Students in Sherry Bouquet's Human Communication class participated in a service learning project to cap off their fall semester. Given the task of selecting a local organization to assist in solving a problem, students worked in groups and selected four community organizations: Ashland Salvation Army, Ashland Dragons Special Olympics Basketball program, Military Support Group of Ashland, and Wayne County Humane Society. Bouquet is an adjunct professor in the Department of Communication Studies.
Captain Jessica DeMichael at the Kroc Center directed one group to the need for bell ringers. This group then planned to ring the bells and endeavored to get the word out about how students can serve at the Kroc Center as well as the many services offered.
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| Megan Maguire, Desiree Boyer, Kristen Roch, Kim Pitre, and Garrett Babcock ring the bell for the Salvation Army.
Another team of students connected with the Special Olympics basketball program to attend and help at one of their weekly practices. The whole team enjoyed the practice at the Ashland Y and several students in the class are planning to volunteer again in this month. The team prepared flyers to solicit others who like to play basketball and would be interested in coming out to help.
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| Emily Harrington, Colt Miers, Madison Spain, Erica Lawhun, and Jamie Waltz practice with the the Ashland Dragons. |
A group working with the Military Support Group focused on awareness and collection addresses of deployed military personnel. The local support group voiced this as one of their biggest needs in order to send care packages out to those who need support. The students were also proactive in suggesting the MSG expand its mission to include veterans in their support efforts. (Haley Ingle, William Krese, Danielle Lucas, Brianna Holmes)
Finally, pulling on our heart strings with adorable dogs and cats, one team got down and dirty cleaning up at the Wayne County Humane Society. The most rewarding “chore” they took on was to play with the dogs and cats to give them some socialization time. Getting the word out through various social media outlets was suggested by this group to encourage others to volunteer to support this cause. (Paige Rengert, Tori Casper, Zach Wright, Maggie Lorentz, Coral Nelson)
Understanding the importance of effective group process and communications was made practical for each group as they made an impact on the local community and encouraged others to do the same.
