Pictures, Projects & Testimonials

Each semester between 10 and 20 service-learning courses are taught within the Rubenstein School or by Rubsenstein faculty.  What better way to learn about the projects undertaken by the students and their experiences than through the pictures they've taken along the way, the final products that they present to their community partners, and their reflections on the experience in their own words?

Pictures

Final Products Generated through Service-Learning Courses

A new website for Campus Kichens UVM, a student-led hunger relief program in Burlington, designed and executed by a RSENR senior in NR 206: Environmental Problem Solving.

A proposed trail map for the Pine Street Barge Canal site in Burlington, accompanied by proposed interpretive trail signage, both prepared through a partnership with the City of Burlington's Planning and Zoning Office through NR 206: Environmental Problem-solving & Impact Assessment.

Assessments of three potential community garden sites in Burlington, prepared through a partnership with Friends of Burlington Gardens through the senior capstone course in the Rubenstein School

An ecological inventory of a site identified by the community partner CRAG-VT, prepared by a student in NR 206: Environmental Problem-solving & Impact Assessment

A report on the state of plastic bag usage at City Market in Burlington, prepared by a student in NR 206: Environmental Problem-solving & Impact Assessment

Flyer on the value of urban trees to increase UVM student awareness through NR 206: Environmental Problem-solving & Imapct Assessment and a partnership with local group Branch Out Burlington!

Article in the Addison County Independent about work done at Button Bay State Park through David Raphael's Sustainable Landscape Architecture and Construction service-learning class

Final presentation for Winooski Valley Park District by the students in WFB 273: Terrestrial Wildlife

Burlington Free Press feature on Bill Keeton's service-learning course, Restoration & Recovery of Altered Ecosystems

Poster created by Prof. Jen Pontius based on the service-learning project of students in her NR 140: Applied Environmental Statistics course

Website created by students in NR 378: Place-based Landscape Analysis and Sustainability Education

Video created by students in the Rebuilding Vermont course, focused on the concept of spontaneous volunteerism in light of a natural disaster

Final presentation on a service-learning project with Richmond Elementary's Farm to School Program

Video and original rap performance, based on five students' service-learning experience at UVM's Jericho Research Forest

Student Testimonials about their Service-Learning Experiences

". . . not that I have not learned a great deal from most of my classes, I really have – but there have also been more than a few that may have given me a great deal of knowledge, but because of the setting and fashion in which they were taught I could not possibly remember 75% of the material at this point in time.  On the other hand, the recent experiences I have had being thrown into the field and learning by way of 'trial by fire' may not have introduced much new material, but because of the fact that I could see these concepts in action I can easily recall the majority of the material, and I can make important connections between it and other concepts I have learned.  For that reason my project for NR 206 has no doubt been the most academically enriching activity in which I have taken part this semester, if not throughout my educational career." Dylan Marcus, RSENR class of '2013

“As it turns out, this class was truthfully the greatest avenue for me to take at this junction, the tail end of the Rubenstein trail.  The experience I gained from the project my partner and I undertook was actually valuable and it actually made me really grateful to have another person working with me.  I know I can walk away from this class without ever really leaving it behind because the people, the project, and the course material are all legitimately stuck in the part of my brain that files things as ‘worth remembering’.” - senior in NR 206: Environmental Problem-solving and Impact Assessment

“This semester included rollicking adventures through muddy natural areas, group meetings that hardly ever found solid answers, readings that tested my every action, and class lectures that made me squint my eyes and cock my head to better understand what Matt [the course instructor] really meant.  In short, NR 206 was like a pingpong paddle. I was the pingpong ball and my Rubenstein education at UVM was the tethered string that kept me close to the class but also gave me the opportunity to swing away.  In many respects, fall semester senior year has been the most stressful semester I have ever had.  While NR 206 was a part of this stress, it was the one class that helped give me perspective by reminding me of my admiration for nature and all of the systems it incorporates.” - senior in NR 206: Environmental Problem-solving and Impact Assessment

"I feel like I am growing a lot in this class . . . The most learning and self-learning occurs at the edges of comfort, so it only makes sense that an institution of higher learning should be willing to step out of its conventions and try something new for a change.  Make me uncomfortable and I will soon engage.  Pull us out of tunnel vision and we might remember what a web we live in and we can work to weave together."  - senior in NR 206: Environmental Problem-solving and Impact Assessment

"I took Sustainability Education and had a great service-learning experience.  My partnership was with Orchard Elementary School in South Burlington.  Every week another classmate and I would go to Orchard on Wednesday mornings for a couple of hours and teach environmental science to a class of second-graders.  Their teacher gave us a lot of freedom and responsibility; we were expected to prepare a new, fun, interactive, and educational lesson plan for each week.  Ultimately, all of our lessons culminated in an in-depth soil study with the elementary school students.  We then used those lessons as part of our term project, which I am now referencing and using in job applications to show that I have comprehensive experience developing my own curricula."  - Julia Breul, '12 RSENR graduate

"I think service-learning classes like NR 206 should be required for all students, not just Rubenstein School students.  I feel service-learning courses allow students to develop relationships with individuals in the community and have personal contact with real issues and examples, rather than reading about countless case studies or past documents." - senior in NR 206: Environmental Problem-solving and Impact Assessment, spring 2012

"My service-learning project helped to reassure the confidence I had toward the path I have thought about for my future." - senior in NR 206: Environmental Problem-solving and Impact Assessment, spring 2012

"I think the reason this service-learning project meant so much to me was because I got to see all the hard work that goes into creating these [service-learning] courses and how much professors love getting students engaged in the community.  For community members to be able to relate to University students, I think is important because then they stop seeing us as 'those people on the hill who don't really belong'.  By getting involved and engaging with the greater Burlington and even Vermont area, it shows people that we are a part of this community too and that we want to listen and help in the ways that are needed." - Senowa Mize-Fox, '12 RSENR graduate

Last modified January 22 2013 03:43 PM