COIL Project Group 8

 

White Plains Public Library Donation

Group 4 consists of Lukas Repetti, Will Brunson, Kiya Als and Menghan Ren. 

They are partnering up with White Plains Public Library towards their goal of donating a certain amount of books for their class project. They chose White Plains Public Library because of it's close location and few restrictions on book donations.

They are looking to collect popular, non-fiction books with which the library can use to fill their young-adult bookshelves. The group is currently in the process of collecting books and has appointed Lukas to deliver the books upon completion of collection. Already they are finding the project fulfilling: “It’s great to know we’re giving back to a community and helping others” Lukas said.

Middleburgh Drive

Group Two Members: Emily Vanbuskirk, Yewon Jo, Joyce jones and Daniel.

They partnered up with the Middleburgh Public Library with the goal of donating books for their class project. They chose the Middleburgh Public library because of the damage it sustained to its facilities after Hurricane Sandy which was a devastating storm to hit the region several years back. During the storm the library lost many books due to flooding and still have not fully recovered. This group hopes that their donations will help further along the process of getting the Middleburgh public library back to its former glory.

Books For Hudson

Group 1 Members: Cara, Brendan, Colin and Kelsey

For their group project, they are partnering with the Hudson Area Library. The library is located in beautiful Hudson, NY and recently relocated and upgraded to a new location.

In an effort to fill this new and exciting space, the Group 1 has decided to donate books for younger readers in the 8-18 year age range. They hope to encourage teens to read and they think books in this range will be needed in this new space.

The Hudson Area Library was chosen, because Colin is from Hudson and wants to support his public library, his proximity to the building also makes the donation process easier.

We Must Unlearn To Learn - Vivan Ng

Vanessa Salamy       Alie Matthews       Ray Chau       Krista Schlaeger       Eric Ehrenreich

Step into a classroom in the early 2000's.  Imagination bubbles are frantically bouncing around the room as the little humans are giddy in their chairs flipping page after page in their dragon, princess, magic lamps and school buss and tree-house books.  Today you walk into that same classroom.  There is no crinkling of pages, sudden bursts of giggles, or imagination surfacing among the children.  The classroom is rigid and concrete; systematic.  There is no sprawling landscape before the eyes of the curious.  There is no victorious, fearless leader preparing their soldiers for battle.  Instead, standing before these blossoming minds is a dictation of knowledge that they must regurgitate on command.  They will repeat and drill that knowledge into their brains until judgement day. There has been a switch, a change in how things are practiced in education.  Children are being robbed of their own natural beauty to process information and create alternate worlds that aid their learning.  What are you going to do about it?

At UAlbany, the Communications 304 Conference and Group Leadership class decided to intervene.  We were the ones who were giggling with our noses glued to books, our little minds wandering to alternate universes, we begged to have independent reading throughout the school day.  Today we know just how valuable our imagination was aiding our learning.  We want to help recreate that for other young learners.  

To tackle this mission we knew that the one thing that brought us the joy of learning and exploring is the same thing we need to bring to others.  Not imaginative educators, not pretty classrooms.  It's Books.  Books have the ultimate power to release a mind into another realm.  Creativity stems from one's imagination and ability to unleash that natural talent.  Too many minds are molded to a concrete timeline of standards and core educational goals.  This book project will be able to help us step over this steel threshold and break into the future of education.

Milk and Bookies

Group 1 

Organization: Milk + Bookies (http://www.milkandbookies.org)

Mission Statement: "MILK+BOOKIES is a non-profit organization that exposes young children to how great it feels to give back while celebrating the love of a good book."

Book Requirements:

• New or gently used (i.e. no tears, stains, writing, etc.) children's books.
• Preschool to high school age books.

Donation Extra Requirements:

• Organization will send a receipt acknowledging the donation.

• MUST request the receipt within the donation box.

Contact Information:

Alesha Dailey

Operations Manager

Milk + Bookies

alesha@milkandbookies.org

www.milkandbookies.org

Office Voicemail: 323-863-5742

Cell Phone: 661-886-3645

Donation Office: 
1448 15th St. #202, 
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Out Reach Community Service: The Literate Earth Project

We have chosen to team up with the Literate Earth Project, seeing as we too, wish " to establish literate communities in developing countries by putting books in the hands and minds of children".  Based in Philadelphia, they supply developing countries with books, libraries, and education. They promote community building and "active citizenship". They run off of monetary donations and book drives that they coordinate on various campuses. The donations in turn contribute to books, shelving, training, and material transport. If you ever wish to donate or work with the Literate Earth Project, Visit : www.info@theliterateearthproject.org

Our group is simply an extension or facilitator for the Literate Earth Project at UAlbany. We chose to collaborate with the organization because we wanted to make a difference in poverty stricken communities. The organization was a perfect fit in our efforts to make a difference. By sending in these books, we're improving children's educational opportunities, which in turn will improve their quality of life.

Group 3: Rochester City School District

The Rochester City School District Library System is based in Rochester County, New York. With students ranging grades K through 12 in thirteen different schools, the Rochester City School District has a wide range of students with different backgrounds, interests, and appeals. In  an effort to better the education of it's students, this library system follows a mission "to create a positive learning environment in the libraries of Rochester City School through resource development sharing, staff development and technical support"(www.rcsdk2.org).

We chose this organization due to its open availability and commitment to education through all sorts of literature. The Rochester City School District Library System has little restrictions on the types of books they are willing to receive in order to develop a diverse selection of books for their students to chose from; ranging from recreational novels to educational textbooks.

Book project

Chelsea Merrill

Michaela Burbank

Chris Smith

Tunisia Bey

Stephanie Acosta

 

Comm 304- Conference and Group Leadership

                While bringing my brother to school yesterday I saw something that did not settle very well with me.  I looked around the room and saw young students waiting for class to start and realized the generational gap that is slowly killing the success of our society.  I observed students teetering away on frivolous technology.  One students was watching an Iggy Azalea music video.  Another was playing a game that I can only guess that they outcome was how many people you could shoot in 30 seconds.  These students were glued to their iPhones and tablets.  So often we here about teenagers and adults being addicted to their phones, but these are 8 year olds.  Not a single child in this classroom had a book.  I saw a bookshelf in the corners that was full of literacy.  Unfortunately, it sat there solemnly collecting more dust than an antique shop. “Why weren’t these students reading?” I thought to myself.  I reminisced on the days that I spent countless hours with my nose in a book.  I’m not sure at what point childhood pastime switched from reading to texting, but I knew one thing for sure, lack or reading was becoming a huge problem.

                It has come to my attention that the education system is lacking in many ways.  Graduation rates are plummeting.  Students are dropping out of high school and college like it’s the Huger Games.  Lower graduation rates lead to a less educated workforce.  How can we expect our economy to thrive if we don’t have well qualified professionals in important fields?

                Reading does more than just entertain children.  It teaches the basic fundamentals for critical thinking and applied analysis.  Reading books provides children with the building blocks of becoming self- aware, competent members of society. We cannot expect our children to learn basic communication skills and rational thinking if they spend their days filling their spongent minds with crap. Psychologist stress that young children are very venerable to the world around them.  They observe everything and apply it.  Therefore, if they see crap, they will learn crap.  If they see knowledge, they will learn knowledge. 

1.                   Putting books in the hands of children is one of the best things that we can do for their future and our own.  By educating children at a young age and teaching them critical thinking skills, we will be giving them the tools that they need to successful future members of society.  It has also come to my attention that not all students have access to the resources for education.  That is why my group members and I participated in a book drive.  To help guarantee that all children have access to educational materials.  Below is a link to a video that my group and I created to showcase just how important books are to our children.  If you have any questions or are looking for ways to get involved please comment below.

 

 https://youtu.be/ZqA9v_-ufZQ 

What is community service?

Chelsea Merrill

Michaela Burbank

Chris Smith

Tunisia Bey

Stephanie Acosta

 

Comm 304- Conference and Group Leadership

 

Community service is important because it contributes to the success of a community.  So often people are concentrated on individual success. They may work hard for a desired outcome but the outcome is solely to support and benefit themselves.  The problem is that individual success is not what fuels a booming economy and supports a thriving population.  In order for us to succeed as a nation, we must succeed as a group.  That means that those of us who are capable and willing to help those of us who are less capable should.  We are told that we are all equal in this country, but that that doesn’t mean that we all have equal access to opportunity.  Due to conditions beyond control, many individuals are born into an underprivileged life.  Students aren’t always given a true education.  Veterans who risked their lives for us aren’t always able to get a job when they return.  Mothers who have become sick aren’t always able to afford to feed their children. It is our duty as privileged citizens to give back to those who are less than privileged.

 The community that you live in is more than just a zip code.  Your community is the heart and soul of your life.  Your community is home to your school, the place that you begin an education that will kick start the rest of your life.  Your community also provides you with parks that are not only environmentally necessary but are a spot that people can come together socially.  It is important not to take everything that your community gives you for granted. If you wish to succeed in life, you need the support of your community.

There are lots of different types of things that you can do as a form of community service.  There is the typical volunteering in a soup kitchen or planting a community garden. But there are so many other ways of community service that need to be done.  You can host a book drive in order to gather books for children that don’t have the same access to education equipment as you do.  You can spend time with at risk teens and pre-teens in an afterschool program.  You can find a way to encourage everyone in your community to recycle.  You can do any type of a fundraiser that you can use the profit from to make a healthy community.  The results are truly endless. Think outside of the box.  Discover an issue that you think is prevalent in your community, figure out a solution to that problem, and actively get involved to convince others to partake in your solution.  People get caught up in the everyday and they forget how important their contribution is to their community. Every little bit helps. If you have question or suggestions about how to get involved in your community, comment below.

 

Group 4's Video

Project Group Video (Week 8)
Group Members: Dayun Park, Aaron Willams, Chris Pasquarella, Jae Hack Jeong, Will Hunter

Process of Book Donation to Harlem Children's Zone

         During the entire semester, we were assigned one project which is donating books to non-profit organization. We worked together as a group and each team member put a lot of effort to donating books. Once a week, we gathered and discussed and planned what we should do for donation. We gathered books from diverse method, selected books, made a fund from goFundme, and finally sent it to the non-profit organization. To specify our process of book donation to Harlem Children' Zone, we made a funny 2.30 minute short video.
       
         The video starts with classroom and showed how we planned, brainstormed idea based on instruction, and how we contact with the organization. Then, we describe the process of collecting books which are going to academic department, faculty, and visiting dorms. Next, we show how we selected books from gathered books. Among selected book, we finally show how we sent those books to Harlem Children's Zone.
   
         In the video, some of group members (Dayun Park, Chris Pasquarella, and Jae Hack Jeong) became main actors and actress and also we included a young women who lives in Empire. Other members took turn and filmed the video, and they also edited and helped adding captions and credits. Overall, we made an interesting video which explains how we can successful in book donation. You can see the video under the link.

<iframe width="854" height="510" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_3r2QTUNdWo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Group 3's Video!

Today in class our group was responsible for creating a video in which we decided to outline our service learning project! The video includes us speaking about our assignment, what organization we chose to work with, the importance of service learning, and the conclusion. 

In order to put our video together, we had to go through several steps. Our team needed to decide upon a video idea then create a script. From there, we had to act, then edit the film. Next comes this final blog post.

The project and film were very fun and a great learning experience. To check out our video and learn more about what we've done this semester click the link below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG-fZXojTNc 

Video on smaller classrooms VS larger classrooms in UAlbany!

LARGE CLASSROOMS VS SMALL CLASSROOMS

BY: SPENCER, CAROL, COURTNEY, JESSICA AND CAITLYN

We chose smaller classrooms vs larger classrooms because it highlights many "arguments" on what is better for students in one video! It can be shown that from smaller classrooms it is easier for the professor to engage with students and for students to get a chance to get a more in-depth understanding of what is going on in the lecture by having more chances of asking questions, since there is less people in the classroom. We know that it is unrealistic for there to be no more large lectures, but we believe that a smaller classroom environment is a more effective way for students to learn.

Carol Filmed this video

Spencer and Courtney acted in this video

Caitlyn wrote the script for the video 

and I (Jessica) posted and wrote the blog!

To do this video we walked around campus to find different examples of small classrooms and large lecture centers for the location of the video!

Hope you enjoy!

How and Why to Donate Books - Group 1 Video

4/21/2015

Group 1 Members: Alex Moeller, Jessica Henkel, YoonKyung Cho, Jane Kim, Brianne Dolan, Jenna Dobin

To decide on our concept, we first thought of our initial thought process when we discussed how and why to donate books. This can also apply to donation and community service of any kind. We wanted to break down these steps into more broad detail in order to apply to others, and what message we wanted to send. We then decided on a script in which to communicate our message that best portrayed our vision. Jessica Henkel, Brianne Dolan, and Jenna Dobin communicated these messages in our video, and the message was recorded by Alexander Moeller. We took a desk from our classroom to use as a base prop, and used Alex's laptop to help us with our our new script. The script was essentially a rough rewrite of our blog post about how to get involved, because we felt that post was strong and needed not only emphasis, but more of a personal touch for those who wanted to get involved. We talked about how we donated books, what others can do to get involved, and the hashtags (#GreatBookGiveaway #DoYourPart #ProjectCommunity #OneselfOneCommunity) that others can use to follow our progress--or even show us their own! Alex is best at computers so he volunteered to edit our video together with the text that we needed. We then broke down our duties as group members for the other parts of the assignment.

Below is our group video for the Great Book Giveaway.

Project Group Video (Week 8)

4/21/2015

Group:
Kelly, Kassie, Oscar, and Carrie

Project Group Video (Week 8)

     Today our group was given the task to create a video explaining the process we used to accomplish our group service learning project. We were given a checklist that included the criteria we had to meet to finish the project on time. First, we were told to pick a concept for our video. We decided that our concept would be our process of choosing our organization, challenges we met along the way, and how we were able to overcome those challenges.  Next we gathered our equipment, which was an iPhone, and a Mac with iMovie.

      Next, we wrote a script and tasked each member to speak about one aspect of our project. We then filmed and edited the video using iMovie. We split up the work by having two people work on editing the video while the other two worked on the blog post. Finally, we uploaded the video to YouTube and embedded it into this post.    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbnDOZZAukE&feature=youtu.be
                                                                                           

 Hope you enjoy the video!

Our Video

Our video will be introducing group members as well as the organization, St. Mary's Children's Hospital of Queens. Our goal in the video is to meet our group members and to share further information on our organization and the reasoning behind choosing it. With this we will explain the positive impact this assignment has had on us as group members and conclude by asking each member whether or not they will continue participating in service learning related activities.

-Rebecca, Zuri, Brooke, Diamond, Molly

The Importance and Impact of Civic Engagement

Have you ever done something for someone not because you had to but because you were in the position to do so? Has someone ever done something for you with you asking because they knew that their help would help you to be in a better place than you were before? This is community service in a nutshell and it changes lives and has been since community service has been around.

Community service is becoming increasingly important in society. It provides service and help to people and communities in need, while strengthening communities, too. It serves as a platform for personal growth and a self-esteem booster in volunteers. It helps volunteers feel good about themselves for their giving back to the community. Another positive experience of community service is that it brings people in the community together while strengthening community bonds. Community service can also act as learning experience for volunteers and even act as experience for certain careers (ie. Peace Corp., Red Cross). Giving back to the community also emphasizes the importance and civic responsibility of being in a community. However, the most important reason for community service is that volunteers make a difference through action.

            Community service and its importance is clearly and widely known to have the impact that is mentioned above and much more. However, this was only the case after community service was seen to be effective and necessary to develop standards for community engagement. Through social learning, the community at large has been constantly reminded that service can only benefit those in need and if you are in the position to provide a service then why not? Community service has grown and spread to other aspects of society. Nowadays, you have entire companies, corporations and countries engaging in community service. The NBA, for instance, under the name NBA Cares, provides local communities with services ranging from education to infrastructure. Many large corporations are now engaging in corporate social responsibility which is a way for these large corporations to show the communities in which they conduct business that they care and are not purely focused on just making profits.

            Society, overall, has placed a positive connotation on the words community service. When you hear it, an image of solidarity and empathy comes to mind. You can only hope that community engagement continues on this upward trend.

            

            We encourage feedback. All comments are welcomed and if there are any questions you have, please feel free to express them. 

Great Book Giveaway

In our Conference and Group Leadership class, we are currently working on a service learning group project called "The Great Book Giveaway." Service learning is the integration of meaningful community service and following instructions that meet specific learning objectives, enriching the overall learning experience. Along with enriching students learning experience, service learning is also a way to develop and acquire necessary skills, as well as knowledge. The goal of this project is to distribute 30 books to a non-profit organization outside of the Capital District by April 30^th, while applying our leadership and team skills. The members in our group are Chelsea Merrill, Tunisha Bey, Chris Smith, Michaela Burbank, and Stephanie Acosta. Chelsea Merrill is a junior majoring in Communications and minoring in Business and German. Tunisha Bey is a senior majoring in Communications and minoring in Psychology. Chris Smith is a senior majoring in History and minoring in Communications. Michaela Burbank is a junior majoring in Communications and minoring in Business and Psychology. And Stephanie Acosta is a senior majoring in Communications and minoring in Criminal Justice. We have decided to donate our books to the Ingalls Memorial Library in Rindge, New Hampshire. The Ingalls Memorial Library was built in 1894 on historic ground, which once belonged to Colonel Nathan Hale of Revolutionary fame. Today, the library offers many services such as book sales from donated books, children's story time, and home school programs. To successfully complete this project we have been following a consensus approach. We believe and have agreed that through the consensus decision making process we effectively complete our tasks more effectively than through a directive decision making process. Through the consensus process that we have chosen to follow, every group member gives their input in a decision that needs to be made and as a group we come to an agreement on the ultimate decision. Each and every one of us has distinct skills and attributes that make it possible for us to collaborate together to complete our given tasks. We will be distributing children’s books to the Ingalls Memorial Library. The reading level of the children’s books that we will be distributing to the library will range from toddlers up to preadolescents. One of the main reasons as to why we decided to donate children’s books instead of any other kind of books was because we believe that it is extremely critical for children to learn and flourish through reading.  Therefore, the Ingalls Memorial Library was the perfect library since it also has a passion for educating our youth. We have successfully collected 30 books and will officially distribute to them to Ingalls Memorial Library on April 18. We are looking forward to completing this project and furthermore providing children with inspiring books!

Group 1: Community Service is a necessity, even for YOU!

The members in our group are Jenna Dobin, Brianne Dolan, YoonKyung Cho, Alexander Moeller, Jessica Henkel, and Jane Kim and we all agree that community service is important for countless reasons. Community service makes the world a better place; it can make a difference to the lives of people, animals, organizations, and the environment. Community Service has a positive impact not only on the community but also on the volunteers contributing their efforts. Taking part in community service gives volunteers psychological, social and cognitive benefits. Through volunteering for community service people create friendships, learn new skills and often even advance their careers. Its also been studied that volunteering also helps peoples mental and physical health.

Most people don’t realize that community service is also important to the volunteers. Volunteering for community service is very beneficial; it helps people make new friends, expand their network and boost social skills. To commit to a shared activity together, this strengthens friendships and causes new relationships to form. It forces volunteers to meet new people, especially when they’re working in a new area. This enforces volunteers to build their networks, and expose you to people of similar interests. Volunteers need to constantly be around other people and work with others to complete a goal this results in developing their social skills and giving them a great opportunity of learning how to work in a group.

Volunteering increases self-confidence by providing a healthy boost to their self-esteem and life satisfaction. Volunteering makes people feel better about themselves causing them have a more positive view on life and their own future goals. This in end combats depression in people who volunteer, considering key risk factors for depression are social isolation and not feeling good about oneself. Another important impact volunteering has on a person is that it helps people stay physically healthy. Studies have found that those who volunteer have a lower mortality rate than those who do not.

Volunteering can introduce people to different experiences that could turn into new career interest. Through these experiences people can meet necessary people in the new field that they are pursing. Even when people are not planning on changing careers, volunteering teaches people new knowledge or offers opportunities to learn new skills used in the workplace. Volunteering people learn teamwork, communication, problem solving, project planning, task management, and organization.

The more obvious benefits community service provides is the great impact it has on the community. Some people believe that it is the unpaid volunteers that are sometimes the glue that holds a community together. There are many different community service activities that make a huge difference. Listed below are simple and easy things we can do, to contribute to our community.

·       Like our group has done, people can donate books, novels, and other reading materials to their local parish. People could also donate books to schools, hospitals, libraries or shelters.

·       Donate old clothes or household goods. You can give to your local Goodwill

·       Donate some non-perishables foods to your local food bank.

·        Bring used toys and stuffed animals to a children’s hospital.

·       Answer a letter to Santa from a needy child.

·       Send a care package to deployed troops, veterans, or wounded soldiers. Write a thank-you letter and include some food (no homemade or canned food allowed). This can be done through: Operation Gratitude

To learn what to donate and who to send it to:  Give2TheTroops

·       Donate blood. You can make an by clicking on: appointment with the Red Cross,

or look for a community blood drive near you.

·       Teach computer skills to the elderly.

·       Become a volunteer tutor.

Further information can be found at: http://www.helpguide.org/articles/work-career/volunteering-and-its-surprising-benefits.htm

From just these few examples we have a slight look into how important community service is to society and how the public depends on it for many different scenarios. Community service is crucial for the environment on a moral standpoint. There are many issues that cannot be fixed on their own or through government help and people who are capable need to help. In some cases community service is essential for peoples lives or the existence of an organization. When things have this big of an impact on the public its not hard to argue why community service is so important.

#DoYourPart #ProjectCommunity #OneselfOneCommunity

Section: 0002

Image Source: http://bsulife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/community-service.jpg

Adapted From: https://students.ucsd.edu/student-life/involvement/community/reasons.html  

Link for Community Service Organizations:

http://www.albany.edu/cpsp/

Questions or comments? Interested? Contact us!

cpsp@albany.edu

(518) 442-5683

Community and Public Service Program CPSP

School of Social Welfare

1400 Washington Avenue

Social Sciences Bldg. Rm SS112

Albany, NY 12222

Come join us in the rewarding experience of community service today!

#cpsp #communityservice

Group 4: Importance of Community Service

4/14/2015
#CommunityService
Group 4



     Our group for consists of Kelly (Business major), Carrie (Communications/ English major), Oscar (Communications major), Kassie (Journalism major) and Hyewon (Communications major.) We are in ACOM 304 Conference and Group Leadership with Dr. Yonkers.      
     We believe that community service is important because it allows people to build ties with their community and to help those in need. For college students, community service is important to familiarize themselves with their school's community and surroundings. It allows students to experience things that are outside of the shelter of their day to day lives. They might appreciate things they take for granted now because of the impact they see themselves making. 
     Because of the diverse nature at UAlbany, students have a wide variety of community service options to choose from. We are also so close to the state's capital and capital region, there is always a need for community service and a chance to give back to our community. 

Contact Carrie for more information: cramirez@albany.edu