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Courtesy ACT
Students
participating in service learning visit sites like The Appalachian Trail
to help clear debris.
Service
learning lets students understand through experience
April
Klaassen - Features Beat
“Tell
me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I
will understand,” reads a familiar Chinese proverb.
Students will find this sentiment adorning the pamphlets and Web site
of Appalachian State University’s Service-Learning Program.
The proverb not only serves as a theme for the two-year-old program
but also explains its purpose.
Appalachian’s program is “service connected with a class,”
said its coordinator Shari Galiardi.
Professors who take advantage of the service-learning program incorporate
a service project into the curriculum of their course.
Students must participate in this project, which encompasses the subject
they are studying, and reflect on them during classroom activities,
which allows students to gain experience outside the classroom.
“I work with professors and their students all over the university
who have integrated some sort of project into the classroom that allows
the student to get hands on experience with the theory they’re
learning in the class,” said Galiardi.
She used Dr. Norman Clark’s Theories of Practice and Persuasion
class in the Department of Communication as an example.
Clark’s students participate in about 12 different projects with
non-profit organizations in Watauga County.
Students use the persuasion skills and techniques they learn in class
to help these organizations by designing brochures, creating video productions,
doing public-relations events and getting articles into newspapers and
on TV and radio programs.
Students can take three types of service-learning classes through the
university.
Direct-client projects are those that involve direct contact with people
such as tutoring, counseling or serving dinners to less fortunate community
members.
More indirect projects also exist, such as the ones in Clark’s
class.
Additionally, there are classes that offer social-action research projects
where students conduct research for non-profit organizations.
Service-Learning is more than just community service.
“Basically, community service, the way we define it here at App,
is service that is done outside the classroom environment,” said
Galiardi. “Community service as a whole does not typically include
any sort of academic component to it. Students go out there and do great
work because maybe they have a passion for a certain issue. It is more
of a feel-good, give-back situation.
“Service-learning has more of a deeply rooted learning component
involved.”
Service projects can serve the same purpose as a textbook, she said.
“Most of the classes have a text book, but they use the environment
and organization as a supplement to the textbook,” said Galiardi.
“A lot of the things they read in the book they’ll see happening
in the real world. They’ll see the reverse too.”
The purpose of a service-learning program is to help students better
understand their field of study through experience. “You can talk
about theories of persuasion until you’re blue in the face and
people would be like, ‘Yeah I kind of get it,’ but until you
really do it doesn’t make a lot of sense,” she said.
The Appalachian Service-Learning Program officially began two years
ago, when Galiardi was hired that summer to formalize the program.
However, the program previously existed unofficially among a few professors.
“I can’t take credit for it because there were faculty members
doing it before; but they had to do a whole lot more work than they
have to do now,” said Galiardi. “I really help to lay a lot
of ground work so they don’t have to run around and make phone
calls and figure out what the students can do.”
For the past two years, Galiardi helped the program grow. “Since
then, I have really worked to develop the program as a whole –
everything from doing resource guides, brochures, databases, putting
together workshops for them, marketing and getting people involved,”
she said.
The program continues to grow, with 17 current service-learning classes
available and four more premiering in January 2002, she said.
“I’m getting more and more phone calls about service-learning
and ‘What is it and how can I have it as a part of my class?’”
said Galiardi.
Students also have the opportunity to serve globally while receiving
credit hours. The International Partnership for Service Learning provides
the opportunity for students to work one or two semesters in another
country doing service projects.
The staff hopes the service-learning experience will create a desire
in the hearts of students to improve social issues and will change their
lives.
“I know for me in my life, the more aware I become of a particular
issue, the more I can’t not pay attention to it,” she said.
“It makes you want to do something about it. You can’t just
sit back and let the world go by as it did 10 minutes before you learned
it. You have to dig in your heels and do something about it.
“One of our hopes is … by getting more engaged in the community
and the issues that are in the area, [students] become more active citizens
as a whole.
“We’re just hoping we build in them a lifelong commitment
to service,” said Galiardi.
For more information about Appalachian’s Service-Learning Program,
visit the ACT Web site at www.act.appstate.edu or contact the office
at 262-2193.
Sororities
set to discuss housing fate
Carrie
Baker - Greeks Beat
Appalachian
State University sororities will meet tonight to discuss the future of
sorority housing on campus.
Panhellenic Council (PHC), the collegiate governing body of seven sororities
on campus, will meet with presidents and PHC delegates from each sorority
to discuss the proposal for the sororities to be moved into one residence
hall.
The discussion will take the place of the regular PHC meeting in Roan
Mountain Room of Plemmons Student Union tonight at 7 p.m.
Voting will take place next week.
Currently, the seven sororities live in two residence halls on the east
side of campus.
Some sorority members are concerned with campus response to the sororities
living in one residence hall, said Amanda Hawes, president of Alpha Delta
Pi. “We want to be part of the Appalachian community,” she said.
“There is a fear that if we are in one dorm it will be misrepresented
as seclusion of the Greeks.”
Other members do not think campus response will be negative.
“We’ll be stereotyped regardless of where we live,” said
junior Meredith McBurney, Chi Omega treasurer. “But there will be
more advantages for everyone involved if we move into one dorm than disadvantages.”
There are also concerns about the current living situation on Greek floors.
Although Appalachian does not provide sororities with houses, it does
provide the organizations with floors of residence halls.
Officers and recent initiates typically are required to live on the respective
floors.
However, in recent years sororities have felt the strain of living with
mostly male underclassmen. “The reason why our floors get so trashed
is because of all the guys [in Cone] who randomly roam our halls,”
said senior Carrie Gwin, PHC assistant vice president of Recruitment and
director of Junior Panhellenic.
Vandalism is another hot issue. “We have had vandalism and stealing
issues in the past [in Cannon],” said Hawes.
“The biggest problem the sorority faces living in Cone is vandalism,”
said junior Heather Vasquez, Chi Omega personnel chair. “We’re
limited in how much we can make the floor feel like a house because we
can almost bet that what we’ve just spent money on will be stolen
or vandalized.”
Most believe that living in one residence-hall community will lessen the
threat of vandalism for sororities. “We can watch out for each other,”
said Hawes.
Many stressed the advantage of fostering unity.
“Living in one dorm would make it easier to curb rumors,” said
Vasquez. “It would be more convenient to get to know each other and
as a result, break down stereotypes that exist within the Greek community.”
Tonight is not the first time the idea has been brought up for discussion.
“Residence Life wanted to do this last year, but sororities voted
it down,” said Gwin, “But Housing obviously wants to do it,
so why not make it our choice?”
Abby Jordan, Alpha Phi president, not only intends to vote for the sororities
to move into one dorm, but also has made positive suggestions to Julie
Somppi, Greek advisor.
“Julie really liked Abby’s idea about renovating the downstairs
lobby of whichever dorm the sororities vote to move into, into conference
rooms for chapter meetings or Panhellenic meetings,” said Gwin.
Wake Forest University and Auburn University both offer secured conference
rooms on the lower levels of the residence halls that house sororities,
said Jordan.
Although many people think sororities have always been housed in separate
residence halls, the groups were housed in the same hall until 1991.
The sororities were once together in Cannon, said Dr. Jim Street, assistant
center director of the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership (CSIL),
and former Greek advisor.
Deanne Smith, assistant director of Admissions and an alumna advisor of
Chi Omega, was an undergraduate during the switch from Cannon to Cone.
At the time, there were only six sororities on campus. Sigma Nu fraternity
occupied the first floor of Cannon, Delta Chi fraternity occupied the
short floor, and the sororities occupied the top six floors, she said.
When Alpha Phi was added to PHC during the 1990-91 academic year, housing
the new group created a dilemma.
“PHC, IFC and staff members of what eventually became CSIL didn’t
want to just kick Sigma Nu out of its housing, so they figured the most
democratic thing to do was split the growing sororities into two dorms,”
said Smith.
Cone was chosen because of its ideal location on campus and because its
floor plan is nearly identical to Cannon Hall, she said.
“We thought moving would be the most horrible thing in the world,
but once there, we really liked being so close to the student union and
the post office,” said Smith.
Residence Life employees would not comment on the likelihood of the move
until PHC has made its decision concerning the matter.
Hawes said that the idea of moving the sororities into one hall is still
getting “mixed reviews” from some members. “I would like
to see this happen,” said Hawes. “I would like to see a sense
of community.”
Club
council helpful to students, clubs alike
David
Forbes - Clubs/Organization Beat
Appalachian
State University is home to more than 250 clubs and organizations with
focuses ranging from politics to sports, animal rights to dance.
Club Council is the organization that oversees this entire field, organizing
events involving clubs, approving any new organizations and allocating
funding for club traveling or events put on for educational purposes.
Club Council members are chosen every March. Potential members are nominated
by organizations on campus and applications are submitted. The nominees
are put on a ballot that is sent around to all the clubs on campus that
select those people they think would be the best council members.
“Not every club nominates someone, but they all have the opportunity
to,” said Deanna Cunningham, president of Club Council. “Most
nominees are leaders, active members within their own organizations who
want to help other clubs as well.”
Dino DiBernardi, director of Center for Student Involvement and Leadership
(CSIL), makes the final decision in approving the newly elected members.
Club Council also approves the constitutions of new clubs and organizes
Club Expo at the beginning of each fall semester.
Currently, the council is involved in publicity for the upcoming Leadership
Forum.
There is no fixed number of council committee members. “We could
potentially have 50 people on Club Council, though that’s doubtful,”
said Cunningham.
Current members are Cunningham, president; Crissy Bullins, secretary;
Deanna Dutting, VP Constitutions; Reed Davis, VP Allocations; Amy Dixon,
VP Communications; Ashley Bumgarner and Mark J. Miller, Communications
Committee members; Kara Dillow and Kevin Perkins, Constitutions Committee
members; and Bryan Beckham, Jerrold Simmons and Kevin Venable, Allocations
Committee members.
Club Council has plans for a club newsletter to be published three times
a semester spotlighting clubs, advertising and informing clubs of how
much money the council currently has to allocate.
“This is my second year on Club Council,” said Cunningham. “I
think we’ve done a lot of good, but there’s always ways to improve.
“I hope we can sometime soon visit every club, every two weeks, and
that we get more recognition in the future.”
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