Rose State College

2009-2010 Service Learning Student Awards

Alfred Shells, Jr. : Alfred did his service-learning with Millwood Elementary School’s Memorial Mentor’s Program. In a short seven-week span he logged a total of 109 hours of service. He advised he would continue to volunteer with the Program even though his service-learning was over. Of the Mentor’s Program, Alfred said, “The Memorial Mentor’s Program is phenomenal! I feel the Program is necessary nationwide and that it may aid in a number of issues that our youth face daily.”

Over the summer (2010) the Service-Learning office contacted Alfred to see if he continued his service. He said the Memorial Mentor’s Program supervisor asked him to chaperone the group’s trip to Six Flags Over Texas, which he did, stating, “I really enjoyed the opportunity and the experience to make a difference in the lives of our youth. I’m not sure if I will be able to participate in the fall semester but if the opportunity is there…I will be.”

The Mentor’s Program supervisor, Mr. Jimmy Phillips, said, “We are very thankful and happy to have had Mr. Shells with us. Hope we can continue the union.”

Angele Fahey: Angele did her service-learning with Young Adults in Transition through the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

The Rose State College Service-Learning office received an email from Angele’s supervisor, Amanda Powders, praising Angele’s contribution to the Young Adults in Transition program. The statement read:

“It has been a great pleasure and an honor having Angele volunteering with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services for the past year. She has been instrumental in helping develop our new program for transitional young adults. Angele is one of the most dependable team members I have ever had. She has proven herself to be a valuable intern with the program. She also has made a big impact on our callers and our other interns. I wanted to tell you how much we appreciate having service-learning students like her.”

2008-2009 Service Learning Student Awards

Chad Keiser: Chad did his service-learning project at Teenline under the directions of Dr. John Wood. Chad wanted the opportunity to help teens who had problems that they were unsure of how to deal with. He says this project really helped him with his communication and problem-solving skills. He feels his greatest accomplishment while working at Teenline was helping instill confidence in a shy young girl with eating disorders.

Angele Fahey: Angele has done service-learning for her Intro to Sociology and her Intro to Social Work courses. She also did her work with Teenline, and she continues to volunteer there, well after her course requirements have been completed. She says that her greatest accomplishment is giving the callers a sense of self-worth. In Angele’s words, “Everyone needs someone to talk to and share with, and it fills me with pride knowing I can do that for others.”

Allison Yarbrough: Allison did her service-learning work with Professor Carolyn Cuskey at the Atkinson Heritage Center. This was an especially rewarding experience because she was trying to decide what field of history she would like to get into. Now she knows that she is interested in becoming a curator at a historical museum.

Carrie Larson: Carrie did her service-learning work for her Professional Issues in Nursing course at the Shawnee Chapter of the Red Cross. Her most rewarding experience came on the night of the wild fires when helped make sandwiches for 250 firefighters who had been battling flames for over 12 hours without a break. She says that her experience at the Red Cross was so rewarding that she plans to continue volunteering there.

Lilia Concannon: Lilia also volunteered at the Atkinson Heritage Center. She really valued doing her service-learning work at a place closely associated with Rose State. She says that the extra credit she received for her service work was just the icing on the cake. As a new student with limited time, what she valued most was the self-satisfaction and encouragement that came from the opportunity to give back to her community.

2007 SERVICE-LEARNING AWARDS

Six students received Service-Learning Awards for their projects in the community, and six professors were recognized for their involvement and support of Service-Learning. 

Each one of the following professors has demonstrated a strong and consistent commitment to Service-Learning here at Rose State:

Faculty:

Liz Brown
John Carl
Dick Frost
Kim Queri
Arnold Waggoner
John Wood

Students:

Lisa Greer:  Lisa was nominated by Michael Lovegrove for her work in his U.S. History class.  When Ms. Greer saw that there was no plan in place to challenge students to learn from the exhibits at the Oklahoma History Center, she asked that she be allowed to create a scavenger hunt game that could be used as a teaching and assessment tool.  Students on this hunt are charged with the task of identifying historical figures, artifacts, and activities highlighted in the various exhibits at the museum.  According to Lisa:  "The first day I visited the Oklahoma History Center, several classes were there, all from different schools.  As I arrived, their tours were finishing.  Kids were EVERYWHERE.  They were running up and down the stairs, crowding through and around other visitors, and ignoring requests to slow down, basically, being kids.  I decided that day that the Center needed something to keep the students' interest.  Having their teachers walk them back through the galleries, they can discuss what information they have retained and use the "seek and find" to explore more in depth of what the exhibit has to offer.  Just the knowledge I gained and believing that I helped benefit our community gives me great gratification."

Kyle Cook:  Kyle did a service-learning project for Eileen Dewey's class.  Not only did Kyle tutor many students to help them learn different programming languages, he also gave student tours when they would come to check out the cybersecurity and game development program.  He took these students to the forensic lab and demoed software and showed them what kind of work they would be involved with and the courses required for the cybersecurity degree.  Many parents and high school counselors have called to thank him for the wonderful tour.  Kyle says that helping people score higher in their classes and raise their confidence is one of the best benefits he got from service-learning and he will continue to do service-learning in the fall.  Thank you, Kyle.

Candice Basden:  Candice did over 80 hours of service-learning work for John Carl's Intro to Social Work class in the HIV Peer Education Program, and this past spring was her fifth semester of doing service-learning work at Rose State.  Candice says that her work as a HIV Peer Educator has helped her tremendously, and she has enjoyed her experience so much that she plans to continue her work in this field after obtaining her degree.  Thanks, Candice, for being involved in this important work.

Lavina McKinzey:  Lavina was nominated by her Principles of  Web Design professor, Donna Wilson, for her amazing 250 hours of service-learning work designing a web page for Studio 222 (an after-school activity program for inner city at-risk teens).  Now this organization has a well-designed, user-friendly website that will hopefully also be an avenue for fundraising.  Thanks so much, Lavina.

Kenneth Love:  Kenneth's project was to design and develop a modern database driven Native American information system for the Friends of the Oklahoma Historical Society Archives.  Because of the complexity and scope of the software development phase, both of Peter VanDerGoes' classes declined this project as a possible group project, but Mr. Love saw the potential value of the project to all Oklahomans interested in our heritage, so he undertook it as an individual project with no thought to compensation or recognition.  Kenneth says that he thought the project was interesting and fun and he hopes to be able to continue working on it until other students volunteer to participate.

Logan Wise:  Logan was nominated by her First Aid professor, Kim Queri.  For her service-learning project, Logan put first aid kits together and donated them to Riverside Indian Boarding School.  The Boarding School had over 1200 people living there with only one first aid kit for all twelve dormitories.  Professor Queri said that Logan exceeded her expectations by donating countless hours trying to get donations for this project and then putting the kits together.  Ms. Wise said that she gained a sense of charity and knowledge that will help her in the future.  She also said that she gained the satisfaction of knowing that if someone gets hurt at the boarding school and an ambulance is far away, these kits will contain the basic information and supplies to aid in an emergency, which could possibly save someone's life.