Stander Symposium abstract book - University of Dayton

POSTER SESSION 2
Illuminating the Issue of Literacy
Presenter(s): Alexis Niekamp, Kilee A Weiskittel, Meghan A Winter
Advisor(s): Matthew D Archer, Meredith L Doench, William H Johnston, Monalisa M Mullins,
Lori G Phillips-Young, Margaret M Strain
English - Course Project, 12_SP_ENG_102_B1
The Building Communities through Social Justice Learning Living Community (BCSJLLC) is a first-year program at the University of Dayton whose
mission is to promote literacy and the advocacy of social justice through service learning in the Greater Dayton/Miami Valley neighborhoods. To
help promote literacy in the community, we participated in the first annual Book Buddy Program with the Cleveland Elementary School. The BC-
SJLLC community partner, Project READ, trained the LLC students as tutors and then placed us with students in the Dayton Early College Academy
(DECA). DECA’s mission is to assist high school students to graduate and then attend college. At DECA, we worked with seventh grade students
to help improve their skills in basic math, reading and vocabulary skills, fundamentals of science, and organizational skills. We found that as our
service learning gave us the opportunity to develop personal relationships with the students and to provide much-needed assistance to the DECA
teachers. Through this experience and the application of what we have learned in our cohort classes and tutoring training, we have gained a better
understanding of the Marianist ideals of lead, learn, and serve.
Immigration and Refugee Plunge: A Social Justice Learning Living Cohort Community
Project
Presenter(s): Ian P Fitzpatrick, Victoria J Lewis, Nicholas D White
Advisor(s): Meredith L Doench, Monalisa M Mullins, Lori G Phillips-Young
English - Course Project, 12_SP_ENG_102_B2
The Building Community through Social Justice Learning and Living Cohort is an opportunity for first-year students to get involved with many
aspects of social justice locally, regionally, and globally. One of the greatest current challenges to our democracy is the issue of immigration. There
are several issues that confront our society and the people wishing to immigrate to the United States. Our group explored this issue first-hand
by participating in The Immigration and Refugee Plunge, an event sponsored by the Center for Social Concern in the spring of 2012. This plunge
was designed to give participants a better look at the process and the problems many foreign nationals face navigating their way through the US
Immigration Service. We will be reflecting on the principles and practices of the system; the benefits of the current system; the negative aspects
of the process; and, how maintaining the status quo can impact immigration and our democracy.
Improving Literacy in the Miami Valley
Presenter(s): Emily A Pannier
Advisor(s): Lori G Phillips-Young, Margaret M Strain
English - Independent Research
The Social Justice Sophomore Learning and Living Cohorts mission is to improve literacy in the Miami Valley. As a member of the cohort, I was
trained to tutored adults by the non-profit organization Project READ. Project READ is a truly inspiring organization whose mission is to build
skilled workers, strong families, and healthy communities. I was placed in an adult class in Kettering Ohio where students were from countries
such as Mexico, Russia and Iraq. All of the students were learning English for the first time most of them knew very little to no English when they
moved to the United States. Some students wanted to learn better English skills in order to find a job and others just wanted to be able to communicate
with other English speakers. I worked as an assistant to Holly Elkins-Lopez, a full time Project Read teacher. I assisted her by giving students
more individualized assistance. I was able to help the students sound out words, build vocabulary and understand grammar. I got the opportunity
to learn and understand other people’s culture through volunteering. I also connected this experience with the Marianist ideals of lead, learn, and
serve by leading others in becoming literate in the English language, learning about other cultures and serving my community through tutoring.
It was very rewarding to watch all the students make major progress in learning the English language.
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