Many thanks to the committed and creative instructors and students in Community Engaged Scholarship who have found ways to continue to contribute to community wellbeing. Many inspiring examples have emerged over the last few weeks.
Virtual or distance support for existing partnerships:
- Students serving with the Latin Student Fund and Reading Partners have shifted to online tutoring.
- Students serving with Little Friends for Peace have been able to help the organization staff vitual peace circles, continuing to help elementary school youth practice mindful ways to respond to conflict (stop, think, and act).
- Free Minds' book clubs and writing workshops for incarcerated youth have shifted to "virtual writing night."
- Students in PUBH 6299 The Autism Experience: A Public Health Perspective have found ways to continue service through "Zoom" sessions with the Best Buddies program and creating inclusive story-time videos for the Boys and Girls Club.
- GW's Jumpstart corp members have created distance learning packets for their families with preschool children.
- Smart from the Start, a Jumpstart partner, has already signed-up 16 GW students for its new "Tele-tutors" program for families in DC and Boston (and they need more - contact wagnerw@gwu.edu for info).
Connecting course-learning to COVID-19 realities:
- Students in the bio-medical engineering senior capstone course have been challenged to create a mechanical ventilation support system that can be rapidly produced at the local level for less than $300.
- Students and faculty in GW's school of nursing are serving safely in DC and helping to staff call centers.
Serving neighbors outside of community organization partnerships:
Community engagement through a mutually beneficial partnership is the expectation in typical circumstances. However, some instructors have determined that their course learning goals related to civic responsibility and reflective meaning-making can be achieved through independent acts of service, and have adapted their courses as such during the campus shut-down. Here are a few sample student entries from GWServes:
- "Helped my elderly neighbor. Under these tough circumstances that we are in with COVID-19, I am helping her with getting groceries and with things that she needs done."
- "Helped to sew protective fabric masks for local health care workers, patients, and members of my local community."
Note: If your students are serving without a community partner during this time, they need to adapt their GWServes "Add Impact" entries accordingly. Please forward to them this information about how to report their service on GWServes.
