day were meant to show students that college is in reach for them, despite their
societal standing. We were able to successfully show that all it takes is hard work and passion to reach a goal, specifically to attend a
college or a university.
Approximate impact numbers: 177
Peer Choice Scholarship
Scrub It
Ambber Cole, Mollie Felder, Delaney Postma, and Jamie Hicks
Course: NUR 4637 Public Health Nursing
Faculty Member(s): Heather Peralta
Community Partner(s): Quest, Inc.
Our service-learning project was aimed at educating the physically and mentally disabled community about proper hand hygiene to
decrease infection and spread of germs. People in this community need greater knowledge about when to wash their hands and the
importance behind it. Most of these clients do not understand “social norms” so this was an effort to enhance their functioning as adults.
Our six objectives were solely based on clients verbalizing appropriate times to wash their hands and demonstrating hand hygiene
measures.
Our service project consisted of two activities that engaged clients in the understanding of how soap kills bacteria. In order to reach the
education level of this diverse group and enhance practice, we created a music video with hand movements for the clients to sing and
dance to. Clients responded well to the activities and enjoyed having a special video for them to sing and dance to. Clients were rewarded
with hand sanitizers when able to verbalize hand hygiene importance and state when they should perform hand washing.
Approximate impact numbers: 63
Graduate Engagement Scholarship
The KNIGHTS Student Run Free Clinic
Ashley Brown, Antoinette Birs, Gurjaspreet Bhattal, Esther Kim, Sarah Hart, Andy Chen, Shu-Wei Hsu, Denise Feradov,
and Gabe Glaun
Course: Longitudinal Curricular Theme
Faculty Member(s): Dr. Judith Simms-Cendan and Dr. Magdalena Pasarica
Community Partner(s): Grace Medical Home
The KNIGHTS Clinic, funded by a grant from the Diebel Legacy Fund at Central Florida Foundation, is the Student Run Free Clinic of the
University of Central Florida College of Medicine (UCF COM). Opening in January 2013, the bimonthly clinic operates at the Grace
Medical Home facility, a community free clinic in downtown Orlando. In Fall 2014, the clinic became interdisciplinary and
interprofessional, with inclusion of students and faculty from UCF COM and University of Florida College of Pharmacy. Over 222 total
student volunteers and 14 community physician volunteers participate in KNIGHTS Clinic. Through their service we are able to offer
primary care and specialty health care visits to those who are currently without health insurance coverage in Orlando.
In addition to time spent in direct patient care, students volunteer in Research, Finance, and Media Relations roles throughout the week
in order to support the community involvement of KNIGHTS Clinic. Students gather information about our patients to help us better
serve their needs, and about their perception of the clinic for quality assurance.
A standard clinic night comprises of 2-3 physician volunteers, 20-30 student volunteers, and 6-12 patients. All appointments are fully
inclusive health care visits with access to laboratory procedures, pharmacy, health education, and referrals to community providers that
operate on a pro-bono basis for our patients. Electronic health records are maintained and students ensure follow-up of tests and
records providing a high standard of continuity of care and a true medical home for these very grateful patients.
Approximate impact numbers: Clinic Nights (03/14-03/15): 18 Total Patients: 47 Appointments (03/14-03/15): 116
Undergraduate Engagement Scholarship
Shepherds Hope Nurses
Alex Arno and Amanda Serafin
Course: NUR 4637L Public Health Nursing
Faculty Member(s): Donna Breit
Community Partner(s): Shepherds Hope
One of the biggest pitfalls of current healthcare practice is preventative education or health management teaching on a community
wide scale. Most people only seek healthcare when a problem has finally occurred and is actually impacting their life. The goal in our
service-learning project is to change this attitude and give a community the information they need about health before people suffer
major consequences from a health condition that they are too late in seeking care for.
For this service-learning project we are working with Shepherds Hope in down town Orlando, which provides free healthcare to
anyone that walks through its doors. We taught multiple lessons there to clients about health conditions such as diabetes, high blood
pressure, nutrition, and smoking cessation. We chose these topics off of needs data we had previously collected in our public health
class, as well as what community leaders felt were important topics that needed discussion in the community. The more we are able
to educate the community about preventative health measures they can take, the healthier the community will be overall.
We served approximately 200 clients and the outcomes were better than we even projected. Clients were often engaged in answering
our questions as well as coming up before or after our presentations with questions they had or requesting clarification about a topic.
After our presentation we also would stay and volunteer in the clinic. Overall, the service learning experience has been unbelievably
awesome.
Approximate impact numbers: 200-250
Graduate Innovative Project Scholarship
Erika Nicsinger
Course: SPA 6559 Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Faculty Member(s): Dr. Jennifer Kent-Walsh
Community Partner(s): Our Children’s Academy
Our Children’s Academy (OCA) is a school for children with special needs whose mission is to provide educational and therapeutic
support to children with disabilities. Successful communication is a pillar of this mission. Unfortunately, many students at OCA have
significant difficulty communicating with others. Despite best efforts, teachers and parents are not prepared to support the
communication needs of these children.
Students with severe speech impairments often face isolation and bullying because they are not able to talk with others. Intervention
is integral for children with these impairments to learn to communicate with the world around them, but there is a critical shortage of
skilled interventionists.
I collaborated with OCA to provide students access to assistive technology and to provide their educators with instruction in how to
facilitate functional communication for these children in classroom contexts. Specifically, I: (a) facilitated access to augmentative and
alternative communication (AAC) iPad apps with specially designed cases for OCA students, and (b) implemented the ImPAACT
Program (e.g., Kent-Walsh et. al, 2010) with the educators to teach them how to facilitate the children's use of the AAC iPad apps in
school contexts.
In summary, the overarching goal of this service-learning project was to improve educational participation for children with severe
speech impairments by providing appropriate technology and building educator capacity to support the needs of these children.
Through the service-learning collaboration, approximately 60 children were given access to iPads with cases, communication
applications, and related communication instruction was provided for their educational team members.
Approximate impact numbers: 60 children and 10 educators
Undergraduate Innovative Project Scholarship
Ashley Rose Torres
Course: WST 3015 Introduction to Women’s Studies
Faculty Member(s): Meredith Tweed
Community Partner(s): Days for Girls
Making use of the internet and its capabilities to provide a platform to spread awareness, I uploaded tutorials, both in video and
written form, that instructed people on how to create kits for Days for Girls, an organization that provides hand-made and lasting
feminine hygiene items to women in underserved areas all over the world. Taking examples from the Days for Girls website and
YouTube itself, I expanded on how to make the items the organization needs so that beginners can feel that they can join and help as
well. Using both my own personal blog to promote these videos as well as popular sites such as Facebook and Instagram, I spread
awareness about the Days for Girls mission and ways in which others can pass on information and help out in the kit creation process.
To further fuel the project, I created a GoFundMe account which helped to gather the funds necessary to buy the supplies to create
these kits.
Beginner sewers, feminist activists and women in underserved areas were the main focus of my service-learning project. The project
realized the vital importance of womens’ access to feminine hygiene products and how these kits can greatly impact their educational
and employment opportunities. I also wanted to focus on the empowerment of learning a new skill such as sewing and how you can
use something that makes you feel good to help others feel good. My original website still features sewing tutorials and feministcentered posts.
Approximate impact numbers: My tutorial videos have a total of 69 views. Our tutorial information is featured on Tumblr, Blogspot,
and Facebook and was partially funded by a GoFundMe account. Although I cannot know the extent to which my websites were
viewed, they are still up and running and will exist to any Tumblr/YouTube/Google users who search for anything related to: feminism,
Days for Girls, feminine hygiene, sewing, and tutorials.
Graduate Leadership Scholarship
Medical Students Providing Across Continents (MedPACt)
Faith Villanueva, Denise Feradov, Antoinette Birs, and Alexander Lim
Course: Longitudinal Curricular Theme
Faculty Member(s): Dr. Judith Simms-Cendan
Community Partner(s): Dr. Luis Esmurdoc and the Universidad Católica Nordestana
Medical Students Providing Across Continents (MedPACt) is a student-run organization dedicated to increasing awareness of global
health disparities and meeting the needs of medically underserved populations, locally and abroad. To this end, MedPACt organizes
and facilitates an annual international service-learning trip to the Dominican Republic (DR).
The team that has traditionally included UCF Colleges of Medicine and Nursing students and faculty expanded this year to also include
teams from UCF Engineers Without Borders and University of Florida College of Pharmacy, as well as a non-denominational chaplain,
to facilitate a comprehensive approach to patient health.
Our service team partnered with local medical school Universidad Católica Nordestana to offer healthcare to over 570 underserved
patients from 5 different rural communities in the northeastern DR over a span of 5 days. One major success of this year’s trip was
the seamless integration of a portable, customizable electronic health record (EHR) into 100% of patients seen, allowing students to
best provide continuity of care as our medical team serves the same communities each year.
The Dominican Republic trip allows medical, nursing, pharmacy and engineering students to deliver a sustainable and interprofessional approach to patient health to a population in need, all the while encouraging students to explore diverse healthcare
systems and cultural traditions. Students gained experiences in organizing an international outreach trip, in collaborating with an
interdisciplinary team and in integrating an EHR into patient care. We aim to continue this trip every summer to provide continuous
service to the same underserved populations.
Approximate impact numbers: 570+ community members
Undergraduate Leadership Scholarship
The Seven Dwarfs
Melissa Wise, Nora Majia, and Krystal McCary
Course: GEB 3031L Cornerstone Lab
Faculty Member(s): Emily Gay
Community Partner(s): Junior Achievement and Wetherbee Elementary School
Our Team Project was for the cornerstone lab. We were asked to choose a charitable organization and volunteer our time as well as
complete whatever task was assigned by that organization. In addition, we were required to raise a minimum of $1000 during the
semester through in-kind and/or monetary donations for the organization of our choice. Our team “The Seven Dwarfs” chose to work
with the Junior Achievement Organization and through this partnership we were assigned Wetherbee Elementary school. Wetherbee is
an Orange County Title I school, which means that its number of the student body qualifying for free or reduced lunch is above the state
mean. Currently the state mean is 64% and Wetherbee has 80% of its student population qualifying for the lunch program. It puts its
students at high risk for dropout as the children get older. The school would be the organization that we fundraised for and completed
whatever task we were given. In addition, we had an assignment to complete for Junior Achievement, which was to teach five sessions
of their curriculum to eight classrooms totaling 40 lessons at the school.
Wetherbee Elementary’s task for our group was to plan and execute their annual Math and Science night. As a team, we worked
tirelessly to raise the funds needed to put together this event and make it a night the kids would remember. This included flyers,
reminders, math and science supplies for activity stations, soliciting for outside vendor participation and much more. We also held a
raffle using donated items and services to raise cash for the school. Through our efforts, we had a positive effect on 400 plus students
and their families through educational presentations and activities. Our in-kind donations exceeded $8,000 for the Math and Science
night allowing the school to keep its $300 dollar budget untouched and additionally earned approximately $300 in cash donation for the
school to use as they see fit. Our team was able to provide trophies, medals and prizes for all the winners of the science fair and a
participation certificate for all participants. We also were able to create a lasting “Partner in Education” relationship for the school with
one of the local businesses. This will benefit the students and the school for a long time to come.
Capacity Building Scholarship
South African Sustainability Initiative (SASI)
Kristen Keefer, Trevi Sellers, Jais Emmanuel, and Daniel Washburn
Course: IDH 3955H South Africa Honors Program
Faculty Member(s): Dr. Martin Dupuis and Michael Callahan
Community Partner(s): Reverend Mbhele of the Intabazwe Township, KWA Cheetah Breeding Project of the Nambiti Game Reserve in
Kwa-Zulu Natal, Swinburne Primary School
South Africa is a resilient nation, but continues to face many social, educational, and environmental challenges. We, the South Africa
Sustainability Initiative (SASI), are a group of students who embarked on a five-month service-learning project to address issues such as
homelessness, lack of electricity and healthcare, low education levels, and cheetah species endangerment in South Africa. In doing so,
we partnered with a community orphanage, a primary school, and a cheetah-breeding program.
The first four months of our project were spent at UCF establishing the needs of our partners, designing relevant projects, fundraising,
and creating donor relationships. Our final month was spent in South Africa implementing the planned projects.
Working with the orphanage in the impoverished community of Intabazwe, we repaired solar panels and increased battery capacity for
electricity, donated medical supplies and clothing, and worked with the orphanage director on financial planning.
At the primary school in Swinburne, we collectively donated seven hours of labor to instruct the school teachers on how to use
computers and the Internet. We also donated over 20 school uniforms to children who would have otherwise been unable to attend
primary school without one.
Supporting the KWA Cheetah Breeding Project, we fundraised over $3,500 to buy satellite-tracking collars for the newly bred cheetahs
so that they can be monitored once released into the wild. While at the reserve, we educated visitors on the importance of the
rehabilitation of the cheetah population and on the threats of hunting, poaching, and habitat loss.
Engaging Community Online Scholarship
Representation Matters
Melissa Porcaro and Kara Singletary
Course: WST 3015 Introduction to Women’s Studies
Faculty Member(s): Meredith Tweed
Community Partner(s): NOW! At UCF and the National Organization for Women
For the service-learning Project the two of us addressed the issue of The History of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Timeline
in the Harris Engineering Center on the UCF Main Campus. The timeline consists of fifty-four white men and only one white woman. As
two women in the College of Engineering and Computer Science we decided to address how to add more women and people of color to
the timeline. Studies have shown that having more representation in a field is going to attract a more diverse crowd of people, and also
retain those people longer. As UCF students, we thought it was important to have a diverse amount of people represented, especially
since we go to a school of over 60,000 students. We worked with NOW! at UCF, tabling with them at the Student Union to host a letter
writing campaign. Our goal of getting at least 50 signatures was achieved. We also tried to get in contact with the Dean of Computer
Science, who after scheduling an appointment with us, cancelled the appointment at the last minute. We are still in the process of trying
to contact him about seeing this project through and hopefully changing the timeline positively in the near future.
Literacy Engagement Scholarship
Silverstein, Wordsworth, Megan, and Kim
Megan Place and Kimberly Winarski
Course: CRW 4941 Literary Arts Partnership
Faculty Member(s): Terry Thaxton
Community Partner(s): The Grove: Counseling Center
In the simplest way of putting it, at The Grove we’ve been teaching creative writing to youths (ages 13-17) who have been voluntarily
committed there for rehabilitation after serious drug abuse. We have two separate groups of 10 students, but, as some students’ time
there ends and others’ time begins, we have taught about 30 students total. As rehabilitation is such an intensive program, students
have limited access to elective schoolwork (and schoolwork related to the arts) that they might see in a more common school setting.
We fill in this gap while providing a creative outlet for the stressful situations going on in their lives. We also hope to encourage them to
find the exploration of creativity rewarding and to help them foster an appreciation for the arts.
In each lesson we include vocabulary words, or “Focused Elements of Poetry,” the history of the particular poetic form we’re focusing
on, the elements of poetry specific to that type (such as rhyme scheme, syllables, or tense), practice with these concepts, auditory and
visual examples of that type of poem, and time enough for them to try to write their own. In this way, we find a balance of the more
technical, structured sides of poetry with the inspiration from it and appreciation of it in our lessons. Through our project, we meet a
community literary need and an educational need for ourselves, as we gain hands-on teaching experience and consider the communal
purpose of the literary arts.
Approximate impact numbers: 20-30 Students at The Grove
Significant Impact Scholarship
Birgit Rumplik
Course: WST 3015 Introduction to Women’s Studies
Faculty Member(s): Meredith Tweed
Community Partner(s): One Heart for Women and Children
My service-learning project’s goal was to feed the homeless in our community and to raise awareness in students of Edgewater High
School about the communal needs, while demonstrating how together we can make a difference. My service-learning partner,
Stephanie Bowman with “One Heart for Women and Children”, lived through the experiences of domestic violence, homelessness,
and drug addiction. After receiving help from community members, organizations, and women in particular, she made a promise to
herself to give back and provide help and opportunities to women and children in need.
In my Women’s Studies course, my eyes were opened to the inequalities existing in this country concerning all women. Alexandra
Cawthorne’s report titled “The Straight Facts on Women in Poverty” lists detailed reasons why women are at a much greater risk of
facing poverty; reasons, we became very familiar with over course of the semester.
On Monday November 17, 2014, we had our PB & J Challenge at Edgewater High School, where 400 students, with the help of
administrators and volunteers, made 10,000 peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. To advertise the event, I had created posters, flyers
and bookmarks and had asked for donations from students and staff at Edgewater High School.
The freshly made sandwiches were distributed on the same afternoon to the homeless at the Parramore, train and bus stations,
Salvation Army, the Anchor program, four poverty living hotels, Maxwell Terrace, two trailer parks, and the Comfort Inn. 10,000
sandwiches were made and 10,000 sandwiches went out.
Approximate numbers: We fed around 5000 homeless people that afternoon.
Works Cited
Cawthorne, Alexandra. "The Straight Facts on Women in Poverty." Center for American Progress. 1 Oct. 2008. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
<http://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2008/10/pdf/women_poverty.pdf>.
Environmental Sustainability
The Value of Urban Trees
Stephen Martin
Course: BSC 4861L Systems Sustainability
Faculty Member(s): Jennifer Elliott and Alaina Bernard
Community Partner(s): Ray Jarret
Various sustainability plans have been initiated by tree conservation programs in suburban areas and inner city settings in the past few
years around the country, but there is still a lack of long-term research to properly assess the value of urban trees and raise awareness of
the benefits that they provide. This study was conducted to document the environmental, economic, and social value of urban trees on
communities by assessing the urban tree canopy coverage at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Sample points were established
along five transects to determine whether or not the space was occupied by a tree. Diameter at breast height (DBH), tree height, and
canopy diameter were collected from the sample points. From the data collected our study shows that urban trees provide many
benefits, the three major benefits being the reduction of storm water runoff, air quality improvement, and sequestration of carbon
dioxide. UCF will use these data to help determine future trees planting location on the UCF Orlando campus.
Across the country, Arbor Day brings environmental enthusiasts together to recognize and celebrate the value of trees. To ensure that our
project left a lasting impact on our peers, the service-learning portion of the project allowed us to use our research to educate, and
engage the UCF community by organizing an Arbor Day celebration at the UCF arboretum. The celebration hosted approximately 50
volunteers who planted 24 trees in the Arboretum, showcasing the ability of the community to impact our campus tree initiatives.
Economic Sustainability
Extreme Game Changers
Amanda Rosa, William Colbert, Fabiola Pagan, and Emily Brouillard
Course: GEB 3031L Cornerstone Lab
Faculty Member(s): Christopher Leo
Community Partner(s): Kids Beating Cancer
The Extreme Game Changers' main objective was to raise between $1,200 to $1,500 that would be used towards the purchase of 40 to
50 hypoallergenic blankets for Kids Beating Cancer. The blankets would, in turn, be distributed to cancer patients at various local
pediatric hospitals to use as a security item. Kids Beating Cancer's primary goal is to provide resources and support for children with
cancer, leukemia and other life threatening diseases throughout the treatment process. We used our team's diverse networks, talents,
and creativity to promote this cause. During the process, not only were we looking to meet our team’s primary objective, but also
actively seeking a way to create a lasting sustainable impact with our community partner. On our journey to bringing awareness to Kids
Beating Cancer’s cause we were able to find our sustainable impact through one of our failed activities. We were able to turn this failed
activity into a yearly blanket drive that would outlast our appointed time with our community partner. At this point our group learned
the power of service-learning and how in a small amount of time you can make a big difference in the world.
Approximate Impact Numbers: Through our service-learning project we were able to raise $2,252 dollars to purchase 75 blankets for
children with cancer.
Social Sustainability
Enabling Education: Days for Girls
Joshua King
Course: WST 3015 Introduction to Women’s Studies
Faculty Member(s): Meredith Tweed
Community Partner(s): Southeast Orlando Days for Girls
The project addresses worldwide menstrual hygiene access by creating and providing reusable menstrual hygiene kits to the Days for
Girls International organization. The kits are usable for up to three years, which provides each recipient with up to eight months of time
over that period she would otherwise have spent isolated from educational opportunities and community experiences due to lack of
access to hygiene products. Lack of feminine hygiene products plays a major role in driving girls to leave school: creating a serious
gender disparity in educational attainment. These kits enable girls to continue their education, providing long lasting social and
economic benefits to themselves and their communities. As well, the liners used in the kits do not resemble traditional or commercial
hygiene products. This eases feelings of shame associated with menstrual taboos in certain cultures, improving girls' emotional health.
The project seeks to engage with Introduction to Women's Studies’ learning objective of understanding intersectionality, which
examines how gender is impacted by age, class, and national contexts, and in turn how these categories affect women’s daily lived
experiences. As well, this project explores the concept of reproductive justice, a framework of understanding that considers
intersectionality with regards to combating structural inequalities and women's inability to control their reproductive lives. My goal is to
produce eight to ten of these kits.
Approximate impact numbers: Eight to ten people
Youth Development Scholarship
We Teach Physics
Idris Kennedy and Caleb Kasprzyk
Course: PHY 4932 Teaching Introductory Physics
Faculty Member(s): Kevin Thomas
Community Partner(s): Jerry Thorpe and Lake Howell High School
We are reaching the end of the school year for high school students, and typically after working hard for most of the year,
concentration and motivation are dwindling in the average high school student. Around this time of the school year, the Physics
courses at Lake Howell High School are introducing the concepts of momentum. Momentum is a vital part of physics so it is important
for student’s to comprehend the concepts and ideas of momentum correctly.
Our goal was to introduce momentum using a different method of instruction in order to provide a fresh outlook on Momentum. We
also wanted to discuss the concept of impulse, which is a key component of momentum that is rarely discussed in depth. With the
grace of our community partner, Jerry Thorpe, a physics teacher at Lake Howell, we were able to use ideas from a teaching technique
“the model method” in order to introduce momentum and impulse to two physics classes.
We were able to promote a healthy amount of discourse about the topic through a series of group work, demonstrations, open
discussion and a lab. The student's remained engaged throughout the exercise and really seemed to respond well to our teaching
methods. By the end of the second class, it really felt as though we accomplished something.
Approximate impact numbers: 30
Excellence in the College of Arts & Humanities
Ashley Rose Torres
Course: WST 3015 Introduction to Women’s Studies
Faculty Member(s): Meredith Tweed
Community Partner(s): Days for Girls
Making use of the internet and its capabilities to provide a platform to spread awareness, I uploaded tutorials, both in video and
written form, that instructed people on how to create kits for Days for Girls, an organization that provides hand-made and lasting
feminine hygiene items to women in underserved areas all over the world. Taking examples from the Days for Girls website and
YouTube itself, I expanded on how to make the items the organization needs so that beginners can feel that they can join and help as
well. Using both my own personal blog to promote these videos as well as popular sites such as Facebook and Instagram, I spread
awareness about the Days for Girls mission and ways in which others can pass on information and help out in the kit creation process.
To further fuel the project, I created a GoFundMe account which helped to gather the funds necessary to buy the supplies to create
these kits.
Beginner sewers, feminist activists and women in underserved areas were the main focus of my service-learning project. The project
realized the vital importance of womens’ access to feminine hygiene products and how these kits can greatly impact their educational
and employment opportunities. I also wanted to focus on the empowerment of learning a new skill such as sewing and how you can
use something that makes you feel good to help others feel good. My original website still features sewing tutorials and feministcentered posts.
Approximate impact numbers: My tutorial videos have a total of 69 views. Our tutorial information is featured on Tumblr, Blogspot,
and Facebook and was partially funded by a GoFundMe account. Although I cannot know the extent to which my websites were
viewed, they are still up and running and will exist to any Tumblr/YouTube/Google users who search for anything related to: feminism,
Days for Girls, feminine hygiene, sewing, and tutorials.
Excellence in The Burnett Honors College
South African Sustainability Initiative (SASI)
Kristen Keefer, Trevi Sellers, Jais Emmanuel, and Daniel Washburn
Course: IDH 3955H South Africa Honors Program
Faculty Member(s): Dr. Martin Dupuis and Michael Callahan
Community Partner(s): Reverend Mbhele of the Intabazwe Township, KWA Cheetah Breeding Project of the Nambiti Game Reserve in
Kwa-Zulu Natal, Swinburne Primary School
South Africa is a resilient nation, but continues to face many social, educational, and environmental challenges. We, the South Africa
Sustainability Initiative (SASI), are a group of students who embarked on a five-month service-learning project to address issues such as
homelessness, lack of electricity and healthcare, low education levels, and cheetah species endangerment in South Africa. In doing so,
we partnered with a community orphanage, a primary school, and a cheetah-breeding program.
The first four months of our project were spent at UCF establishing the needs of our partners, designing relevant projects, fundraising,
and creating donor relationships. Our final month was spent in South Africa implementing the planned projects.
Working with the orphanage in the impoverished community of Intabazwe, we repaired solar panels and increased battery capacity for
electricity, donated medical supplies and clothing, and worked with the orphanage director on financial planning.
At the primary school in Swinburne, we collectively donated seven hours of labor to instruct the school teachers on how to use
computers and the Internet. We also donated over 20 school uniforms to children who would have otherwise been unable to attend
primary school without one.
Supporting the KWA Cheetah Breeding Project, we fundraised over $3,500 to buy satellite-tracking collars for the newly bred cheetahs
so that they can be monitored once released into the wild. While at the reserve, we educated visitors on the importance of the
rehabilitation of the cheetah population and on the threats of hunting, poaching, and habitat loss.
Excellence in the College of Business Administration
Bryant Santana
Course: GEB 3031L Cornerstone
Faculty Member(s): Phyllis Harris
Community Partner(s): Boys Town, Drip Orlando, and A-Akai Sushi
Helping out a nonprofit by creating new ways for donations. The companies that I have worked with are Drip Orlando and A-Akai Sushi.
They have donated partial proceeds in getting revenue and hosting events for Boys Town. The process of finding two vendors to
support our initiative is through communication and reaching out to them. The best thing that helped me was presenting Boys Town to
the vendors and how the donations could help a great cause. What I have learned is that it takes time and commitment to gain
donations such as making sure that processes are approved, marketing the events well, working effectively with Boys Town as well as
with previous stated companies and my team.
The main thing is that communication is key and everyone must know what is going on at the same time. Ten young adults in Boys
Town will participate and students with the highest GPA get to go on a trip to a theme park. This gives more incentive for the students
to focus on their education. The learning objective for my group is to raise donations and help out the youth. Making goals for me and
for them will show that anything is possible.
Excellence in the College of Education and Human Performance
Alexandra Ramirez
Course: EDG 4410 Teaching Strategies and Classroom Management
Faculty Member(s): Christine Walsh
Community Partner(s): Lake Minneola High School
As my service-learning project, I will be addressing classroom management in the classroom of my previous tenth grade English
teacher. As I sit and help assist, I will be analyzing my previous experiences as a prior student to the understandings and observations I
am receiving as a pre-service teacher. I will be taking a closer look at the classroom management skills and rules that once impacted
me as a student, and compare them to the impact it has on the students attending her class now.
By helping assist and observe I will be able to see how she handles certain classroom procedures, as well as see how her classroom
rules and seating is chosen. Being able to make this comparison enables me to acknowledge and understand certain areas that once
may have worked well, but currently may be potential problem areas. With this knowledge I will be able to take the experiences and
observations, along with my analysis, and be able to apply this to my teaching strategies for my future classroom and my classroom
management techniques. Along with improving my teaching strategies and skills in classroom management, I will be helping other preservice teachers with my new observations of teaching strategies and skills. This is also a chance to help inform in-service teachers on
new ideas of adding new strategies and techniques dealing with classroom management.
Approximate impact numbers: 100 pre-service and in-service teachers
Excellence in the College of Graduate Studies
The KNIGHTS Student Run Free Clinic
Ashley Brown, Antoinette Birs, Gurjaspreet Bhattal, Esther Kim, Sarah Hart, Andy Chen, Shu-Wei Hsu, Denise Feradov,
and Gabe Glaun
Course: Longitudinal Curricular Theme
Faculty Member(s): Dr. Judith Simms-Cendan and Dr. Magdalena Pasarica
Community Partner(s): Grace Medical Home
The KNIGHTS Clinic, funded by a grant from the Diebel Legacy Fund at Central Florida Foundation, is the Student Run Free Clinic of the
University of Central Florida College of Medicine (UCF COM). Opening in January 2013, the bimonthly clinic operates at the Grace
Medical Home facility, a community free clinic in downtown Orlando. In Fall 2014, the clinic became interdisciplinary and
interprofessional, with inclusion of students and faculty from UCF COM and University of Florida College of Pharmacy. Over 222 total
student volunteers and 14 community physician volunteers participate in KNIGHTS Clinic. Through their service we are able to offer
primary care and specialty health care visits to those who are currently without health insurance coverage in Orlando.
In addition to time spent in direct patient care, students volunteer in Research, Finance, and Media Relations roles throughout the week
in order to support the community involvement of KNIGHTS Clinic. Students gather information about our patients to help us better
serve their needs, and about their perception of the clinic for quality assurance.
A standard clinic night comprises of 2-3 physician volunteers, 20-30 student volunteers, and 6-12 patients. All appointments are fully
inclusive health care visits with access to laboratory procedures, pharmacy, health education, and referrals to community providers that
operate on a pro-bono basis for our patients. Electronic health records are maintained and students ensure follow-up of tests and
records providing a high standard of continuity of care and a true medical home for these very grateful patients.
Approximate impact numbers: Clinic Nights (03/14-03/15): 18 Total Patients: 47 Appointments (03/14-03/15): 116
Excellence in the College of Health & Public Affairs
Erika Nicsinger
Course: SPA 6559 Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Faculty Member(s): Dr. Jennifer Kent-Walsh
Community Partner(s): Our Children’s Academy
Our Children’s Academy (OCA) is a school for children with special needs whose mission is to provide educational and therapeutic
support to children with disabilities. Successful communication is a pillar of this mission. Unfortunately, many students at OCA have
significant difficulty communicating with others. Despite best efforts, teachers and parents are not prepared to support the
communication needs of these children.
Students with severe speech impairments often face isolation and bullying because they are not able to talk with others. Intervention is
integral for children with these impairments to learn to communicate with the world around them, but there is a critical shortage of
skilled interventionists.
I collaborated with OCA to provide students access to assistive technology and to provide their educators with instruction in how to
facilitate functional communication for these children in classroom contexts. Specifically, I: (a) facilitated access to augmentative and
alternative communication (AAC) iPad apps with specially designed cases for OCA students, and (b) implemented the ImPAACT Program
(e.g., Kent-Walsh et. al, 2010) with the educators to teach them how to facilitate the children's use of the AAC iPad apps in school
contexts.
In summary, the overarching goal of this service-learning project was to improve educational participation for children with severe
speech impairments by providing appropriate technology and building educator capacity to support the needs of these children. Through
the service-learning collaboration, approximately 60 children were given access to iPads with cases, communication applications, and
related communication instruction was provided for their educational team members.
Approximate impact numbers: 60 children and 10 educators
Excellence in the College of Medicine
Medical Students Providing Across Continents (MedPACt)
Faith Villanueva, Denise Feradov, Antoinette Birs, and Alexander Lim
Course: Longitudinal Curricular Theme
Faculty Member(s): Dr. Judith Simms-Cendan
Community Partner(s): Dr. Luis Esmurdoc and the Universidad Católica Nordestana
Medical Students Providing Across Continents (MedPACt) is a student-run organization dedicated to increasing awareness of global health
disparities and meeting the needs of medically underserved populations, locally and abroad. To this end, MedPACt organizes and
facilitates an annual international service-learning trip to the Dominican Republic (DR).
The team that has traditionally included UCF Colleges of Medicine and Nursing students and faculty expanded this year to also include
teams from UCF Engineers Without Borders and University of Florida College of Pharmacy, as well as a non-denominational chaplain, to
facilitate a comprehensive approach to patient health.
Our service team partnered with local medical school Universidad Católica Nordestana to offer healthcare to over 570 underserved
patients from 5 different rural communities in the northeastern DR over a span of 5 days. One major success of this year’s trip was the
seamless integration of a portable, customizable electronic health record (EHR) into 100% of patients seen, allowing students to best
provide continuity of care as our medical team serves the same communities each year.
The Dominican Republic trip allows medical, nursing, pharmacy and engineering students to deliver a sustainable and inter-professional
approach to patient health to a population in need, all the while encouraging students to explore diverse healthcare systems and cultural
traditions. Students gained experiences in organizing an international outreach trip, in collaborating with an interdisciplinary team and in
integrating an EHR into patient care. We aim to continue this trip every summer to provide continuous service to the same underserved
populations.
Approximate impact numbers: 570+ community members
Excellence in the College of Nursing
Little Egypt Knight Nurses
Haley Long, Laura Kissinger, Nancy Keck, and Rachelle Hagan
Course: NUR 4637L Public Health Nursing
Faculty Member(s): Donna Breit
Community Partner(s): Ivey Lane Elementary School
For our service-learning project, we have been implementing public health teaching plans at Ivey Lane Elementary School in Orange
County, Florida. The goal of public health nursing is health promotion and disease prevention. Throughout the Spring 2015 semester,
we have been implementing a total of six public health teaching plans. Our audience has consisted of approximately 150
kindergartners and first graders per lesson. The topics of our teaching projects include hand hygiene, dental hygiene, healthy eating,
sun safety, road safety, and bullying. We ensured that these topics would be beneficial for the students to learn about by taking part in
a pre-planning meeting with the head kindergarten and first grade teachers at Ivey Lane.
Part of reaching the goal of health promotion and disease prevention includes identifying a significant health or learning disparity. We
confirmed with the teachers at Ivey Lane that the kindergarten and first grade students displayed a knowledge deficit in the six areas
previously mentioned. We have consistently made sure to make each lesson fun and interactive with the children. For example, when
we taught the children about hand hygiene, we used Glo-germ lotion, which lights up under black light and shows the children all the
“germs” on their hands. When we taught about healthy eating, we passed out paper plates and crayons to the children and had them
divide the plates into four quadrants according to ChooseMyPlate standards. We believe that making our lessons interactive for the
children helps to better solidify the information we teach.
Approximate impact numbers: 150 kindergarten and first graders per lesson
Excellence in the College of Sciences
Team Smucz
Nicholas Komisarjevsky and Valentina Zaffino
Course: PHY 4932 Teaching Introductory Physics
Faculty Member(s): Kevin Thomas
Community Partner(s): Ronda Smucz and Apopka High School
Snell’s law is very important in the real world. It has a lot to do with making long distance phone calls, watching television and surfing
the web. Unfortunately, Snell’s law barely appears in high school physics textbooks and is briefly taught by teachers. For our servicelearning project, we partnered with Ronda Smucz, a physics teacher at Apopka High School, who had allowed us to give a lesson on
Snell’s law to one of her physics classes. Mrs. Smucz teaches both AP and traditional physics courses; we were assigned to teach the
traditional class.
On Thursday, March 19, we went in to the classroom and taught a class of 15 students. We started the lesson with a few probing
questions to see what the students already understood about the behavior of light. Next, we demonstrated refraction of light through
different mediums using a laser pointer and various liquids. The law was then discussed and two sample problems were completed for
the students. To finish our lesson and give the students practice using the law, we broke the class into five groups of three and assigned
each group a couple problems to explore on whiteboards. Teaching Introductory Physics (PHY4932) focuses on teaching students using
the modeling method. We were able to use modeling concepts, engaging the students in our class lesson.
Excellence in Interdisciplinary Studies
LEADing the Mustangs with ACE
Alexandra Diaz, Priyanka Chandra, David Dill, Paige Wilson, Ryan Wolfe, Rozina Sheikh, Dwight Montgomery, Nicole Moshe, Rhea
Philip, Nafila Shaikh, Jordan Williams, and Kaidi Fenrich
Course: LDR 3950 Capstone-LEAD Scholars
Faculty Member(s): Kelly Astro
Community Partner(s): Lake Weston Elementary School
Our service-learning project was ACE Day. The Day was filled with 500 5th grade students from Title I elementary schools in the area.
The students that attend these schools are from low income areas and a majority of them are on free and reduced lunch programs.
For these students college is just a distant dream and nothing close to reality. ACE Day gave them a taste of what a day in college can
be like as well as an idea of how it can be a possibility with hard work and dedication.
Lake Weston was one of the elementary schools present and they brought 87 students to spend the day touring the campus,
learning about chemistry, nursing, technology and more. This day gave the students hope and inspired them to make their dreams a
reality. Showing the students that getting a further education - no matter what financial state their family is in - was the main point
of the event. The students walked away excited about all the possibilities and opportunities available to them. Our team of LEAD
Scholars felt the same amount of inspiration after ACE Day. The entire team realized how lucky we all are to not only attend such a
prestigious university but also be a part of an academy like LEAD Scholars.
Office of Experiential Learning Scholarship
Shepherds Hope Nurses
Alex Arno and Amanda Serafin
Course: NUR 4637L Public Health Nursing
Faculty Member(s): Donna Breit
Community Partner(s): Shepherds Hope
One of the biggest pitfalls of current healthcare practice is preventative education or health management teaching on a community
wide scale. Most people only seek healthcare when a problem has finally occurred and is actually impacting their life. The goal in our
service-learning project is to change this attitude and give a community the information they need about health before people suffer
major consequences from a health condition that they are too late in seeking care for.
For this service-learning project we are working with Shepherds Hope in down town Orlando, which provides free healthcare to
anyone that walks through its doors. We taught multiple lessons there to clients about health conditions such as diabetes, high blood
pressure, nutrition, and smoking cessation. We chose these topics off of needs data we had previously collected in our public health
class, as well as what community leaders felt were important topics that needed discussion in the community. The more we are able
to educate the community about preventative health measures they can take, the healthier the community will be overall.
We served approximately 200 clients and the outcomes were better than we even projected. Clients were often engaged in
answering our questions as well as coming up before or after our presentations with questions they had or requesting clarification
about a topic. After our presentation we also would stay and volunteer in the clinic. Overall, the service learning experience has
been unbelievably awesome.
Approximate impact numbers: 200-250
Awards and Scholarship Panel:
Thomas Bryer, Public Administration
Deborah Becker, School of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership
Leslie Connell, Business Administration
Norma Conner, Nursing
Lauryn De George, Business Administration
Jen Elliott, Biology
Germayne Graham, LEAD Scholars
Phyllis Harris, Business Administration
Cynthia Hutchinson, School of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership
Alla Kourova, Modern Languages & Literatures
Stephanie Krick, Public Administration
Stacey Malaret, LEAD Scholars
Leandra Preston-Sidler, Women’s Studies
Kerry Purmensky, Modern Languages & Literatures
Meredith Tweed, Women’s Studies
Scott Wise, School of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership
Amy Zeh, Office of Experiential Learning
~
Many thanks to Showcase Committee members, staff in the Office of Experiential Learning, faculty
members who infuse service-learning into their curriculum, the Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning,
and to all the students who have had their lives changed by a service-learning experience and want to tell about it.
The showcase committee is grateful to the Student Government Association, Undergraduate Studies, The Burnett Honors College,
Interdisciplinary Studies, the Colleges of Arts & Humanities, Business Administration, Education and Human Performance, Graduate Studies, Health
& Public Affairs, Nursing, Medicine, Sciences, and the Office of Experiential Learning for ongoing support and generous contributions of
over $12,000 in scholarship awards for this event.
Pictures from the event
Sample of posters from the event
Many thanks to all who have participated in
Service-Learning Student Showcases at UCF.
For more information about this event
please contact the
Office of Experiential Learning at UCF
407-823-2667 or Amy.Zeh@ucf.edu
Office of Experiential Learning