The Community Studies Project

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The Community Studies Project
Presented By Babs Gramsky Brittany
Sweigart Saranya Villavankothai Jackie Walker
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The Question

• Are college students more or
• less involved in religious
• groups, athletics,
• volunteering, and interest
• groups than they were in
• high school?

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Robert D. Putnam in Bowling Alone

• Dominant Theme  For the first two-thirds of the
  twentieth century Americans were engaged in their
  communities, but a few decades ago involvement in
  communities declined. - Pg. 16 27
• Opposing Position Perhaps the younger
  generation today is no less engaged than the
  previous generation, but are engaged in new
  ways. - Pg.26

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Ways We are Involved

• What constitutes community involvement?
• How do these groups benefit the common good?
• Religious
• Athletic
• Volunteer
• Interest

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Religious Involvement

• 37 of first year students are involved
• More involvement in collegiate activities
• Encourage students to
• join other community organization
• work to improve their surroundings
• -from the 2005 NSSE Survey

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Athletic Involvement

• 67 intramural team involvement
• Of those involved
• 32 fraternity or sorority teams
• 30 school team
• 3 sports management

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Volunteer Involvement

• 51 want to be more involved
• 33 volunteer occasionally
• 26 pay attention to politics/current events
• Majority feel that voting makes no true difference

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Interest Group Involvement

• 49 of 18-24 year olds contributed money to a
  cause listed below in 2004
• Health
• Abortion, AIDS, Cancer awareness.
• STD awareness, pregnancy
• Substance Abuse
• MADD, Partnership for a drug-free America.
• Childrens issues
• Athletic programs, child care, child abuse
• Elderly Support
• Violence Prevention
• Gang violence, rape, murder, and robberies
  prevention
• Contributors feel duties are fulfilled by
  donating money

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The 18-24 year old Demographic (NSSE)

• 46 volunteered in the past year
• 29 volunteered in the last month for about 3
  hr/week
• 43 asked to volunteer of those 87 volunteered
• Of the 52 that were not asked to volunteer only
  16 did

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The 18-24 year old Demographic continued (NSSE)

• Fiercely individualistic
• By 18yrs. viewed an average 400,000 commercials
• Stressed out due to
• Over programmed lives
• Increased competition with peers
• Having more information Ex. Internet
• Never being out of reach Ex. Internet and cell
  phones

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College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ)

• 11 believe NCC helps them connect to the larger
  campus community
• 36 have never attended a large social event
• 21 never used the recreational facilities on
  campus
• 93 expected to participate in co-curricular
  activities only 32 actually did participate in
  an activity

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NCC InvolvementHigh School vs. College
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Motivations for High School Students
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Motivation for College Students
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Assumptions for Less Involvement

• Involvement not for personal desire or
  responsibility
• Desire / feeling or responsibility is NOT
  declining it is misrepresented

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• What does community involvement mean to you?

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Being active in available community events,
clubs, programs, and being a part of social
events and civil society, etc.--Jimmy Greene
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"Being involved in your community being someone
and going out there and doing something."--Alexis
Marmol
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A great source for using your social skills,
getting a better perspective of surroundings, and
feeling a sense of welcome somewhere in life.
--Albert Baier
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"Community involvement to me is giving back to
your fellow man so that you are not only take and
take. It's the principle of brotherhood and
sisterhood that we must all follow."--Danny
Yegareh
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"Being a role-model, respecting the values you
are given, and giving back to the community. Act
accordingly to your fellow citizens and have
faith in the integrity of all men.Mark Biggs
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Community Circle
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Community Circle Activity

• Discussion
• After participating in this activity are you
  surprised on how many of your peers are involved
  in the same community activities?
• Why?

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Conclusion

• Our generation may in fact be the less involved
  group that Putnam believes we are, but it is
  also reasonable to suggest that our
  non-involvement is partly due to the constant
  pressure placed on us throughout childhood as
  overscheduled children of the 1980s and 1990s
  as suggested by Doherty.

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Works Cited

• Anderson, Jared R. and William J. Doherty.
  "Democratic Community Initiatives The
• Case of Overscheduled Children." Family
  Relations 54.5 (2005) 654-65.
• Doherty, William J. "Family Science and Family
  Citizenship Toward a Model of
• Community Partnership with Families." Family
  Relations 49.3 (1999) 319-25.
• National Survey of Student Engagement Exploring
  Different Dimensions of Student
• Engagement. 2005. Available http//nsse.iub.edu
  /pdf/NSSE2005_Annual_
• report.pdf. Apr. 8 2006.
• Office of Institutional Assessment, George Mason
  University. "College Student
• Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ), Comparison of
  New Century College and
• Mason Respondents." September 2004.
• Putnam, Robert D. "Thinking About Social Change
  in America." Bowling Alone The
• Collapse and Revival of American Community. New
  York Simon Schuster,
• 2000. 15-28.
• Rousseau, J. J. The Social Contract Book I.
  1762. Available www.constitution.org/jjr/
• socon_01.htm. Feb. 27 2004.