Category: Projects

Community-neighborhood projects

Posted on

Families for Forward Thinking: Partnering with Parents in the 21st Century

This immersive project involved partnering with Wee Wisdom Nursery School and Child Care Facility in Muncie.  Students enrolled in EDEL 231 worked collaboratively to create, design and launch a new program entitled, Families for Forward Thinking (FFT).  Alongside Wee Wisdom staff and families, students distinguished parental needs regarding positive home structures.  Participating students explored research proven and practical strategies that parents and families could implement at home to best provide a positive environment.  These strategies incorporated within a student-created FFT online source.  This dynamic resource was linked to the collaborating partner’s website at the end of the semester.  Through the site, parents have access to video vignettes of students/teachers working with children, relevant articles, and pragmatic resources on meaningful topics that enhance their child’s academic and social success.  In addition, Ball State students identified specific areas of parental interest and provided two parent education workshops/events.  Students also organized and planned an in-service session for Wee Wisdom staff to support their ongoing work with parents.

Faculty Mentor:  Stacey Allred
Department:  Elementary Education
Community Partner:  Wee Wisdom Nursery School and Child Care Facility
Students: Hunter Eineman, Christina Koehl, Bridget Millar, Shana Miller, Monique Moore, Daniel Skora, Eva Wehrle, Hannah Wiley

Posted on

ecoREHAB Studio: Thomas Park Avondale House Rehab

The Thomas Park/Avondale neighborhood has suffered since the closings of multiple important employers over recent years.  To help combat neighborhood decay ecoREHAB hopes to help stabilize the area by improving the housing stock. To initiate this endeavor, ecoREHAB identified an ideal property located 1 block from the Ross Community Center.  In 2014, the house was tagged by Muncie’s Unsafe Building Hearing Authority. Without costly remediation the house cannot be occupied and in its current state it could quickly fall into disrepair and become unsalvageable, leaving a hole in the urban fabric of the neighborhood that may never be mended. Working with Ball State University architecture students, ecoREHAB will rehabilitate this house turning it into a home that is affordable to operate and act as a catalyst for neighborhood improvement. LEARN MORE

Faculty Mentor:  Jonathan Spodek
Department:  Architecture
Community Partners:  Ball Brothers Foundation; ecoREHAB of Muncie, Inc.
Students: Craig Adams, Allison Berry, Brian Bracht, Hunter Crews, Alex DeKemper, Jordan Duke, Ana Karen Garcia, Jacob Hurt, Molly Schultz, Taylor Sheppard

Posted on

Building Better Health: Developing a Community Gold Standard

Cancer Services of East Central Indiana-Little Red Door needed assistance with multiple initiatives/programs. Some programs focused on promoting healthy living habits and others on developing promotional material for Little Red Door (LRD). Students helped promote and fundraise, researched underserved areas of our community, developed novel educational materials for that population, promoted LRD programs in schools and throughout the community, developed a new agency video and portfolio, developed material for Caring for the Caregiver program, and assisted with the Facing Cancer project. Students also presented their project at the Central States Communication Association Conference in Grand Rapids, MI.

Faculty Mentor:  Peggy Fisher
Department:  Communication Studies
Community Partner:  Little Red Door East Central Indiana
Students: John Anderson Jr, Theresa Barhorst, Lindsey Bryie, Kassie Ehman, Sumer Frain, Jenna McAbee, Chad Ragan, Leslie Thomas, Whitney Morgan

Posted on

Summer 2016 Ball State Immersive Learning Projects

Ball State faculty, students, and community partners are working together this summer on a number of immersive learning projects.

Reading Intervention at the Youth Opportunity Center
Working collaboratively with the YOC, Ball State students will spend the summer making a real difference in the lives of young people. They will study psychological, environmental, and cultural factors that contribute to reading difficulties, develop skills in applying proven reading strategies, and ultimately implement a reading intervention program.
Community Partner: Youth Opportunity Center
Faculty Mentors: Janay Sander, Educational Psychology and Ruth Jefferson, Special Education

Virginia B. Ball Center Summer Seminar – Water Quality Indiana
Students from Ball State University, Taylor University and the Indiana Academy will blend science and journalism through testing of local waterways with community partners from the Upper Mississinewa River Watershed Partnership. Students will have the opportunity to conduct interviews with stakeholders, produce defendable scientific results, generate multimedia products, and disseminate information to a public audience of consultants, regulators, and landowners to help create a sustainable future.
Community Partners: Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District, Randolph County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Upper Mississinewa River Watershed Partnership
Faculty Mentors: Adam Kuban, Journalism and Lee Florea, Geological Science

Muncie Public Art Master Plan
Students will work with local citizens to generate policies regarding the future of public arts in Muncie. Policies also will be informed by goals and initiatives developed by the Committee for Public Arts of Muncie and the Muncie Arts and Culture Council Board of Directors.
Community Partner: Muncie Arts and Culture Council Committee for Public Art
Faculty Mentor: Lisa Dunaway, Urban Planning

Posted on

Spring 2016 Ball State Immersive Learning Projects

Ball State students are busy around Muncie this semester!  Here’s a list of projects taking place in our community.

Building Better Health: Developing a Community Gold Standard
Community Partner: Little Red Door East Central Indiana
Faculty Mentor: Peggy Fisher, Department of Communication Studies
LEARN MORE

ecoREHAB Studio: Thomas Park Avondale House Rehab
Community Partner: Ball Brothers Foundation
Faculty Mentor: Jonathan Spodek, Department of Architecture
LEARN MORE | READ ARTICLE

Families for Forward Thinking: Partnering with Parents in the 21st Century
Community Partner: Wee Wisdom Nursery School and Child Care Facility
Faculty Mentor: Stacey Allred, Department of Elementary Education
LEARN MORE

Heath Farm Sustainability Park Planning
Community Partner: Red-tail Land Conservancy
Faculty Mentor: Dave Ferguson
LEARN MORE

Louis E. Ingelhart Scholars and Facing Cancer
Community Partner: Little Red Door
Faculty Mentor: Adam Kuban, Department of Journalism
LEARN MORE

Muncie’s Sports Tourism Potential: Strategies to Make the SportsPlex Serve the Community Better
Community Partners: City of Muncie, Muncie Visitors Bureau
Faculty Mentor: Craig Webster, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences
LEARN MORE

Public Safety Committee Interviews and Focus Groups
Community Partner: Whitely Community Safety Committee
Faculty Mentor: Melinda Messineo, Department of Sociology
LEARN MORE

Serve to Learn Youth Development Project and Focus Groups
Community Partner: Whitely Community Council
Faculty Mentors: Dorshele Stewart, Department of History; Melinda Messineo, Department of Sociology
LEARN MORE

Thomas Park – Avondale Neighborhood Action Plan
Community Partner: Thomas Park – Avondale Neighborhood Association
Faculty Mentor: Lisa Dunaway, Department of Urban Planning
LEARN MORE

Posted on

ecoREHAB and Ball State Students Rehabilitate Former Meth House

Ball State architecture seniors have partnered with Building Better Neighborhoods and ecoREHAB of Muncie to rehabilitate a house in the Thomas Park/Avondale neighborhood. While ecoREHAB has completed a number of projects in Muncie, this one is unique – the house is a former methamphetamine lab. According to ecoREHAB, “The problems created by the production, sale and consumption of meth amphetamines spells disaster for a neighborhood.  Even when the drugs are gone, left behind are the contaminated buildings where the drug was produced.”

The experience has been unique for the architecture students as well, many of whom are working on a real-life project for the first time. Student Jordan Duke said, “What I’ve learned most from this studio is the possibility of the ripple effect. We’re trying to rehab one house in the Avondale community in hopes that it begins to start a chain of reaction within the community. This house’s success is critical so that it might kick start a movement that will reinvigorate the neighborhood.”

Read additional reflections from students on ecoREHAB’s blog.