A summer of community-engaged scholarship kicks off
Ten undergraduate students will spend the summer exploring community-based projects as summer scholars.
From investigating the effects of language manipulation on improved literacy and reading comprehension in fifth and sixth graders to exploring coastal culture through mosaic panels using locally sourced shells and eco-friendly materials, projects show students’ curiosity about the world.
“This year’s scholars are especially diverse in terms of the work they are doing and the types of community partnerships,” said Leann Moore, associate director of the Community Engagement Initiative. “Each year the program grows, with more applications coming in and more community interest in hosting students. This is a testament to the need for community engagement scholarship.”
Successful projects provide an opportunity for students to make positive change in the community.
Samantha Papili, a senior health behavior science major, will work with Elizabeth Orsega-Smith, professor of behavioral health and nutrition sciences, to consider the potential physical and mental health benefits that learning to “bowl” on the Nintendo Switch can have on older adults.
“Being able to contribute to a project like this that works to improve quality of life is something I find very rewarding,” said Papili.
An interdisciplinary team of students will work with the Coastal Resilience Design Studio (CRDS) and the Route 9 Community Development Coalition on a resilience plan for the suburbs on the south side of Wilmington, Delaware along New Castle Avenue.
With a history of heavy industrialization and redlining, these communities sit at the confluence of the Christina and Delaware rivers.
“The project is about bringing together disenfranchised communities and improving their outcomes through impactful design and research,” said Katie Deitsch, a sophomore landscape architecture major and Navy veteran.
Deitsch will be joined at the CRDS by Matthew Willmes, a junior energy and environmental policy major.
The project, said Willmes, “gives me the chance to work with real stakeholders and conduct real-world policy analysis—to connect theories learned in class to the actual world.”
Further south in the state, Jimmart L. Amamio, a senior comparative literature major and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, will serve as a collections management intern for the Milford Museum and Landmarks Commission, where he will help manage the museum’s collection and exhibits, contribute to organizational planning, and provide tours as an interpretive guide.
“Literature is a key tool to connect the present with the past,” said Amamio. “Museum organizations can do the same with their unique local relics, historical documents, and informative displays. I look forward to helping [the organization] accomplish their ongoing mission of connecting the Milford community to their rich history.”
Beth Wojciechowski, a senior double-majoring in media communication and women and gender studies with a minor in journalism, has written for The Review, the University’s student newspaper since her freshman year.
Drawing on her academics and experience, Wojciechowski will work on a self-directed project with broad potential.
Wojciechowski aims “to create a guide for college journalists on how to accurately and respectfully cover racial issues and the protests that follow on their respective college campuses.”
“It is our hope that as Summer Scholars continue to invest themselves in this work, that they will see the enduring value, impact, and partnership potential that engaged scholarship can have within our broader society,” said Michael Vaughan, UD chief community engagement officer and CEI faculty director, ”this is the true intent of experiential learning and scholarship that seeks to catalyze and inform real societal change!”