The University of Toledo’s Jesup Scott Honors College will soon begin the fifth year of its community engagement class, which is designed to connect students with semester-long projects to support Toledo-area nonprofits.
For the class, teams of Honors students are assigned a nonprofit, then complete a scope of work and a site visit before determining how the organization can improve their services. The teams create a mock grant proposal and pitch their work at a symposium at the end of the semester.
Heidi Appel, dean of the Jesup Scott Honors College, talks with Honors students enrolled in the college’s community engagement class, which connects students with semester-long projects to support Toledo-area nonprofits.
“We know that students really polish their professional skills in this course while learning about how important the nonprofit world is to under-resourced communities,” said Heidi Appel, dean of the Jesup Scott Honors College. “Students also become aware of the important roles they can have in nonprofit organizations wherever they live, ranging from employees to board members.”
Students complete the class for more than a grade and another experience for their resume — rather, a better understanding of how they can impact their community.
“Once I learned more about the class, I realized that the valuable learning I could take away from Community Engagement would be found in no other class at UToledo,” said Payton Kamer, a senior chemical engineering student.
The University and Honors College encourage students to find their voice and impact others around them, whether in the UToledo community or the greater community outside campus. Community engagement also is one of the six key skills Honors students develop through their classes along with critical thinking, collaboration, cultural competence, communication and creativity.
The United Way, Metroparks Toledo, Toledo Public Schools, YMCA, Imagination Station and the Boys & Girls Club are just a few of the organizations that have collaborated with UToledo Honors students in the class each semester.
The insight these students brought to the nonprofits was essential for many of the organizations involved, as it helped them look at their services in the lens of an outsider to the organization, noted Jeff Lovewell, senior manager of community engagement at Imagination Station.
“The student team explored in-depth a neighborhood where we were trying to engage the community but were not being successful,” said Craig Palmer, vice president of youth development and educational initiatives for the YMCA. “They canvassed the local elementary school and found that very few kids had a preschool experience and that parents had transportation issues.
“The student team identified where we could start a preschool program in the community to help. There are two preschools now set up [in that community] and the programs are strongly supported.”
Eryn Close, a junior exercise science major, and her team completed their project with the National Museum of the Great Lakes, providing ways to improve museum accessibility, creating a better experience for all.
“Many of the changes we proposed are things that would help all visitors,” Close said. “For example, while providing captioning on videos is a modification to help those that are deaf and hard of hearing, it is something that can benefit everyone.”
Valerie Simmons-Walston, special assistant to the president for community engagement and strategic partnerships, hopes the course becomes the starting point that fuels students’ interest in advocating for our community and nonprofit organizations.
“Initiatives like this provide purpose and meaning to our work in community engagement,” Simmons-Walston said. “Student engagement on this level builds character, prepares for future leadership roles and provides important exposure to the exceptional non-profit work right in our city.”
This fall for the community engagement class, Honors students will work to make Imagination Station’s live science demonstrations more accessible, assist Toledo Public Schools with mental health resources and collaborate with the 577 Foundation to make their services more accessible to people with disabilities, particularly mobility disabilities, among other projects.
