What Are We Working On?

If students wanted to put on an event or establish an initiative to combat the Climate Crisis on your campus, where could they go for support? 

 Student Senate? Lag time between presenting to Senate and getting support stretches into a couple months. 

Faculty member? Sure, but they need to carve out time from a busy schedule, and need access to resources and connections. 

Dean or VP? These folks are too busy, and they would “subcontract” the work back to a faculty member anyway. 

There are simply not a lot of good options on most campuses for students--or teachers--who want to take action NOW. 


The TEA team posits this thought experiment because we think that one of the things that makes the Student Initiative Center (SIC) so effective is that it is expressly designed to handle this situation. 

The SIC is nimble, experienced, and has the resources to execute complex events and initiatives. One example: after the shooting tragedy at Parkland, a student came into the SIC and said something needed to be done. WIthin 48 hours, the SIC had put together a multi-faceted ceremony that included music, art, testimonials, speakers and rituals. It was attended by over 300 students, faculty and staff.

TEA works with faculty to create spaces similar to the SIC on YOUR campus. 

The motto of the Student Initiative Center is “What are we Working on?” As you can see below, the answer is “Quite a lot!” This document is excerpted from a  SIC progress report that was prepared for administrators. For space, this document has been highly edited--the SIC was in fact involved in many more initiatives during this time period.  

 

SUPPORTING  CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS

SIC supports and partners with a large number of campus clubs and organizations. SIC also serves as a locus for these clubs to partner with each other to develop initiatives. Some of the many clubs SIC supported over the last year:

  • Nesians

  • RAGE

  • kPOP

  • Alpha Gamma Sigma

  • Biology

  • RISE

SUPPORTING  INITIATIVES

SIC supports initiatives growing out of clubs, movements, classrooms, issues on campus, and issues in the wider community. SIC is effective in doing so, for these reasons: a central campus location, resources and materials on hand, trained student assistants attuned to campus issues, and SIC’s desire to really make a difference. Some Initiatives that SIC facilitated over the last year:

  • Knowledge Garden/ Outdoor School House 

  • Bi-Weekly Food Pantry

  • Sanctuary Movement

  • Halloween Registration Readiness 

  • Gender Awareness and Women’s Rights Celebration Week

  • Lust for Life--”A Mental Health Awareness Event”

  • Eden ROP Automotive Students Orientation

  • Rising Sun Eco-Jobs Fair

  • Passion and Purpose’s De-Stress Week

  • “Save the 22 Bus” Initiative

  • CIN “Stop the Violence” Week

SUPPORT FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

A central feature of SIC is to provide comprehensive support for faculty who wish to engage in Action Learning, and Group Projects. In order to prepare ourselves to provide this staff development support, over the last semester, we have:

  • Researched current theories and best practices in AL, Group dynamics, Student Voice, and broader education theory

  • Held a two-day retreat over winter break to train ourselves around: Culture of SIC, Deep Classroom, Student Voice, AL, Group Projects.

  • Developed customized AL activities, materials and resources that support faculty and students from the first brainstorming to final presentation of a  PBL unit

  • Developed customized Group Project activities, materials and resources that support faculty and students.

  • Created online and hard copy versions of these materials for use in SIC.

  • Developed presentations about AL and related concepts that can be shared in the SIC or taken out to the classroom.

  • Convened a 2-day Summer Learning Institute in early June devoted to Action Learning and Group Projects. The event was attended by 25 faculty and staff.