Collaborate to Change Lives…One Semester at a Time
Presentation Format
Panel Discussion
Intended Audience
All Audiences
Presentation Description
This presentation will highlight a grassroots collaboration between Georgia College & State University (GC) students and adults from the Life Enrichment Center (LEC).
All GC students are required to take a GC1Y course during their freshman year. The focus for these courses is to introduce freshmen to GC’s liberal arts mission while simultaneously fostering students’ critical thinking skills. A range of topics are covered and students have a choice in which course they choose.
Each semester of Representations of Ability and Disability, 27 students enroll in the course and explore how disability is represented in film, literature, television, autobiographies, sports stories, and in popular culture. Students sharpen their critical thinking skills as they examine the “story” that is created about disability in each of these media. Students learn to critique representations of disability through multiple theoretical lenses: Disability Studies, Social Constructivism, and Critical Media Literacy.
The highlight of the course, however, is the time that students spend with adults from the LEC. The LEC provides individuals with developmental disabilities opportunities to achieve personal and social goals in community-based experiences.
This collaboration looks different from semester to semester but has included the following opportunities: bocce ball, basketball, dance, photography, and several music therapy sessions (e.g., Harmonettes Handbells, Harmonettes Vocal Choir, Music in Motion (ASL), and Good Vibrations (drumming).
The GC students and the adults with developmental disabilities spend time together with two goals in mind: 1) to have fun and learn about each other; and 2) to realize their commonalities and similarities. At the end of the semester, students are asked to reflect upon their experiences including addressing: 1) the assumptions and anxieties that students brought with them into the experience that influenced what they got out of it, 2) how they spent their time together, 3) what they learned about these individuals’ strengths and areas of needs, 4) what surprised them most about this experience, and 5) how they might extend this learning once the semester ends.
The GC1Y course acts a springboard to raise awareness of disability related issues and to provide opportunities for students to meet people with disabilities. Some GC1Y students do extend their learning beyond this classroom experience. Best Buddies, an international organization that provides opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities to develop friendships, is a logical next step for GC students wanting to stay involved. The Best Buddies collaboration between GC and the LEC is in its 17th year. Several former GC1Y students have gone on to join Best Buddies and take leadership positions in the organization. Other former GC1Y students change their majors to special education after the taking the course.
There will be five presenters:
Nicole M. DeClouette—Professor of GC1Y class
Barbara Coleman—Director of Life Enrichment Center (LEC)
Jessica Vickers—GC student, former GC1Y student, and member of Best Buddies
Amy Mathis—Consumer from LEC, involved in GC1Y collaboration and Best Buddies.
Sheryl Folsom--Volunteer Coordinator for Life Enrichment Center
Together, the presenters will provide information about the collaboration as well as share the benefits, challenges, and next steps.
Location
Room - 2005
Start Date
4-15-2016 9:45 AM
End Date
4-15-2016 11:00 AM
Recommended Citation
DeClouette, Nicole M., "Collaborate to Change Lives…One Semester at a Time" (2016). Gulf South Summit on Service-Learning 2016. 86.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gss/2016/2016/86
Collaborate to Change Lives…One Semester at a Time
Room - 2005
This presentation will highlight a grassroots collaboration between Georgia College & State University (GC) students and adults from the Life Enrichment Center (LEC).
All GC students are required to take a GC1Y course during their freshman year. The focus for these courses is to introduce freshmen to GC’s liberal arts mission while simultaneously fostering students’ critical thinking skills. A range of topics are covered and students have a choice in which course they choose.
Each semester of Representations of Ability and Disability, 27 students enroll in the course and explore how disability is represented in film, literature, television, autobiographies, sports stories, and in popular culture. Students sharpen their critical thinking skills as they examine the “story” that is created about disability in each of these media. Students learn to critique representations of disability through multiple theoretical lenses: Disability Studies, Social Constructivism, and Critical Media Literacy.
The highlight of the course, however, is the time that students spend with adults from the LEC. The LEC provides individuals with developmental disabilities opportunities to achieve personal and social goals in community-based experiences.
This collaboration looks different from semester to semester but has included the following opportunities: bocce ball, basketball, dance, photography, and several music therapy sessions (e.g., Harmonettes Handbells, Harmonettes Vocal Choir, Music in Motion (ASL), and Good Vibrations (drumming).
The GC students and the adults with developmental disabilities spend time together with two goals in mind: 1) to have fun and learn about each other; and 2) to realize their commonalities and similarities. At the end of the semester, students are asked to reflect upon their experiences including addressing: 1) the assumptions and anxieties that students brought with them into the experience that influenced what they got out of it, 2) how they spent their time together, 3) what they learned about these individuals’ strengths and areas of needs, 4) what surprised them most about this experience, and 5) how they might extend this learning once the semester ends.
The GC1Y course acts a springboard to raise awareness of disability related issues and to provide opportunities for students to meet people with disabilities. Some GC1Y students do extend their learning beyond this classroom experience. Best Buddies, an international organization that provides opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities to develop friendships, is a logical next step for GC students wanting to stay involved. The Best Buddies collaboration between GC and the LEC is in its 17th year. Several former GC1Y students have gone on to join Best Buddies and take leadership positions in the organization. Other former GC1Y students change their majors to special education after the taking the course.
There will be five presenters:
Nicole M. DeClouette—Professor of GC1Y class
Barbara Coleman—Director of Life Enrichment Center (LEC)
Jessica Vickers—GC student, former GC1Y student, and member of Best Buddies
Amy Mathis—Consumer from LEC, involved in GC1Y collaboration and Best Buddies.
Sheryl Folsom--Volunteer Coordinator for Life Enrichment Center
Together, the presenters will provide information about the collaboration as well as share the benefits, challenges, and next steps.
Program Abstract
This presentation highlights a grassroots collaboration between a college professor and the director of a center that serves adults with developmental disabilities. Each semester, college students and adults with disabilities spend time together playing sport and making music. The presenters of this session (including the professor, the director, a student, and an adult with a disability) will provide information about the collaboration and share the benefits, challenges, and their ideas for next steps.