Tag: Spring 2016

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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

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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

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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