The newest cohort of Community Engagement Summer Scholars kicks off
Sixteen undergraduate students will spend the summer making the community their classroom.
Through the Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) and University of Delaware Anti-Racism Initiative (UDARI), scholars will pursue projects in partnership with civic organizations, community-based researchers, and community members.
“This year’s scholars have a wide breadth of project topics,” said CEI Associate Director, Leann Moore. “From community art therapy to historical gravesites, parent-child attachment to sea-level rise planning, summer 2024 brings together a great diversity of community partners and student backgrounds. I cannot wait to see where these partnerships go.”
Krista Ristano, a senior Psychology major, will be one of two students working with Mary Dozier, the Amy E. duPont chair of Child Development and professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Dozier is the primary investigator on Attachment Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), a parenting program that aims to improve outcomes for children exposed to adversity, including systemic racism and poverty.
“This summer I’m excited to get more hands-on experience in the lab and gaining more leadership skills, taking initiative on things, and broadening my experiences and my career development,” Ristano said.
Under the mentorship of a faculty member, all scholars will connect their community experience to their academic work.
“I’ll be working with Dr. Aimee Pearsall on informal and formal learning techniques in a choral music setting,” said Amalia Messick, a sophomore Music Education major, who will operate Collab–a student-run choir that Messick created–for the second summer in a row. “I’m really interested in learning how to make choral music more accessible to all different kinds of learners and musicians.”
Delia Quinn, a senior Global Studies major and UDARI scholar, will be working as a community farm intern with the Food Bank of Delaware. “I look forward to working on the farm and seeing how produce is given back to the community … how [the Food Bank] takes the initiative to fight hunger and food insecurity.”
Throughout the summer, scholars are invited to join regular professional development sessions on topics such as promoting their work, resume writing, creating research posters and developing oral presentations.
“I’m just excited to work with a diverse group of students,” said Sydney Ballenger, senior Honors Psychology major, who will join Ristano in working with community families via the ABC program. “I’m looking forward to taking advantage of all the opportunities the CEI program provides us with for professional development and networking.”
Students will share their research at the annual Symposium For Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity, organized by the UD Undergraduate Research Program, in August.