Civic Engagement Student Profiles

Grants & Scholarships Community-Based Work Study Academic Civic Engagement Leaders for Social Change Academic Internships Independent Projects

 

Grants and Scholarships

subhash Student: Subhash Ghimire ’10
Major: Political Science
Program: Davis Projects for Peace Grant
Project: Six-week summer camp in rural Nepal

Please describe the program you developed.

I ran a six-week summer camp for 42 war affected children in my village in western Nepal. I also established the first library in the region with 1600 books and 2 computers. Currently, I am working on building the first peace school in the country in my hometown to help 250 war affected children go back to school and lead normal lives...(read more)

 


Community-Based Work Study

KristinStudent: Kristin Johnson ’10
Major: Sociology/Anthropology
Program: Community-Based Work Study
Project: Food stamp use at farmers' market

Please describe your project.

I was working with Growing Up Healthy, a Blue Cross Blue Shield initiative that acts as a partner and liaison between existing services, organizations, and community organizers that serve or represent the low-income families of Rice County.   As a group, we address various societal and environmental challenges that make it harder for low-income families to reach their full-potential.  I was able to help with several of the different projects Growing Up Healthy works on, including Dia Familiar, a weekly meeting of mostly Latino families to discuss...(read more)

 


Independent Projects

JohnStudent: John van der Linden ’10
Major: Biology/Environmental Studies concentration
Program: Independent Project
Project: Public meetings about proposed land annexation

Please describe your project.

In 2007 St. Olaf started planning the future of 700 acres of farmland and forest surrounding its core campus.  Also, since 2007 the City of Northfield has sought to annex about 1000 acres of land near (and sometimes including) St. Olaf property, part of its plan to provide new space for businesses and industries.  I've tried to help students navigate and influence this planning.  With other members of Environmental Coalition, I organized 2 public meetings about proposed land annexations. I also helped students respond to the Board of Regents...(read more)

 



Academic Civic Engagement

JohnStudents/Majors:
Elynn Anderson ’10: Environmental Studies/Management Studies concentration
Emily Heninger ’10: Environmental Studies/English
Katie Staver ’10: Environmental Studies/Biology
Program: Academic Civic Engagement
Class: Environmental Studies Senior Seminar (ES 399)
Project: Rain Garden

Please describe your project.

For our project, we researched and eventually built a rain garden, which is a sloped garden built to catch and absorb rainwater, preventing waterway contamination and flooding. We created an informational brochure--to be distributed around the Northfield area--that explains how to construct and plant a residential rain garden. Then we built a rain garden at the home of a St. Olaf faculty member, Erica Zweifel, using native plants such as black-eyed susans, coneflowers, and little bluestem grass...(read more)




JohnStudent: Erica Berger ’10
Major: Social Work
Program: Academic Civic Engagement
Class: Community Engagement in Social Work (SWRK 381)
Project: Educational support for Cedar House staff

Please describe your project.

I worked with the CEO of Cedar House (a Day Treatment Center serving individuals with chronic and pervasive mental illness) to find which educational support would be beneficial to staff. In order to do this, I completed a staff survey and client focus group at the Northfield and Faribault Cedar House locations...(read more)


JohnStudent: Frances Deram ’12
Major: Philosophy/Asian Studies/Chinese Concentration
Program: Academic Civic Engagement
Class: Asian American Experiences (ARMS 250)
Project: Oral history of a local Thai immigrant

Please describe your project.

We interviewed a Thai immigrant (Gam) and investigated her personal story of assimilating into American culture.  Having studied Asian American identity and function in the American society since the early 1900's, we used the interview as an outlet to better understand Gam's individual story placed within the context of...(read more)


Academic Internships

JohnStudent: Alicia Reuter ’10
Major: German
Program: Nonprofit Academic Internship
Project: Archivist at the Northfield Historical Society

Please describe your project.

I am the archivist at the Northfield Historical Society, which involves: accessioning, processing, conservation and reference. I also recruit, interview and supervise the interns working in the archives and collections. When research requests come in, usually by phone or email, I find the information they are looking for, and I also assist researchers who come in to use the...(read more)