No Images? Click here Dominican University of CaliforniaSL Program Updates Spring 2017Contents
News FlashNew Minor in Community Action and Social Change!(From left to right) Dylan Martins, Sierra Najolia, Edsel Velasco, and Aaron Hidalgo presenting their concept map in the Theory and Practice in CASC class. Dominican’s new minor in Community Action and Social Change (CASC) officially kick-started in the Spring 2017 semester. The first CASC core course Theory and Practice in Community Action and Social Change included students from across disciplines — Occupational Therapy, History, Public Health, Humanities, Business Management, Psychology, and Communication. Read more about the the exciting new minor and CASC course offerings in the Fall 2017 semester. Public Education at Dominican University Conversations on Race and Immigration. In Spring 2017, Dominican hosted the “Conversations on Race and Immigration” series as part of the year-long University’s Democracy and Equity Initiative. The series is funded by California Humanities, an independent nonprofit and state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Learn more about community conversations on Immigration and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA); Policing, Prisons, and Marginalized Communities; and Fruitvale Station and Police Brutality.Poverty Simulation. On March 17th, Dominican faculty, staff, students and other community members participated in a poverty simulation on campus. The Poverty Simulation, a role-play tool-kit that simulates a month of life in poverty, was designed to help participants understand the challenges facing homeless and low-income families. Read more about this event here. Panelists from the Policing, Prisons, and Marginalized Communities event: (from left to right) Jimmy Wu, Jill Peeler, Tash Nguyen, Nghiep Ke Lam, and Donté Clark. Educational Inequity in Marin City. Since 2016, the Sausalito Marin City School District has been under state investigation for inappropriate use of funds between its charted and public schools. For most of the 2016–2017 school year, with only one full time teacher, the education for Bayside/MLK Middle School students has been severely compromised. Watch video of Betty Hodges, director of The Hannah Project in Marin City, for crucial information and her personal insights on the situation. Social Justice Jam with Sidewalk Art and Bubble TeaOn April 20, the Service-Learning student leaders organized a Social Justice Jam where Dominican students, faculty, and staff came to create sidewalk art with chalk to express their passion for social justice and enjoy bubble tea together. Students interested in the CASC minor also had the opportunity to learn more about the requirements and course offerings. See more images from the fun event here. Farewell to Graduating SL Student LeadersSL student leader Avni Ghandi, SL director Julia van der Ryn, SL student leader Elaine Aciaga, SL program coordinator Jenny Bray, SL student leader Julia Hills, SL student leader Sophie Miller, SL assistant director Emily Wu. At the end-of-semester Service-Learning symposium, we recognized and celebrated our graduating Service-Learning student leaders with SL cords and SL tags. They also shared briefly about how SL has transformed their Dominican experience, and where they are heading after this particular leg of their journeys. See video. Spring 2017 SpotlightsCommunity Partner Spotlights Parent Services Project (PSP) offers support and resources for Latino immigrant families with young children. Patricia Brawley is the Family Engagement Coordinator at PSP. She organizes weekly play groups, Aprendiendo Juntos (AJ), for pre-kindergarten children and their parents. Students from a variety of classes have benefited greatly from Patricia’s mentorship. She is a fountain of energy and warmth. Read more about Patricia's perspective on the partnership with Dominican Service-Learning. Shaun Marshall (right) present with SL students Emma Tobola (left) and Samantha Easley (center) at SL Symposium. Ritter Center provides Dominican students the opportunity to better understand the issues and dehumanizing stigma of homelessness Semester after semester, students are able to examine the root causes of homelessness and gain a much deeper understanding into the structural issues and discourses that make it difficult for people to rebuild their lives. Ritter Center staff member, Shaun Marshall talks about the benefits of the partnership between Ritter and Dominican here. SL Course Spotlights Art Fundamentals: Concept to Creation students worked with Venetia Valley 4/5 graders in the LEAP after school program to produce group stop motion videos. They had a choice of prompts: 1) tell a story about having super hero powers 2) tell a story about an adventure involving animals 3) tell a story about being principal or teacher for the day. Some couldn’t decide on one, so they incorporated all three! See the incredible video productions here. Students recreating gestures from the exercise at San Quentin. The Bard’s Beasts, a course offered through Dominican’s Division of Literature & Languages, partnered with Shakespeare for Social Justice program, an arts-in-corrections program that combines drama therapy with Shakespearean performance in Northern California penal institutions. In class, the students explored issues of social justice, especially at the intersections of race, class, and gender, in plays such as King Lear, Othello, and Titus Andronicus. They then learned more about America’s incarceration system at a panel on “Policing, Prisons, and Marginalized Communities” hosted by Dominican’s Democracy & Equity Initiative. Students also received specialized training in a workshop with Lesley Currier, Managing Director of Marin Shakespeare Company. Read more. SL Student Leader Spotlight: Dasha Alexander Dasha Alexander is a new Service-Learning leader working with Venetia Valley K-8 School. A sophomore transfer from the East coast, she made the journey to Dominican University with the aspirations of becoming a teacher. Aware of her desire to become a fully fledged middle school teacher, Venetia Valley instructor, Mr. Stickle, has taken her under his wing. “I’ve never had such an immersive and educational service-learning experience before I started serving with Venetia Valley,” says Dasha. SL Student ReflectionsAaron Hidalgo ’18 is an Interdisciplinary Major (Humanities/Public Health) and Community Action and Social Change (CASC) Minor. Read more of his reflection here. "I remember my second week at Rotacare there was a patient who, from what we speculated, was an immigrant from Florida and had been in jail there, maybe because was undocumented? He had some type of ankle bracelet, that for some reason, was still on him. I met the man, I interpreted for him. He was no criminal. He was timid, perhaps a little fearful, as to be expected when you are living the life of an undocumented immigrant. Something about his story just validated even more the reality of our nations immigration issue and the reality of what these people have faced and are facing." - Coraima Delgado Hipp Elvira Solyn Coronado '18 is a student in the Colloquium The “Other”: Shaping the Future in the Midst of Difference. Read more of her reflection here. "Not only did accompaniment help me with my learning for this class, but it also helped me to become more engaged in my work. It is really easy to sit in an office and make assumptions about what types of services will help a community. . . . Through accompaniment, one can see exactly how hard the people of these marginalized communities are working to provide for themselves and their families. Accompaniment dispels the myth that people only want a hand out: “True accompaniment does not privilege technical expertise above solidarity or compassion or a willingness to tackle what may seem to be insuperable challenges. It requires cooperation, openness, and teamwork” (Farmer, 4). - D’Angelo Paillet Michael Gomez '18 is a Liberal Arts Major, an athlete on Dominican's Soccer Team, and a SL Student Leader at Canal Alliance. Read more of her reflection here. For her Community Action and Social Change: Theory and Practice course, Stephanie Hernandez worked with Parent Services Project. In this video, she shares the new insights and skills she learned from her community partner mentor Patricia Brawley, as well as from the parents and children at PSP. "Most of the children at Kid’s Club are of Latino descent. They come from a low-income neighborhood. I constantly think of these things: Do they fully realize their reality? Do they have hope for the future? Is their identity truly their own? How are they effected by all of this right now? How about in 5 years? 10 years? How will their children fair? It is something that makes me think more and more about the further the semester goes on. And consequently, the more I understand, the more I validate the purpose of what I am learning." - Aaron Hidalgo Coraima Delgado Hipp is a Health Science Major. Read more of her reflection here. "I was exposed to the pain and injustice marginalized individuals face. I learned that we may not be able to completely understand the experiences these people have endured, but awareness is a step forward to addressing the issues in our society. . . After many written reflections I realized that my experience with service learning was a way for me to see the inequities the community faces in proximity rather than simply reading texts about it in the classroom. " -Elvira Solyn Coronado D’Angelo Paillet ’18 is a Business Management Major and Community Action and Social Change Minor. Watch video of his SL Symposium presentation here. "...on November 9th I experienced a reality that could have changed any person’s outlook on this community. I walked in to work that day, understanding the fear which had plagued my students the day before, would now be their reality. I walked into work that day to see a collective room of student with tears falling from the strongest hearts I know. I walked into work that day, only seeing the children I care so deeply for, and realized how far from the truth it is, that we are at all separate. We are not immigrants and documented — we are people. We are not Hispanic, Latino, Caucasian — we are human. Service Learning is not about lowering oneself to help another. Service Learning is realizing you were at the same level the whole time, and that union allows all of us to gain, learn, and rise together." -Michael Gomez Stephanie Hernandez ’17 is a graduating senior in Public Health. Upcoming EventsCommunity Engagement Faculty DevelopmentComing Fall 2017: Service-Learning and Community Engagement: Principles, Partnerships, Best Practices, & Course Design A faculty development series for all disciplines Faculty will learn: · Best practices and principles articulated by the international movement · How to fully integrate community engagement into existing or new course · How to cultivate effective and reciprocal community partnerships · How to implement and facilitate critical reflection · How to take advantage of available resources and networks. Learn more about the 4 sessions of this faculty development series. SL Courses in Fall 2016
For detailed course descriptions, link here. Questions or Comments?Visit Dominican University of California Service-Learningwebpages: http://www.dominican.edu/academics/serviceContact SL Program: service.learning@dominican.eduDominican University of California |