Campus Spotlight: Florida Gulf Coast University

By Brandon W. Kliewer, Asst. Professor of Civic Engagement & ADP Campus Director, Florida Gulf Coast University

On April 2, 2013, Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) hosted a campus-community civic dialogue on the role universities have in supporting commitments to democracy and advancing conceptions of the public good. The American Democracy Project on campus partnered with students from an Interdisciplinary Studies Senior Seminar to organize, coordinate and execute the event. Students from the senior seminar were introduced to theories of deliberative democracy in the course and were trained as civic dialogue facilitators and dialogue recorders.

The dialogue was orchestrated and captured using a rigorous dialogue method known as the Nominal Group Technique (NGT). Students that were trained in these methods will hopefully use this increased theoretical and practical knowledge as their civic identity begins to solidify outside of the university experience.

Students affiliated with the American Democracy Project and the senior seminar coordinated all aspects of the event. Over 65 students, staff, administrators and community members participated in the event by considering a series of questions related to the role universities have in supporting commitments to democracy and advancing the public good. Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University Jim Wolpart spoke to the importance of community dialogue and the role universities will have in confronting a series of issues in the 21^st century. This video clip highlights Wolpart’s comments and illustrates the format of the event.

This civic dialogue was truly an expression of FGCU’s commitment to meaningful campus-community partnerships and community-engaged scholarship. The FGCU community and local community participants hope to transfer the results from the civic dialogue into a format that can be published in an academic journal. The campus-community civic dialogue not only engaged members of our community as democratic citizens, but also created a powerful infrastructure of dialogue that gave voice to members of our community that would have otherwise been unheard.

Local Government for Student Engagement #SocialMedia #NormalElect

By Mary Sorenson, Graduate Student and Instructor, Illinois State University

Housing many eligible voters in Normal, IL, Illinois State University (ISU) is taking strides to engage the student population in the local election that will take place next month.

Last Wednesday night, the university hosted the Local Municipal Election Forum, bringing three mayoral and six city council candidates to campus to discuss plans for the community. Hosted by the Student Government Association, College Democrats, College Republicans, the American Democracy Project, Heartland Community College, and the McLean County League of Women Voters, the event drew in a crowd of over 200 community members, inclusive of the student population.

To help encourage student participation, graduate students enrolled in a Pedagogy of Civic and Political Engagement course led and participated in a local tweet-up, asking audience members to share comments and questions throughout the forum. Using the hashtag #NormalElect, tweets during the event were displayed on a large screen in order to promote participation. In addition to handwritten questions, those asked through Twitter were also presented to, and asked by, the forum moderator. To start off the night, ISU graduate student Richard Green (@RadioRichG) tweeted, “Hey everyone in the audience…feel free to express your views, opinions, and questions here. #NormalElect.” Throughout the two-hour forum, over 25 users shared over 240 tweets with audience members and candidates.

Mayoral candidate JeVaugh Martin embraced the tweet-up and engaged his audience through his personal Twitter account throughout the forum. A first-year ISU student stated that he noticed Martin utilizing a mobile device before he noticed his Twitter handle appear on the big screen. Being new to politics, he said, “It made me feel like he really cared about who showed up to hear him speak about his community.” In addition to following the social media feed, Martin later tweeted, “#NormalElect more questions for Town of Normal candidate JeVaughn Martin? He will answer your questions RIGHT NOW!”

Throughout the forum, many students tweeted questions to candidates regarding how they would engage the student population if elected into office. Additionally, many users asked questions regarding candidate use of technology and social media to engage their community. Co-chair of ISU’s ADP, Steve Hunt (@skhunt2), tweeted, “#NormalElect what about using social media to listen to Normal citizens? Too much of the focus is on messaging.” This message was followed by ISU graduate student Mary Sorenson (@MarSorenson) quoting a candidate while adding personal input, “’Having the page is not enough…’ –so true! You must be active if you want to gain attention from the community #NormalElect.” Both tweets, along with many others, provide insight to candidates that not only should they be sending messages via social media but they should simultaneously listen to the messages from their audience.

Another ISU student (@mlawler82) excitedly tweeted, “THEY’RE ANSWERING MY QUESTION ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA!!!!! DOES THIS MEAN IM FAMOUS NOW?!? #normalelect.” Her tweet, complete with dramatic effect, showcased the positive impact that social media can have on political engagement, especially for the younger generation. This particular tweet sparked a conversation among many users who indicated similar positive feelings about having their questions become part of the forum’s conversation. Social media allow students (and other community members) to have a voice that may otherwise not be heard in the political world, on both the local and national stages.

Through local elections, institutions have the ability to connect their students to candidates within reach who can become more than a name on a lawn sign or bumper sticker. By encouraging students to participate in local politics and providing multiple mediums for communication, communities of voters both young and old have the opportunity to come together as a more unified voice. Newcomers to the political scene as well as veteran voters desire to see change for similar issues such as green initiatives, local business development, roads, and housing. The use of social media such as Twitter may enhance civic engagement for a variety of community members, 140 characters at a time.

IUPUI’s Center for Civic Literacy

Self-government in a democratic state requires a civically literate citizenry. But survey after survey confirms that Americans, on average, are civically illiterate.

Despite this overwhelming evidence of a public deficit in basic constitutional and civic knowledge, the nation has not previously had a research center devoted entirely to studying issues surrounding civic knowledge. But we do now.

The  Center for Civic Literacy at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)–an ADP campus–was formed to fill that void. It will pursue an aggressive research agenda focused upon the causes and consequences of the nation’s “civics deficit” and will disseminate its findings broadly, in order to make those findings available to a diverse audience of opinion leaders, educators, and policymakers.

The Center’s Mission is, first, to increase scholarly and public understanding of the dimensions of our civic deficit and the effect of that deficit upon democratic decision-making and civil society; and, second, to identify, develop, and disseminate evidence-based best practices to help educators and others address and correct the problem. Among the many questions it wants to explore are the following:

• How do we define civic literacy? Are there elements of civic knowledge essential to democratic participation? If so, what are those elements?
• What aspects of civic knowledge are most predictive of civic engagement?
• Do individuals with low civic literacy hold attitudes about social, scientific, economic and political issues that vary in a statistically significant fashion from attitudes held by high civic literacy individuals?
• Has the growth of social media fostered or inhibited civic literacy?
• Why have previous efforts to improve civics education failed? What social or structural incentives might lead to more long-lasting and robust results?

This center, the first of its kind in the U.S., is housed in the IU Public Policy Institute and will publish an online journal, convene a national conference, and conduct research projects that result in peer-reviewed journal articles. The Center received funding from IUPUI’s Signature Centers Initiative and is due to attain IUPUI Signature Center status in 2015.

In the near future, there are plans to unveil a web-based clearinghouse for research done by the Center and others working on these issues, convene its first annual conference, and begin issuance of a variety of planned publications, including but not limited to a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal.The Center is an interdisciplinary collaboration of scholars in public policy, business, religious studies, history, social work, and education; it is housed at Indiana University’s Public Policy Institute, a well-respected venue with significant experience in innovative social science research.

ADP Welcomes New Campus: Washington State University Vancouver!

By Audrey Miller, Graduate Student, WSU Vancouver

Washington State University Vancouver launched the American Democracy Project, respectfully named the VanCoug American Democracy Project (VADP), on February 20, 2013. A full-day event, the “VanCoug American Democracy Project Day,” facilitated the launch with group discussions, workshops, a keynote presentation by George Mehaffy (AASCU’s Vice President for Academic Leadership and Change), and the presentation of ADP’s William Plater Award for Leadership in Civic Engagement to WSU Vancouver’s new chancellor, Mel Netzhammer (former Provost of Keene State College).

The all-day event brought students, staff, faculty, administration, and community members together to learn about the ways they would be interacting to build a new community focused on engagement. Designed to build excitement for VADP, the event allowed participants to discuss the possibilities of the Project on campus. Though the soft launch of the VADP in May 2012 gained traction, many still didn’t understand the mission and possibilities of the initiative. The Feb. 20 event brought the experience of ADP veterans from Keene State College to attendees who still had questions about creating a campus culture of civic engagement.

Keene State’s Kim Schmidl-Gagne leads a workshop.

Keene State College guests representing KSC’s ADP–Patrick Dolenc, Pat Hitchner, Kim Schmidl-Gagne, and Wes Martin–taught three 75-minute workshops at the event: Creating a Culture of Civic Engagement, Co-Curricular Programming for Creating Partnerships, and Curricular Issues. The focus was to thoroughly discuss the different impacts of ADP, ranging from implementing civic engagement into curriculum to the continuum of volunteerism to engaged citizen. Attendees were able to converse about changes to be expected as ADP permeates every component of campus life.

After the workshops sparked healthy conversation about campus engagement, Mehaffy gave the keynote address, “Educating Citizens: New Strategies for a New Century,” and presented the Plater Award to Netzhammer. Mehaffy’s keynote focused on the struggles higher education will face engaging students as information becomes more accessible through advancements in technology. Mehaffy told the audience that when you want to do something, don’t wait around to discuss it to death–just do it, just go for it, make ideas come to life.

George Mehaffy delivers keynote address at “VanCoug American Democracy Project Day.”

The Plater Award was presented to the  WSU Vancouver Chancellor, Netzhammer, for his work as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Keene State College. Netzhammer brought ADP to Keene State College and worked for five years to develop a student experience featuring civic engagement.

The William Plater Award for Leadership in Civic Engagement recognizes a chief academic officer’s commitment to advancing the civic mission of a campus through circular reform, public advocacy, accountability for institutional citizenship, faculty development and recruitment, and partnerships with community organizations.  As mentioned by Mehaffy, the William Plater award is the only one of its kind nationally recognizing excellence in a chief academic officer or provost.

WSUV Chancellor Mel Netzhammer accepts the Plater Award.

Attendees at the presentation of the Plater Award were invigorated seeing Netzhammer receive the award. Knowing that Netzhammer was presented the prestigious award for his successful work at Keene State College inspired confidence that he would bring the same level of success with ADP to WSU Vancouver.

WSUV Student Leaders

The student leads of the VADP assisted in planning the VADP Day over a period of two months. Audrey Miller, Jayme Shoun, and Monica Santos came together to work as student leads with VADP due to their shared backgrounds in struggling to engage a seemingly apathetic student body. Miller served as the Associated Students of Washington State University Vancouver President from 2011-2012, Santos has been the Office of Student Involvement Programming intern for the past two years, and Shoun served as the Chair of the ASWSUV Elections Board in 2012.  WSU Vancouver does not have student housing and has an average student age of 26. Dubbed a “commuter campus,” students enrolled at WSU Vancouver attend classes and then leave for off campus commitments and responsibilities. Engaging the already engaged is the struggle student leaders face at WSU Vancouver.

The  VADP Day presented each of the student leads the opportunity to connect with visiting workshop presenters from Keene State College, as well as Mehaffy, to learn about the hurdles and rewards in engaging a student body.

To learn more about VCDP, you can visit the Facebook page here.

Photos by Laura Envancich, Marketing and Communications at WSU Vancouver.

Audrey Miller

Audrey Miller is a graduate student at WSU Vancouver in the Master’s of Public Affairs Program focusing on environmental policy. She is a student lead on the VanCoug American Democracy Project (VADP) and the current Editor-in-chief of The VanCougar student newspaper. As the former Associated Students of Washington State University Vancouver President in 2011-2012, she dealt with a great deal of apathy and resistance toward on campus engagement. The challenges she faced and continue to face as a student leader on campus inspired her to became involved with VADP  and work with fellow student leads to defeat apathy and create a culture of civic engagement.

Fighting Hunger at Fort Hays State University

By Kelly Nuckolls, FHSU American Democracy Project Student Coordinator

Fort Hays State University (FHSU) students and faculty recently attended the 8^th Annual Universities Fighting World Hunger Food Summit in Overland Park, Kansas.

Held March 2 – 4, 2013, this was the first time the event was hosted by a coalition of institutions. FHSU Provost Larry Gould and Director of the Center for Civic Leadership Curt Brungardt decided early on that the university would support this unique learning and engagement opportunity.

Universities Fighting World Hunger (UFWH) is the catalyst for over 300 chapter colleges and universities who engage in international programming across the globe to make fighting hunger a core value of higher education institutions worldwide. Students, faculty, administrators, political officials, and hunger relief organizations from all over the world came together at the Food Summit to share best practice models; listen to keynote addresses from Ritu Sharma of Women Thrive, Dr. Alastair Summerlee of the University of Guelph, and Max Finberg of the U. S. Department of Agriculture; all with the goal of ending hunger by empowering the younger generation.

FHSU’s American Democracy Project Student Co-Coordinator Kelly Nuckolls had the opportunity to be on the steering committee for this conference. Ten students from FHSU also joined the Food Summit volunteer team with students from Ottawa University and Kansas State University. Three FHSU faculty and 16 students attended the conference, including three graduate students from China. The Chinese students were active and vocal participants and hope to bring hunger awareness speakers to their campuses in China.

Curt Brungardt; faculty member Shala Mills; Anne Drees, also a student co-coordinator of the American Democracy Project; and Nuckolls presented at the summit about this semester’s “From Harvest to the Hungry: Kansans Addressing Hunger.” This program is a three-week series that includes presentations, service events, film screenings, and public forums to engage the public around the issue of local, national, and global hunger. FHSU partnered with the Kansas Humanities Council and the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum to make these possible. Following the formal presentation, conference participants were given the opportunity to participate in a forum inspired by the National Issues Forum’s publication—The Rising Cost of Food. The town hall was moderated by four FHSU students.

The fact that food insecurity exists right here in America—the wealthiest country on the planet—was a central theme at this conference, and as the three-day event came to an end, attendees were called to action. Students were reminded of the importance of everyday acts of citizenship that can make an impact in the world, and Nuckolls demonstrated to the conference how simple political action can be, even for a student, by making a call over speaker phone to her Representative, Congressman Kevin Yoder {R-KS} (watch it now by clicking here). She wanted her fellow conference attendees to witness how simple it is to engage in efforts that will put an end to starvation and hunger across the globe.

If you are curious about this unique learning experience and the opportunity to become a global leader in the fight against hunger, as well as the efforts made toward that end at the 2013 UWFH Food Summit, check out the re-cap video made by FHSU student Becca Kohl by clicking here.

For more information on Universities Fighting World Hunger visit: www.universitiesfightingworlhunger.org.

Kelly is a Student Coordinator for both the American Democracy Project and the Global Leadership Project. She works with organizing and developing curricular and co-curricular programming to engage the FHSU community in projects and activities that educate about and cause a direct impact on local, national, and global issues. Kelly is a senior majoring in Political Science, with a minor in Spanish, and a certificate in Global Leadership.

128 ADP/AASCU Institutions on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll

The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, launched in 2006, annually highlights the role colleges and universities play in solving community problems and placing more students on a lifelong path of civic engagement by recognizing institutions that achieve meaningful, measurable outcomes in the communities they serve.

The 2013 Honor Roll recipients were announced at the American Council on Education’s 95th Annual Meeting Leading Change on March 4, 2013, in Washington, DC.

While no AASCU/ADP institutions were selected as one of the top five 2013 Presidential Awardees, three campuses were chosen as Honor Roll Finalists:  California State University, Dominguez Hills; California State University, Monterey Bay; and the University of Northern Iowa.

Additionally, 15 AASCU/ADP schools were selected for the Honor Roll with Distinction (view the full list here). The 15 AASCU/ADP schools include: Southern Arkansas University; California State University, Fresno; California State University, Fullerton; California State University, Northridge; Florida Gulf Coast University; Indiana State University; Towson University (Md.); Metropolitan State University (Minn.); Winona State University (Minn.); North Carolina Central University; North Carolina State University; The University of North Carolina at Greensboro; University of Nebraska Omaha; State University of New York at Cortland; State University of New York at Oswego.

A total of 110 AASCU/ADP institutions were chosen as Honor Roll Members (view the full list here). To view the listing of all awardees, go here.

To learn more about the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, go here.

Georgia College’s 6th Annual Global Citizenship Symposium

Literacy, Learning, Leading: Education for a 21^st Century World

This year’s symposium, held February 4-6, 2013,  featured speakers from the Georgia College campus, central Georgia region, and Harvard, Syracuse, and UNC Greensboro. Over the course of three days, 24 literacy events related to health, information, civic life, technology, and 21^st century pedagogies attracted over 1500 participants.

Alex Wirth speaking with students

Alex Wirth, Harvard sophomore used his presentation and handout, Building a Campaign for Change, to help audience members, 300 strong, think seriously about issues of personal importance and how to strategically think about making a difference as citizens who have the advantage of four or more university years. Wirth illustrated his campaign for change by speaking about the Presidential Youth Council he and others developed as well as a social media effort #bethegoodguys based on a Daily Show with John Stewart segment that documented the U.S. Congress desire to stop funding UNESCO. Several students reflected on Wirth’s keynote in a writing assignment by writing, “Alex Wirth left me feeling motivated to make a difference. Most times, when you leave a presentation, you are a bit confused…. This was not the case with his keynote address. When I left, the only questions that I was asking myself were about where I wanted to devote my efforts? How do I want to campaign for change.” Another wrote, “When leaving the symposium, I felt as though I was part of something big and that if I get involved in something that I am passionate about, I can make a change.”

John Saltmarsh, University of Massachusetts, Boston and Timothy Eatman conducted workshops for academic leaders – Pursuing the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification – and students – What does it mean to be a public scholar? John and Tim creatively shared their personal narratives relative to teaching democratic engagement and the time when their scholarship coalesced at the second evening keynote address, Journey to Politically Engaged Scholarship. Their stories of their respective learning, teaching, and interaction with students made for an enlightening and thought-provoking time.

Tim Eatman and John Saltmarsh

Barbara Levin, UNC Greensboro, an advocate for creatively utilizing technology in the K-12 classroom, delivered the final symposium keynote and subsequently served on a panel with representatives from area schools, Teach for America, and the U.S. Department of Education 21^st Century Community Learning Center grant program. Another panel, comprised of a principal, three teachers, and two 9^th grade students, shared their integrated lesson unit entitled Campaign 2012 where mathematics, language arts, technology and social studies helped students not only follow the national campaign but create avatars and a virtual campaign. The third day concluded with a two-hour session that attracted community members including county commissioners and school board members. Called Are we Making Academic Progress in Baldwin County? The first hour’s panel included representatives from K-12, Georgia College and an afterschool program that engages 1,000 grade 3-12 youth. The second hour provided for breakout sessions that addressed health and fitness, workforce development, the literate American student, and race relations in the community and schools’ cultures.

Interspersed throughout the three days were student performances, Miss Electricity, by Katharyn Walat and Crisantemi, Puccini, and the documentary film, Race to Nowhere. Gregg Kaufman, GC’s ADP Coordinator stated, “This year’s symposium was unprecedented for a number of reasons. Georgia College’s new president, Steve Dorman, attended events on all three days, the four college deans and many academic chairpersons, local elected leaders, and a former state senator joined the hundreds of students who explored literacy in its many forms and the symposium directly related to the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan goal of building a culture of engaged learning.”

UMBC’s Sparrow Point Project

The University of Maryland Baltimore County’s Sparrows Point Project was recently featured in the Baltimore Sun. David Hoffman, UMBC’s ADP Campus Coordinator and Assistant Director for Civic Agency spoke to the Sun about how the project — and UMBC’s larger Breaking Ground initiative  (see previous blog post) — are advancing the university’s efforts to prepare students for informed, engaged citizenship:

“How can we prepare students to work together and see the world as open to transformation through their actions?” said Hoffman, one of the program’s leaders. “Every experience students are having reinforces the sense that they can take responsibility for recognizing problems and initiating solutions in their communities.”

Read a segment of this front page story below, and find the full story here.

Excerpt from the Baltimore Sun:

UMBC students use new media to document a dying industrial past

They are preserving Sparrows Point history through website, film

By Julie Scharper, The Baltimore Sun
8:00 p.m. EST, February 11, 2013

Now, with the  [Sparrows Point steel] plant closed and machinery being sold for scrap, Bartee and other steelworkers are teaming with University of Maryland Baltimore County students and professors to record their stories. The students are making a website and helping with a documentary to preserve the history of the plant….

Much as pieces of massive machinery have been carted away from the plant in recent weeks, the history of the mill — once the region’s economic hub — is in danger of disappearing. But two UMBC professors and their students aim to preserve the stories of 20th-century manufacturing using 21st-century techniques….

The project is part of the university’s Breaking Ground initiative, which aims to empower students to develop and implement solutions to challenges that surround them. David Hoffman, UMBC’s assistant director for civic agency, said the university wants to shatter students’ conception that citizenship occurs in discrete bursts in the voting booth or volunteering projects….

The Sparrows Point project, Documenting Cultural Heritage in Partnership with Communities, is a collaboration between an American studies professor, Michelle Stefano, and a new media studio professor, Bill Shewbridge. The students in their two interwoven courses use traditional methods for exploring the past, such as transcribing oral histories, while employing the latest technology to record and share those stories.

Read more.

Campus Spotlight: Mock Elections at Georgia College

By Stephanie South, Program Associate, AASCU

Greg Kaufman, the American Democracy Project Coordinator at Georgia College, kept hearing from faculty that it seemed there was not nearly as much interest in the 2012 Presidential race as there had been in 2008. He offered a challenge to his first-year students: Generate some campaign activity.

And generate they did.

The American Democracy Project at Georgia College held its 2012 mock election on October 23 and 24 and gathered 770 votes from participants during the two-day voting period. Those coming to the faux polls were allowed to cast their vote for the next President of the United States and to indicate the issue that they believed would dominate the 2012 election.

The results were as follows:

Courtesy of The Colonnade, Georgia College

Kaufman said that many students who participated in the mock election were first-time voters and seemed motivated vote in the November 2012 election. He had the opportunity to teach first-year students, upper-class, and graduate students and said that at every level, engaged learning in community contexts makes a positive impression on students.

“One hour of being deeply engaged in learning and serving in a community context is worth more than a few class sessions,” said Kaufman. “The opportunity for students to interact with community members over issues of national importance makes citizenship relevant and helps students imagine their capacity to be civic agents.”

Learn more about ADP at Georgia College here.

We the People Interview Series: NAU’s Frankie Beesley

Interviewed by Stephanie South, Program Associate, AASCU

As part of the Civic Agency initiative, we are conducting a special “We the People” interview series. In this series, we interview intriguing people with different perspectives on the “We the People” phase of our work in ADP.

Frankie Beesley was born and raised in Las Vegas, NV. She is currently a junior at Northern Arizona University majoring in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in sustainability, community, and biocultural diversity, and a minor in journalism. She has been involved with the Action Research Teams (ARTs) since her freshman year. The ARTs focus on issues, challenges, and visions for a sustainable campus and community environment, as well as fostering student engagement in a democratic and just way. Frankie became involved with the Weatherization and Community Building Action Team (WACBAT) her freshman year, particularly because WACBAT focused around community building, sustainable initiatives, and student facilitation. During her sophomore year, she was given the opportunity to co-facilitate WACBAT and has held that position ever since. Working with WACBAT, Frankie hopes to continue efforts around community building and engagement as well as aiding and support the efforts of sustainable initiatives all around the greater Flagstaff region.

SS: Frankie, I understand you got involved with the civic engagement work at NAU your first year through a learning community. Can you tell me a little more about what a learning community is?

FB:  I became involved with the ARTs (action research teams) my freshman year through an LC—a learning community. A learning community is a community of first-year students all interested and working around similar passions and ideals. Students join a particular LC because it meshes with their targeted interest, may that be law, the environment, nursing, etc. The learning community I was involved with was called SEED, which stands for Sustainable Environment Engaged Democracy. SEED is really a stepping stone for the rest of the ARTs, making students dig deep into their passions about social and/or environmental issues and discussing them amongst one another while pursuing these individual passions in some way or another. SEED was really a place where we built community as freshman students around our similar passions.

We were given the option to choose between a list of ARTs, and I chose WACBAT (Weatherization and Community Building Action Team) because the concept of community building was completely new to me and really piqued my interest.

SS: That was a lot of acronyms. What are ARTs? What is WACBAT?

FB: ARTs stand for Action Research Team and they focus around student engagement and leadership around environmental and social issues. The ARTs give undergrad students, and even grad students, the tools to create leadership skills amongst themselves, as well as a voice in their community that is so powerful and revolutionary in my opinion.

WACBAT is a student-led group that focuses around community building, as well as environmental sustainability around a just community and society. As a co-facilitator, my role in WACBAT is to have relational, 1:1 meetings with new freshman students of WACBAT, as well as community members in efforts of collaboration and participants of the other ARTs. It is my job to create a sort of open space for the students of WACBAT in order for their passions to arise while still maintaining the mission and vision of WACBAT. As a facilitator, I have to give students the tools to fostering leadership skills within themselves so that they can go out into the community and begin to build community, form relationships, and, basically, get stuff done. I work with three other co-facilitators of WACBAT, as well as a professor whose freshman seminar class is tied in with WACBAT.

SS: Looking back, why has WACBAT been such important part of your time at NAU?

FB: I’ve been involved with WACBAT for three years now, and it is honestly the reason I stayed at NAU my freshman year as opposed to transferring back home or to another school elsewhere. WACBAT has given me the tools to facilitate conversations, hold 1:1s, and, overall, achieve my passions and visions that I hold in regards to environmental and societal sustainability. WACBAT has really made me want to go into the community, become a part of it, and learn from that community. WACBAT has also given me the tools to be able to work across differences in creating this overall community sustainability.

SS: What’s been the thing you are most proud of having accomplished through WACBAT?

FB: I’m really proud that WACBAT is one of the longest running ARTs at NAU and is still going strong with students who stay with it for years. Each semester I am proud of WACBAT for different reasons, may it be because we had a successful event, really built community and relationships among our students, or even seeing those few students become civically engaged beings. I feel honored being a part of WACBAT and am very proud to be a member of it.

SS: Why is it important for students to be civically engaged on campus?

FB: This might actually be the most important aspect to me. I strongly believe that students should be civically engaged on campus because it’s their campus! I feel like a lot of students do not realize that they have the power to have their voice heard; they just need to work with outlets they have not thought of before. If a student is civically engaged on campus, I strongly believe that they will be civically engaged in all spheres of life, even after they have left college. Getting engaged in college is so important because college really gives you the opportunity to become engaged and create concrete change. It was just such an amazing experience for me in my undergraduate career to have been as engaged as I am. I can only wish that everyone has such a monumental and life-changing experience during these four years.

SS: What advice do you have for incoming freshman at NAU or any college campus?

FB: Don’t be afraid to get involved! Go out there and search for those clubs, groups, or organizations that relate to your interest because chances are, they’ll definitely be out there. Also, don’t be afraid to take chances! It’s a little cliché but extremely true. As college students, we have the ability to construct real change that is lasting and just. Work with people you never would have imagined yourself working with before. Chances are everyone around you has something to teach you that you may not even be aware of yet, and that could completely alter your way of thinking. Just be open to differences, new ideas, and opportunities!