Making a Difference

October 22, 2009

Many members of the Stonehill community are among the millions of Americans who will be participating in Make A Difference Day this Saturday, October 24, volunteering to help civic and social causes in their towns and neighborhoods. As part of its mission, Stonehill seeks to encourage students, faculty and staff to appreciate the importance of making a difference in our communities.

To get a glimpse of how the College works to be an agent of positive change, we asked Corey Dolgon, the director of the Office of Community-Based Learning, to give us three examples of how Stonehill makes a difference everyday in our community.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Students in Professor Monique Myers' Communication Theory class are working to design and staff a day center for homeless people at St. Paul's Church in Brockton. The day center provides activities, games, educational and cultural opportunities to those who have no place to go in the afternoon. Other Stonehill students volunteer at the Church's soup kitchen.

Next semester, Dolgon will lead students in a research project to explore who uses the center and why. The project aims to improve services for the homeless and to better understand the local causes of hunger and homelessness.

The House of Possibilities (HOPe House)

HOPe House is a grassroots initiative that provides high quality respite care for individuals with special needs. In 2008, Stonehill partnered with HOPe and the Yawkey Foundation to design and build a facility on campus. It opened this Fall and students in the Learning Community course taught by Professor Sharon Ramos-Goyette and Dr. Dave Daswon, Neuroscience: Mind, Body, Community, provide care for children on Saturday afternoons.

According to Goyette-Ramos, "As students experience firsthand the pervasive, complex and distinct deficits that result when the basic biology of the brain is interrupted, they also experience the brain's plasticity for example as children use alternative different, non-verbal methods to communicate."

Eventually Ramos-Goyette thinks students' experiential learning may inspire some as yet "undiscovered therapy, treatment, or insight that will revolutionize the way we understand and help those with neurodevelopmental issues."

Davis Commons Community Center Afterschool Program

Students in Professor Angela Paradise's class Mediated Communication Theory meet with Brockton Davis Commons' youth once a week to discuss and debate media literacy and issues such as media violence, gender representation, deceptive advertising, and internet safety.

Using a curriculum they designed, Paradise's students present lessons that challenge local youth to think critically about the media they engage with and how approaching it critically empowers their own choices and futures. The course ends with youth visiting Stonehill for a "video showcase" where they, along with the communication class, present a self-made educational video about the literacy project. Davis Commons' youth also get a tour of campus to help them consider their own future educational possibilities.

Contact

For more information, contact Communications and Media Relations at 508-565-1321.