UCFs 6th Annual ServiceLearning Student Showcase

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UCFs 6th Annual Service-Learning Student
Showcase 

• This annual event showcases the service-learning
  student projects from the 2008-2009 academic
  year. Students are competing for over 5000 in
  SGA scholarships. Much like the Graduate and
  Undergraduate Research Showcases, students from
  UCF colleges participate and benefit from
  learning about academic service-learning projects
  in various disciplines. The student poster
  presentations to scholarship judges and the
  general public reveal how their service project
  aligns with learning outcomes for the course.

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In 2009 over 250 people participated in the event
with 35 service-learning projects presented. Some
examples include
Cognitive-Communicative Disorders (SPA
6417) Community Partner Chambrel at Island Lake
  Our service-learning project introduced us to
elderly residents at an Independent and Assisted
Living Facility. We observed and worked with
people who demonstrated the effects of dementia
and swallowing impairments. Our project included
the task of assembling a portable index card kit
for swallowing treatments relevant for this
population.  

Advanced Spanish Conversation (SPN 4410)
Community Partner Junior Achievement and
Palmetto Elementary School  To improve my
Spanish conversational skills, I visited an ESOL
class at Palmetto Elementary School in Orlando
each week to present Junior Achievement (JA)
lessons in Spanish. Since this was the first
bilingual JA initiative at UCF, I translated all
the materials and lesson plans from English to
Spanish. I gained confidence and increased my
fluency in Spanish by presenting bilingual JA
lessons to Orlando's Hispanic children, while the
kids gained greater self-esteem as they helped me
to learn their native language.  
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Our project assists individuals who are dealing
with early stages of memory loss in conjunction
with dementia/Alzheimers disease. Our project
centers around implementing new cognitive
language treatment ideas that are evidence based.
 
Work with a womens residential center for women
(and their children if they have any), who have
been victims of domestic violence. Every
Wednesday, a group of us hold a creative writing
workshop where we teach the women how to write
poetry, prose, and stories. This workshop allows
them to have an outlet for themselves and teaches
them how to speak up.  
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Work with Senior Resource Alliance to provide
them with an Infrastructure Security Policy.
Visit seniors in local living facilities and
stimulate minds by reading poetry, short stories
and much more.
Conduct in home visits to at risk infants/parents
to complete Ages Stages Developmental
Screenings.
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The awards panel of judges is made up of faculty,
students, administrators and community partners
who work together to reward outstanding work.
Tough job as all of the projects are tremendous!
Students share their service-learning projects
and experiences with their peers . This project
tracks carbon foot printing and its affect on the
environment.
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The Service-Learning Student Showcase Award
Winners for 2009

•  
• Through the generosity of the UCF Student
  Government Association (SGA), four scholarships
  are awarded each year at the event to the most
  meaningful service-learning projects presented at
  the showcase 2000 for first place, 1500 for
  second place, 1000 for third place, and 500 for
  fourth place.
• The Office of Experiential Learning and the
  Showcase Planning Committee are grateful to the
  SGA for continuing to support service-learning at
  UCF.
•  

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First Place Award Winners 2000.00

• Chutes, Ladders and Manners
• Lucy Bryson and Laura Hastings
• Methods of Teaching Drama (THE 6756)
• Faculty Megan Alrutz
• Community Partners Boys and Girls Club Downtown
  in
• partnership with the Coalition for the Homeless
• Our project began as an exploration of manners
  with
• young people through creative drama.  As the
  project
• progressed, it became more about teaching the
  students
• to focus, cooperate and work together to reach
  common
• goals.  We noted growth through interactions
  between us
• and our students, as well as between the students
  themselves.

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Second Place Award Winner 15000.00
David Cotter Methods of Teaching Drama (THE
6756) Faculty Megan Alrutz Community Partner
Winegard Elementary   In partnering with Ms.
Antwanette Williams at Winegard Elementary, we
aimed to incorporate writing skills with drama
activities in an effort to increase language
acquisition. Working with the large class that
has a variety of language capabilities we hoped
not only increase students ability to use
language but also to encourage teamwork and
develop the classroom community. Using the comic
book as a vehicle for this project we
incorporated creative writing, art, storytelling,
and drama work.  
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Third Place Award Winner 10000.00
Jennifer Adams Methods of Teaching Drama (THE
6756 ) Faculty Megan Alrutz Community Partners
ArtWorks and Great Oaks Village Listen! Using
creative writing and drama, young people were
given the opportunity to explore personal
identity and voice. Students then expressed that
identity through digital storytelling. The
pursuit of identity became a meaningful
experience for the students and teaching artist,
each one discovering something new about what
they want to say to the world.
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Fourth Place and Peer Choice Award Winner 500.00
All the Worlds a Stage Shaking Up Shakespeare
with Creative Drama and Writing   Liz
Brendel Cooperative Education in Art (ART
5949) Community Partner Winegard Elementary
School   This semester-long residency introduced
a fourth-grade underserved class to Shakespeare
through ensemble-based creative drama and writing
activities. The residency used Shakespeare as a
vehicle for building community and confidence,
developing public speaking skills, and preparing
students for the FCAT. The residency culminated
in a grade-wide showcase of the classs progress.
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Many thanks to all who have participated in
Service-Learning Student Showcases at UCF. For
more information about this event please contact
the Office of Experiential Learning at
UCF. 407-823-2667 or azeh_at_mail.ucf.edu