Today@Sam Article

CCE Fellows Positively Impact Local Communities

May 20, 2024
SHSU Media Contact: Mikah Boyd

Sam Houston State University’s Center for Community Engagement (CCE) serves as a hub for campus-community connections and collaborations. Their efforts are most frequently seen in the classroom, thanks to professors who focus their classes on academic community engagement (ACE). This pedagogy encourages students to use the skills, knowledge and dispositions learned in the classroom to collaborate with community partners to contribute to the public good.

While numerous professors work with the center every semester through their ACE courses, there are two who distinguished themselves by serving in the CCE Fellows Program.

“The Fellows program provides an annual opportunity for faculty to obtain leadership experience in community-university partnership building by working with the center directors [Joyce McCauley and Lee Miller] to grow key projects that meet the needs of the surrounding communities,” said Joyce McCauley, executive director of the CCE. 

The first CCE Fellows, Diane Neudorf and Min Kim, have recently completed their fellowship with the center. To participate in the fellowship, the professors went through a rigorous selection process involving the deans and chairs of the fellows’ colleges as well as filling out applications. Upon selection, the fellows would work to implement a project or initiative that drove up community engagement and benefitted the community.

Neudorf’s project centered around providing a STEM Day for a local Girl Scouts troop. She collaborated with student groups, ACE courses, faculty members and their research students to put on a full day of interactive activities. The girls were able to participate in activities such as parasitology, forensics, environmental and geosciences, geography, robotics, chemistry and mathematics.

The first event was such a success that Neudorf decided to host another, larger event in the fall portion of her fellowship. The event saw around 50 Girl Scouts come from as far away as Houston to participate in the event.

“I am excited to say that STEM Day will be an annual event in the COSET during the first weekend of November. Dean Holt has pledged annual financial support from the college. I am grateful to the students, faculty and administration of the COSET who will continue to make this event a success,” Neudorf said. “It is a wonderful opportunity for students in ACE classes to develop educational activities that encourage girls to pursue STEM careers. It is also a great way to showcase our campus and our fantastic programs to Girl Scouts and their parents.”

Kim was also inspired to lead a camp for the community. The four-day event, SAM Camp, served as a sports and movement camp for Huntsville families with disabilities. Kim and his students work with the Bayes Achievement Center to lead campers in sports and physical activities. The students not only led the campers in sports activities but forged bonds with them by interacting and learning how to accommodate all abilities in the sports they were teaching.

Thanks to the resounding support the first time around, Kim decided to hold SAM Camp again in the fall semester. This time, he invited Jose Santiago, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and former volleyball coach, to speak during the volleyball coaching workshop Kim added to his program. Around 20 coaches from The Woodlands came together for the workshop at the SHSU Woodlands Center to hear from Kim and Santiago. Overall, Kim and his students found the event to be a resounding success.

“This fellowship allowed me to continue providing services to the community and I appreciate all the support, especially as CCE members helped me gather all the information to plan for the SAM camp and coaching clinic,” Kim said. “I really appreciated the opportunity.”

As the spring 2024 semester came to a close, as did Kim and Neudorf’s CCE Fellowship but they will continue to be involved with the CCE and their camps for semesters to come. Their success will serve as a guidepost for future CCE Fellows to reach for as the program forges on in the upcoming fall semester.

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