Hall Endowment for Community Outreach
Project Abstracts
Fall 2010
Project Directors: Dianna Abel, PhD / Kristy Jones, MPH
Project Title: QPR Training: Northern Utah HOPE (Hold On Persuade Empower) Suicide Prevention Task Force
The objective of this request is to provide a nationally recognized, evidence-based suicide prevention curriculum (QPR – Question, Persuade, Refer; http://www.qprinstitute.com/) for ~15 – 20 members of the NUHOPE Task Force and local service organizations. Each trainee will become a certified QPR Gatekeeper Instructor and will be required to conduct a minimum of 3 QPR presentations in the community.
The Northern Utah HOPE Task Force is affiliated with the Weber Coalition for a Healthy Community (WCHC), a 501c3. Membership includes both local hospitals, MCHC, YCC, WHS, WSU, and other local professionals. The mission of NUHOPE is to increase suicide awareness and decrease the prevalence of this tragedy across northern Utah, specifically in Weber County. Our efforts include school-based prevention programs, education, community activism, and support for survivors.
Project Directors: Camie Bearden & Sherrie West
Project Title: Giving Weber State University (WSU) A “Head Start” In Early Childhood Education
To provide continuity in education over the summer months for Ogden Weber County Action Partnership (OWCAP) Head Start (HS) children, to provide required training for OWCAP-HS teachers and to provide a richly diverse educational experience for WSU student teachers. OWCAPHS is a national organization that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social/cognitive development of young children, on a local/national level. OWCAP-HS personnel will complete their required early childhood courses and student teaching through this partnership. Additionally, WSU student-teachers enrolled in CFS 2610/2620 will be participating in the classroom(s) weekly to gain a better understanding of teaching young children with a cultural-socioeconomic mix reflective of where they will likely become professionals.
Proposed partnership will increase community awareness regarding socioeconomic challenges in early childhood education and the role of the WSU Children’s School in producing well-prepared educators of tomorrow. Evaluation will include survey of HS families and dissemination regarding program success and survey response will be presented at National Head Start Association annual meeting in April 2012 and published in Teaching Young Children.
Project Director: Nancy Chris
Project Title: Wildcat Diaper Derby
The Wildcat Diaper Derby Project has both short and long term goals to address both the immediate and sustained need to make diapers available for those in the community who lack the funds to regularly purchase an adequate supply. Diapers are used by the most vulnerable members of our community, namely young children and disabled or elderly adults, who often suffer health and social consequences when they cannot purchase enough diapers to permit frequent changes. Existing government programs- Food Stamps, WIC, and Medicare- do not cover/permit the purchase of diapers. Donations of goods to charitable organizations usually focus on food or clothing. However, a number of communities in Arizona, California, Connecticut, and Michigan accepted the idea that diapers, too, are a basic need. Diaper drives are held to supply social service partners with diapers for those needing immediate assistance, and in a few locations permanent diaper banks have been established to provide a regular supply of diapers to a community or region. Diaper manufactures have partnered in various ways to support the efforts of these volunteers and non-prophet organizations. Various diaper bank web sites provide on-line resources in the form downloadable information kits and advice for others who wish to follow.
Project Director: Breanne Corbridge
Project Title: Wildcats Love Dogs Too!
My community partner is Intermountain Therapy Animals. Intermountain Therapy Animals has as its mission to enhance the quality of life through the human-animal bond. They work with children and adults in a range of settings to reach their motto of “pets helping people.” Besides providing a range of therapy in hospitals and schools, Intermountain Therapy Animals promotes the R.E.A.D program. This program helps children improve their confidence and reading ability. The office of Intermountain Therapy Animals is located in Salt Lake City, but they do outreach in the Ogden area. Raising awareness and money for Intermountain Therapy Animals is beneficial to the community in that the organization provides many services that aid individuals in the community. This Dog Walk will provide an opportunity for the community to better understand what services they offer. Also, encouraging community and campus involvement with an organization that is both notable and positive improves individual lives, as service always does.
Project Director: Janelle Gardiner, MS, RRT
Project Title: Vitamin D3 Levels And Asthma Management In Underprivileged Patients Of Ogden
The purpose of this project is to aid the underprivileged community in Ogden by teaching asthma management. A secondary purpose of this project is to correlate vitamin d3 with the severity of inflammation in asthma. The Midtown community health center (CHC) is the community partner in this project. Currently the Midtown CHC treats 292 asthma patients. They have agreed to provide us with a list of their asthma patients and allow us to contact them to invite them to join out asthma education clinics. If willing to participate, FeNO values (fraction of exhaled nitric oxide) will be used to determine the severity of inflammation in the lungs. Blood samples will be taken to check Vitamin d3 levels. By partnering with this clinic we will be able to reach those in the community that are less likely to supplement with vitamin d3. An asthma clinic will be held where the participants will then be taught techniques to better manage their asthma as well as individual counseling as needed. This project has potential to help physicians with underprivileged patients find a supplemental treatment to reduce the use of their inhaled steroids. To begin, baseline Vitamin D3 and FeNO levels will be obtained and a survey conducted to assess the control they have over their asthma as well as environmental factors. They will then be asked to take Vitamin D3 in accordance with a physicians recommended dosage, which will raise their value to within normal range. Within the next year, three vitamin D3 levels, four FeNO levels, and five peak flow values will be collected. Also within that year, five asthma education clinics will be held, in which a different aspect of asthma management will be covered each time. We look forward to the opportunity to help the underprivileged community of Ogden with this asthma clinic.
Project Directors: Kathryn Mackay And Lydia Gravis
Project Title: Arts In The Parks
The purpose of Arts in the Parks is to offer literary, visual, and performing arts experiences for children in central Ogden. As arts programming in the public schools is reduced, the resources WSU can provide become critical to enriching through the arts the lives of people in this area.
Summer 2010 marked the beginning of Arts in the Parks, modeled after Science in the Parks. For three weeks in three different Ogden City parks where Ogden City School District offered its free lunch program, members of various WSU Arts and Humanities departments teamed up with the librarians at the Weber County Library to offer free arts activities.
Each day, 100-200 children and their families participated in storytelling, printmaking, drumming circles, dancing, parachute games, and the making of sock puppets, musical instruments, and masks. Participants were able to take home their creations and a free book provided by Friends of Weber County Library. Volunteers included: WSU faculty, staff and students, Americorps members, librarians, and community members.
In 2011, we intend to expand Arts in the Park to four weeks in four different Ogden City parks. To continue this work, we need sturdy equipment dedicated to the project.
Project Director: Benjamin Harding
Project Faculty: Charlie Chandler
Project Title: Assisting Families Displaced By Domestic Violence
The purpose of the project; Assisting Families Displaced by Domestic Violence, is to do just that. Domestic violence is very traumatizing on the people it effects, and we decided we wanted to help combat these effects. We plan to do this through two objectives. 1- To assist the YCC by helping them create a warm and inviting place for domestic violence survivors to feel welcome, this will be done by re-decorating the entry way to the shelter. 2- Provide families displaced by domestic violence with a meal at a time when food donations are low (during the spring). In order to do this we are involving many different community organizations. They include: The YCC of Ogden, The Utah Food Bank, Weber State Social Work Club, Weber State Wrestling Club, and Weber State Department of Interior Design. These objectives will be completed by May of 2011. The social work club and the wrestling club will provide the needed labor to complete these objectives. The Interior design department will also be assisting by providing a student to design the entryway at the YCC.
Project Director: Amir A.H. Jackson
Project Title: Nurture The Creative Mind
The Nurture the Creative Mind Program (NCM) instills self-confidence, self-expression, as well as character development while cultivating creativity and learning. The NCM program will also open the minds of students to the many ways that poetry can be used in therapeutic development and empowerment, while teaching them the educational benefits and structure of poetry.
Furthermore we will expand their existing thoughts and beliefs which allow the students to become open-minded in others facets in education. This will assist them in life in becoming healthy, educated multidimensional students, who in turn become healthy, educated, multidimensional adults within society. We are currently working with multiple organizations and schools including Lincoln elementary, N. Davis Jr High, North Davis Preparatory Academy, the Solstice Treatment Center, the YCC, the Boys and Girls Club, Uintah elementary, and the YWCA. The funding we are requesting will specifically be used for the Solstice Residential Treatment Center. The program has already begun starting on Oct 7th and will conclude in mid-March with a performance presentation at the Weber State University’s Wildcat Theatre.
We will evaluate the growth and understanding of the projects objectives by having the participants fill out a survey in the beginning of the program. The participants will then fill out the same survey at the end. This survey will gage the appreciation and understanding of poetry, music and its use in the individual student’s life. We will also ask the students to write a short essay on the impact of the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation.
Project Director: Adam Johnston
Project Title: Ottreach: Taking Science Outside
“Taking Science Outside” aims to build another spoke of our science education outreach wheel. In addition to our programs for parks, schools, and parents, this project will show children and teachers ways to experience and engage in science outdoors. Specifically, it will help us build curriculum and capacity to include students in environmental science education. In partnership with Shadow Valley Elementary School (SVES), an Ogden School District “magnet” for environmental science, we will develop curriculum and test a program with the schools classes and students. Melissa Robinson, the environmental science specialist at the school, works with students and teachers there to develop and implement science curricula. (She is also employed at the Ogden Nature Center, splitting her time between the School and the Center, developing environmental education programs for both.) We will provide student volunteers to help facilitate student groups doing environmental science at the school, while Melissa and her teachers help us to develop the lessons that would be appropriate for various grade levels.
The ultimate aim is to engage these students in authentic experiences that bring the process of science and environmental issues directly to the students in a hands-on manner. The curriculum that will be developed can then be used throughout the Ogden District – part of Shadow Valley’s mission – as well as to our Center for Science and Math Education (CSME). Curricula will be developed and tested at SVES and the CSME during the spring and summer of 2011, utilizing the expertise of teachers at SVES in concert with the environmental science specialist, as well as CSME volunteers and staff who already engage in outreach with visiting schools and the general public (e.g., Science Saturdays, Science in the Parks). In the fall of 2011, a full announcement and invitation to other schools to participate will be made, in the form of school visits from CSME volunteers, visits from schools to the CSME, Natural Science Museum, and Ott Planetarium, as well as the sharing of curriculum materials with other schools in Ogden District. With the curriculum, sets of backpacks can be loaned to classes throughout the district, with support available from the project director, CSME staff, and SVES environmental education support.
In addition to sharing this curriculum through in service teacher workshops at SVES and the CSME, this curriculum and its implementation can be reported in national outlets, such as publications from the National Science Teachers Association.
Project Director: Leslie Kindred
Project Title: Computer Lab Upgrade for the Washington Terrace Senior Center
As a Senior Project involving Social Work and Gerontology students, we have identified the need of a reliable and functioning computer lab at the Washington Terrace Senior Center. In determining an appropriate senior project, we considered the needs of the agencies in which we are completing our practicum studies. While all the agencies had specific needs, the group agreed that the senior center was the one project that could be a valuable and self sustaining addition to the elder population as well as the community at large. The group has partnered with multiple community service agencies including: Weber Human Services Department of Aging, Washington Terrace Senior Center, Weber County Organization for the Elderly (WCOFE) and Washington Terrace City. In addition to upgrading the computer equipment, our team will be submitting a detailed outline of possible training topics for the elder population that can also be offered to the community at large. Topics include avoiding identity theft, general computer literacy, online genealogy, Alzheimer’s programs, and social networking as a means to combat depression.
Project Directors: Joanne Lawrence and Dr. Julie Rich
Project Title: Ogden Green Map Project
The objective of “Ogden Green Map Project” is to provide a community based learning experience that unites Weber State University, Repertory Dance Theater (RDT), and the Ogden School District (OSD), as partners in an innovative approach to interdisciplinary education that combines dance with geography. This is a unique arts/environmental education program for Ogden public schools based on the Green Map® System (www.greenmap.org/), a global movement encouraging communities to take inventory of cultural resources and sustainability practices. WSU will develop creative lesson plans for OSD to teach students the importance of maps, sustainability and environmental awareness. OSD students will explore and map, not only their school surroundings, but will also investigate their community as they identify locations that will be placed on the digital “Green Map” of Ogden. Students will learn mathematics, geometry and science through mapping, and develop writing skills by creating essays and poetry, while at the same time photo-documenting their experience. The mapped sections of Ogden City will be posted on the Ogden Green Map website along with copies of their written and photographic work. By having RDT and WSU Moving Company residencies in Ogden schools, a creative component taking the two-dimensional map and transforming it into a three dimensional experience, will teach students how to put movement to the Green Map, creating a choreographed piece. RDT and WSU Moving Company will perform 12 concerts this year on the WSU campus, in the OSD schools, and at the Egyptian Theater. The project combines art and science and helps teachers meet the district guideline of improving the learning experience through interdisciplinary activities. This project also empowers young people to take ownership of their community. The project is ongoing and, if successful, will become part of the WSU curriculum in a year or two. This proposal is for spring semester 2011. Total budget needed for the project is $60,005; funds already awarded equal $33,750; the amount requested from the Hall Endowment is $11,520. Project dissemination will include Green Map dance concerts (February), American College Dance Festival (March), Orchesis Dance Concert (March/April), OSD assemblies (April-May). We will submit professional papers to Journal of Dance Education and Journal of Geography (end of project) and present at professional conferences: National Dance Education Organization (October 2011) and Association of American Geographers (April 2012).
Project Director: Murielle Parkinson
Project Title: Teacher Bot
When funding in schools gets cut, training budgets are often the first to go. This is especially a problem for Elementary Schools; teachers require training in more areas. This program is designed to target fifth grade teachers in the Northern Utah area. It will provide a low cost hands on project with lots of student appeal in the core area of electricity and magnetism. This project will be done in conjunction with Davis School District, and will be offered to teachers in the Davis, Weber, and Ogden School Districts.
We will be showing the teachers how to build and use bristle-bots. Bristle-bots are a type of small robot that do not need programing and are built from a pager motors. There will be train sessions, offered three times in the next year. (January 11, June 25, July 15) To be held at various locations in Northern Utah. Registration will be limited to twenty teachers per session. There will two instructors (an experienced teacher, and a university student) and two assistant instructors. The two instructors have taught hundreds of elementary and middle school students to build the robots (We are very experience in building and maintaining these robots). We are now targeting teacher so they can learn to use and make bristle-bots to use in their classrooms.
Teachers will be taught to solder, and be shown how to use bristle-bots and other “junk-bots” to teach science and engineering concepts. They will also be given lesson plans that use bots to teach core concepts in electricity/magnetism, astronomy, and other areas. Most of the materials that the teachers take home will be covered by a $20 registration fee. These materials (soldering iron, solder, five motors, and helping-hands) are the minimum materials needed to keep a small fleet of bristle-bots running.
Registration fees will be very flexible, if we are able to find the tools for a better price we will adjust accordingly. We will also have a discount for teachers who are willing to share tools with a friend, or has access to some of the tools already. After each training session, teachers will be asked to fill out a survey on instructor performance, and how they feel about the materials and lesson plans. These evaluations will be taken into consideration when planning following sessions. We will also ask participants to report back on their experience using the bristle-bots in the classroom. We will use this information to refine the lesson plans and trouble shoot methods for the future. The lesson plans will then be posted to a science blog along with links to help teachers make and build their own bots.
Project Director: Melinda Russell-Stamp
Project Title: Success Skills For Adolescents
One purpose of this project is to increase the academic, social and career planning skills of students at Washington Alternative High School in Ogden. Six practicum students from Weber State University will serve as writing and math tutors for students in four classrooms at the high school. In addition, twenty Washington High School students will be selected to participate in a seven week course designed by two psychology faculty and the psychology practicum students. Students will be selected for this class by obtaining input from the school counselor and principal. Priority will be given to students who have just transitioned to Washington High School so that they can learn skills to be successful in this new setting and have the opportunity to be mentored by Weber State students. Through the use of direct instruction, interactive activities and small group discussion, high school students in this class will develop the following skills: assertive communication, problem-solving, goal-setting, handling frustration, resume writing, and making a good first impression on a job interview. The students in this class will also complete the district career program (utahfutures.org) and have the opportunity to discuss their goals with Weber State practicum students.
Incentives will be used to motivate students in areas where they have experienced past difficulty, namely attendance. According to the principal, Washington High School has improved their overall school attendance from 39% to 80% in three years. He attributes this improvement to the implementation of a monthly positive reinforcement system. Since punitive measures have not been successful with these students in the past, a positive reinforcement system will be used for class attendance and participation. Students will earn tickets that can be used to purchase small incentives (i.e. pen, candy bar) on a weekly basis. The class will also have a party on the last day of class to celebrate the students’ successes and progress during the course.
The second purpose of this project is to increase parent and student awareness of the available educational resources in the community through fieldtrips to educational institutions. Representatives from educational institutions will also be invited to attend the Parent Teacher Conferences at Washington High School. Each semester our practicum students will help students at Washington write personal statements and resumes so that they can apply for the $100 Zuniga and Bride book scholarships (donated by former practicum student and family).
Project Director: Coach Stack
Project Title: Operation Inspiration
The purpose of Operation Inspiration is to bring children from the two Boys and Girls Club locations to the Weber State University Campus where they can learn life skills through experiences on campus with student athletes and faculty.
Objectives
Promote healthy life style through exercise and diet
Promote life skills
Promote academics – emphasize the importance of furthering education.
Our approach to meeting our objective will involve student-athletes mentor the children, hosting them on campus where they will be involved in several activities that will be explicitly designed to meet our objectives. This will be a four day program taking place on February 12, 19, 26 and March 2. The participants will be picked up by 3 p.m. at the Boys and Girls Club it will run until 6:30 p.m.