I work each semester with students through the WVU Center for Community Engagement and serve on their Community Board. Their current newsletter features our work at Old Hemlock Foundation. Check the video link below. LeJay Graffious, Administrator of Old Hemlock Foundation.
The WVU Center for Community Engagement (CCE) aims to leverage university knowledge and resources to support effective partnerships with communities that enhance discovery through community-engaged teaching, scholarship, and action. The Center focuses on supporting faculty, staff, and students in working with external partners on meeting reciprocal and mutually beneficial needs and advancing WVU’s land grant mission.
West Virginia University's Center for Community Engagement (CCE) offers support with Dr. Elizabeth Oppe's service learning class projects, which include a partnership with the Old Hemlock Foundation. This service learning initiative offers WVU students a distinct opportunity to contribute to their community.
According to Dr. Oppe, Professor of the Strategic Communications Campaigns class at WVU's Reed College of Media, "Service-learning provides a unique opportunity for students to engage with course content in a meaningful way and make a tangible impact on their communities. By combining academic study with community service, students develop a deeper understanding of social issues and their role in creating positive change."
Service learning courses supported by the CCE allow students to apply their academic background, prior coursework, and individual skills in a way that enables them to experience community needs and make a real difference. Students can learn about, reflect on, and connect the relationship between hands-on activities and academic reading.
The Old Hemlock Foundation is committed to preserving the legacy of George Bird Evans and his wife, Kay Evans, and supporting various philanthropic causes in West Virginia. The Foundation provides a range of opportunities for service learning students to engage with their community. The trust's funds that support the foundation are used to preserve and maintain the historic house, provide scholarships to WVU Medical School and Bruceton Mills area school students; support Preston County Humane Society, and offer cultural and literary support for Bruceton School.
Moreover, the Old Hemlock Foundation is dedicated to preserving the natural environment by acquiring and maintaining ecologically significant undeveloped land, forests, and other natural areas. They promote the conservation and protection of natural resources, prevent and eliminate damage to the environment, and preserve and protect undeveloped land, forests, and other natural areas from commercial development by forming nature and wildlife preserves for scientific and educational purposes.
By partnering with the Old Hemlock Foundation, Dr. Oppe and the CCE aim to provide students with an opportunity to make a positive impact on their community while also gaining valuable experience and skills. WVU Reed College of Media student, Kaitlyn McClung, who previously participated in this service learning course, spoke about the class benefits. "It creates a mutually-beneficial relationship between both the students and the community. It allows the students to form wonderful connections with people in the community, and the people in the community have these passionate students who are extremely invested in service learning and community engagement.
Overall, the collaboration between the CCE, Dr. Elizabeth Oppe and her students, and the Old Hemlock Foundation provides a unique opportunity for WVU students to learn from and give back to their community. This service learning course emphasizes hands-on learning and community service, providing an experience that is both academically and personally rewarding.
To learn more about Service Learning, contact the CCE at serveandlearn@mail.wvu.edu
Website: communityengag...
To learn more about Old Hemlock Foundation, visit oldhemlock.org/
An extra special thank you to Mason Harp and Madison Bowers for filming and editing this video!
Thanks to Mason Harp and the WVU Extension Communications for granting permission to use the video on the Old Hemlock Foundation RU-vid channel.
10 апр 2023
