Community Partnerships
Winona State has a long history of working together with community businesses, organizations, and individuals to educate our students. Our goals are to foster these relationships and work to develop better and stronger partnerships that benefit our community as well as our students.
Amistad Project
Latino and Latin American Perspectives (Educ 299) was offered Fa07 where students learned about racism, immigration, deficit theory, and mentoring. As part of the class, in partnership with Winona’s Big Brothers/Big Sisters, 20 WSU students mentored 20 K-11 Latino students in a nearby, rural town. Each week the “Bigs” traveled to St. Charles, MN and once, the “Littles” traveled to WSU.
Every week one WSU student led an art project that revealed aspects of science. During the 90-minute mentoring sessions all students worked on math skills that incorporated worksheets, real-life scenarios, and computer games. The elementary-level Littles also worked on motivational reading strategies that 3 of the Bigs had learned in a children’s literature course. When the Littles came to WSU and visited the new Science building, they were shown the geologic rock-wall and celestial floor map, they learned about reptiles and insects with Pepe the iguana and thousands of crickets, and they toured the greenhouse.
Pre/post interviews demonstrated an increase in 3 specific indicators among the Latino student participants: self-esteem, desire to successfully complete high school, and interest in pursuing post-secondary education. WSU students were given opportunities to understand their own personal biases, where these biases come from, and how they may adjust their perspectives in order to develop a more equitable and socially just worldview. Student course evals showed increased cultural competence, appreciation for diversity, and Spanish-English speaking ability for all participants. Amistad means friendship in Spanish - that is what was formed between these students from different cultures.
13 WSU students continued with an independent study in spring and 4 became full Bigs with BB/BS.
RTTR - An Engaged Department
The philosophy of WSU’s Department of Recreation, Tourism and Therapeutic Recreation (RTTR) is to teach and model for their student’s different ways “to build partnerships, engage in service opportunities, and provide safe and enjoyable experiences that will ingrain an enduring ethos of healthy lifestyles for all persons.” Thus, for their 120 majors and 60 minors, 74% of the required courses include one or more community service components. In addition, student projects are set up to address real community needs vs. perceived or contrived ones. E.g., for research projects, student groups are required to report their findings to the organization directly, not just to the teacher.
This past year, RTTR students participated in over 30,000 hours of community service in required courses and elective travel study courses in the summer. Their projects ranged from conducting a city wide survey about Community Education in Winona to planning and hosting five special events at area nursing homes to doing research in Dominical, Costa Rica that helps locals make good decisions about tourism development in their town to assisting Lakota spiritual leaders in preparing the grounds for the annual Sun Dance. All told, their projects for the year directly benefited more than 15,000 people.
The department has fostered a close relationship with a number of community organizations, but particularly with the City of Winona’s Park and Recreation Department. Since 2001, two Park and Recreation staff members have “partnering with WSU” in their job descriptions, enabling a strong and mutually beneficial partnership.
The RTTR Department has set a high bar for the rest of WSU as an “Engaged Department.” They are committed to moving even higher.
Winona Flood Recovery
In August 2007, SE Minnesota experienced severe flooding as a result of flash floods. WSU’s response to this regional disaster was immediate and broad. Many of our WSU community went out and helped in the hours and days right after the flood – from the football team sandbagging, to individuals bringing food to the shelters. On campus, a team of administrators, faculty, staff, and students was set up to provide direct relief to WSU community members affected by the flood and to support student volunteer relief efforts. 15 students and 6 faculty/staff flood victims were supported directly with meal plans, textbooks, housing assistance, and financial assistance. After the first few weeks, attention shifted to 2 broad areas of flood relief: organizing weekend events so that more students could participate in the relief efforts; and helping faculty construct meaningful projects for their classes.
Over 400 students participated in 2 weekend events to muck out homes, businesses, and yards in flooded areas. Faculty/staff donated tools and supplies for these efforts and help in carpooling.
About 20 classes included specific flood-relief service components, e.g., a Recreation class organized a benefit concert and raised $1,200; a Geosciences class researched the velocity of the flood waters through a park; three Nursing clinical classes interacted with families to help them understand their experience and problem solve; and a Management class studied the flood’s impact on Winona businesses.
All told, WSU community members mucked out/gutted over 100 homes, cleared out 2 city parks, moved tons of trash and debris out of homes and yards, and removed over 10,000 nails from studs. They also experienced firsthand the power of helping others when they are hurting. http://cs.winona.edu/flood07
Both Sides of Paradise in the Caribbean
This combined service-learning/travel-study course investigates the intersections of gender, race, and class, along with island culture and the environment in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Close to 30% of the population of St. Croix lives below the poverty line and over 80% is of Cruzan descent. For 17 days, students in the course participate in service projects and activities that connect them with grassroots community organizations, social service providers, and members of the judicial and educational systems.
This past year, students worked directly with one of our three community partners: Early Head Start; Women’s Coalition; and Nature Conservancy. They worked 5-6 hours each weekday to provide relief for the care givers and to develop activity games for the kids; to renovate an efficiency apartment at the women’s shelter; and to do turtle beach clean-up, trail work, and tree plantings. They made concrete contributions to the people of St. Croix while they were there (their work was written up in the local paper) and they learned invaluable lessons about privilege, the cost of “paradise”, and their individual power to make a difference.
This May-term course has been offered for the past 4 years. This summer we instituted a new “clutch” assignment where student groups were asked to deeply examine/analyze a core question related to their worksite. They had to analyze everything done on the island through the lens of this question and they made a presentation to the full class, including the community partners, at the end. The pre- and post-questionnaire results on this assignment clearly demonstrate an appreciation of the complexities involved in the islanders’ struggle for social, educational and environmental change.
College Empowerment Pipeline Program
The College Empowerment Pipeline Program of Winona State University works to eliminate the academic achievement gap experienced by children and youth in mathematics and reading and to educate them early enough in their education so that they can make informed decisions about their futures. The program uses an interactive curriculum and combines math and communication arts to inspire and motivate school youth “to think” as well as apply their mathematical and reading skills to science, language arts, social studies, and the applied arts.
This past year, 180 Education majors taking Human Relations and Student Diversity spent at least 1 hour per week in designated family/neighborhood community learning centers or at the homes of youth in preschool through Grade12 to help with homework assignments and provide academic tutoring. A new bi-monthly afternoon ACT emphasis was also introduced this year. One Saturday per month the WSU students worked with students enrolled in Grades 9-12 to implement the College Ed Program curriculum. The Saturday Program also provides investigation projects and challenges related to various career fields on a personal, interactive, and real world level. Prominent people and organizations joined in the Saturday program activities to help students learn about educational possibilities and make informed decisions related to their career ideas and choices.
Started in 1991, the Pipeline Program has involved over 4,000 WSU teacher-education majors and has impacted thousands of low-income children, 10 of which on average enter college each year. Partners in the program include the Winona Housing Redevelopment Authority and the WSU Cultural Diversity Task Force, and Winona Area Schools teaching staff and other school district personnel.