Winter 2020
Cultivating Wellness Practices in Public Schools Through Garden-based Education for Youth (K-6th grades)
Course Description: This course will explore the theory and practice of garden-based education for youth grades K-6th. The capstone will be partnered with Mckinney Elementary School in the Hillsboro School District and will assist in developing a school garden program that emphasizes "trauma-informed" wellness practices in a garden setting. To support this work, students will explore the history and benefits of garden-based education in schools, develop mentorship and mindfulness skills for working with diverse youth in a garden setting, practice fundamental gardening skills to run and maintain a school garden and develop and implement standard-based garden lessons for the youth. *Spanish-speaking skills are not required but helpful! *Required service-learning hours options outside of class at the school will be held on Tuesday mornings 9am-12pm, Thursday and Fridays from 9am-3-pm.
In this course, students have the opportunity to learn the basics of grant writing. A much sought-after skill in many sectors, grant writing helps a variety of nonprofits and government agencies obtain funds for various projects they are interested in pursuing. For this class, our community partner will be JOIN. As they describe on their website, JOIN exists to support the efforts of homeless individuals and families to transition out of homelessness into permanent housing.
This course is designed to guide students through the step by step process of developing a communication campaign for a community partner. Specifically, students will learn how to set objectives, analyze audiences and contexts, develop messages, choose tactics and make basic design choices. The final product of the capstone should be a professional campaign plan that could be included in job market materials.
This capstone is designed to provide an opportunity to learn about Spanish culture and society by means of synchronous and asynchronous discussion group forums between American and Spanish middle and high school students. The communities of students will be from: Portland, Oregon, various schools in Washington state and Zamora, Spain. These forums will be between paired classes (one USA and one Spanish) of similar grade and language level and will be facilitated and monitored by both teachers of each class. Each grouping of classes will be assigned 2 capstone students.
When you hear the terms "hunger" or "food insecurity," you may not immediately think of college students and a university setting, but a significant percentage of college students are struggling with challenges to meet their nutritional, quality, and quantity food needs. The percentage of university students that are deemed "food insecurity" is approximately three to four times the national average or surrounding population percentage.
During this course students will grow in their cross-cultural skills and understanding. They will learn about refugee resettlement and the systemic educational obstacles that English learners face and overcome.Students completing this capstone will have a well developed sense of their civic identity as it relates to newcomers in their local communities.
Story, Portraits, and Civic Action
This online course explores how civic action, and the process of story finding and telling through the medium of digital portraiture, as inspired by Humans of New York, can effect change in our community. Each student is expected to volunteer thirty hours with a community organization of their choice over the duration of the term. Positions must be arranged before the term begins.
Over the course of the term, students will be expected to photograph and interview three to four people with whom they come in contact while volunteering at their respective sites. Students will submit a portfolio of their favorite portraits, paired with compelling excerpts of their interviews, as inspired by Brandon Stanton’s ongoing Humans of New York project. These will then be published on a course Instagram account, and made available to our community and the public at large. Not only will the project showcase the great spectrum of volunteer work and civic action that our students are participating in and contributing to, but importantly, this work will be humanized with particular stories, voices, and faces.
How do I transform my own life? How do I transform my community and the world?
Performing Arts Advocacy
The arts play a critical role in stimulating creativity and in developing vital communities. They have a crucial impact on our economy and are an important catalyst for learning, discovery and achievement in our county.
Strengthening the Head Start Legacy: Growth, Health and Justice (HEADSTART)
Strengthening Headstart: Health, Growth And Justice Head Start is this nation's largest investment in young children to date. It is also one of the few remaining efforts from the 1960's "War on Poverty".
Students will:
review data and documentation of the historical successes and challenges of Head Start;
analyze and reflect on the impact it has had in communities;
engage in a qualitative/participatory research project;
design a collective action project in conjunction with Head Start community participants that will enhance or improve the health, growth or justice in that Head Start Community.