Community Partner's Breakfast

my names becca hickam i'm the coordinator of experiential education and work in that
center for
engagement learning and teaching which is basically keene states faculty
development centre and we have three areas that come out of our office one is
academic technology one is instructional design and then there's
the area i work with which is experiential education... hi my name is mary mcentree
and i coordinate community service at keene state college what that means
is i serve as a connection between students at keene state college and the
community serving organizations in the region
so much of my work is build around connecting faculty with the community
and ways to enhance their curriculum
and i wonder how faculty define community
being uh...
sort of very
architectural engineer practical person i tend to think of communitiy
in initially the geographical sense
first words that come to my mind when i think of the manadnock
region is social capital
because i think the community
not just
of location
but also of interest
and so i feel like communities
bringing together
basically resources with shared goals
whats great is that
this community
is modeling for students
concepts of social capital
students are learning
firsthand
uh... working together rather than working competitively
often i talk with faculty about the benefits and rewards
of working out in the community
to really take that theoretical content they're teaching in a classroom
help it come to life what are students learn by working with the
community
but they're not able to learn in four walls of the classroom
being involved in the community has absolutely effects me as a student
as a person
i feel that i've really learned how to network and be a people person through
working with community organizations made me aware of
other people helped me work with other people
made me want
to help other people when you get involve with the community youre speaking to
people it's you're not watching a video
telling you about someone's life you're going in your experience in their life
with them with them when they're involved in service learning projects or community based
research or problem based
service-learning
theyre actually seeing
theory come to life literally in the community in their work
they get to apply

a lot of the separate things that the learning and separate courses which
they've never really had integrate before
getting involved outside of these walls at keene state
has allowed me to learn about on the problems that that people might be
facing this area that's the biggest motivation is just knowing that people
do need to help and to appreciate it
um... i have become more compassionate about certain situations that certain
issues that people are going through that
yeah i could read about in class but until i witness someone living in a
homeless shelter
or you know someone of food kitchen who can't make their own food ob that's what
it really kinda hits home any kind of get that experience i think it's really
beneficial to do community service because you are volunteering your time but
your also gaining so much from it
and learning how to be a better person and fortunate enough to work with some really
great students it's a lot of really great things in the community
such as relay for life and up til dawn which are programs that are student run
initiated and wonder what it is the inspires them
to take that extra step to take the initiative to get those programs started
there's more
to this world than just me i know thats kind of cliche but i love
having the opportunity to help someone else... seeing what students can do
when they come together is that i've loved and i have gotten more involved
when i came to keene state as a freshman i was a film major and i want to make a
lot of money become a producer and then i got involved in the
community and i decided that i'd rather be doing something to benefit other
people
hands-on everyday so i decided to become a teacher
and that has changed my life
now since i have been so involved since
in college i feel like i should keep on being involved if you like
even when i do leave college or go to graduate school have a career im still going to be
doing community service somehow
has central are partnerships with the community in accomplishing
mission keene state college which is: enter to learn, go forth to serve
i think that
working in higher education
we are so dependent on people who are doing the work
i see that reciprocity is related to social capital
because for me it's not just the organizations coming together i've
seen the partnerships between keene state college and the community grow
exponentially since i arrived here in 1998
and it's just
exciting
to see
the community partners and the college just keep growing closer and closer
i think my responsibility and all of us who teach here are keene state we
have to
make sure that we prepare students as well as we can before they go out because sociology at least is
action... keene is this perfect size the city of keene balanced with the college


its big enough so that theres a lot happening here
pressures of growth pressures of housing need for workforce housing

economic pressures are happening everywhere issues about development
issues about this
a lot of homeless people in keene not enough housing for homeless
keene has
in a in a significant amount all those same kinds of problems that larger cities are dealing with

yet its small enough so that i could have a personal relationship with... i can
know and talk to easily
the city manager
the director of planning office and they will come to our meetings and they will
come to our presentations its easy
to talk directly to the head of the housing authority or the head of some other groups

it's been really good that way