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First Year Experience Classes Aid Community Services
FYE students and their advisors held a showcase in the Science and Mathematics Building atrium on Monday, Nov. 8 to share their service projects with the rest of campus. Nineteen service projects were on display. FYE co-director Chrissie Bumgardner says that FYE classes complete a service project each year. "The most important thing is that it is orienting them to the idea that volunteerism is an important aspect of their education at Meredith," Bumgardner says. "Right away, they get the message that service is important." Three FYE classes assisted the Salvation Army. Students helped in the organization's food bank, separating food for families, as well as separating coats for men, women and children. They also weighed beans to give out and made hygiene kits for the homeless. One group's help with the First Baptist Church Clothes Closet for an hour and half completed the work of a whole day for the operators of the charity. Service projects for Habitat for Humanity were also a success. One FYE group worked on the N.C. State Chapter's house in Roslynn Park, painting and working on the foundation. Other students helped at the ReUse Center for Habitat for Humanity, sorting items that are purchased to help fund more homes. Throughout October, many FYE classes used Halloween festivities to inspire their service projects. Halloween cards and Pick-Me-Up cards were made by one FYE class to take to children at the WakeMed Children's Center. Baskets of pinwheels, bubbles, coloring books and kaleidoscopes were also given. One class raised money to send care packages to U.S. troops by selling Halloween-O-Grams which were bags of candy sent as a special Halloween treat around campus. Some students painted pumpkins and decorated Halloween masks with children at a homeless shelter for women and children and sent Halloween goody bags to children at Interact to encourage the Halloween spirit. (Interact is a local non-profit that offers support to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.) Another FYE class volunteered for Operation Christmas Child, which is sponsored by Samaritan's Purse. Students wrapped and filled shoeboxes, which are sent to underprivileged countries. The Teaching Fellows FYE class decided to tutor throughout the public school system. They tutored children from preschool through high school, hoping to gain important experience as Teaching Fellows. For more information on FYE, visit the FYE Web site.
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Meredith Students Participate in Triangle Undergraduate Research Symposium By Melyssa Allen Meredith students Krista Kearney, Katie Phillips, Mary Hemphill and Lauren Thie made research poster presentations as part of the Triangle Undergraduate Research Symposium, held on Saturday, Nov. 6 at NC State University. Hemphill's presentation was titled "The Role of Emotional Development in ESL Students and How Classroom Teachers Can Utilize Children's Literature to Foster Health." Her research adviser for this project was Ellen Graden, associate professor of education. Phillips presented "Distorted Innocence: Candy Cigarette," with research adviser Rebecca Bailey, dean of Meredith's School of the Arts. She previously presented this research at the Southeastern College Art Conference this October in Jacksonville, Fla. Thie and Kearney each presented results of research they conducted as part of Meredith's undergraduate research program in summer 2004. Kearney's poster presentation, "Self Ratings as Predictors of Long-Term Roommate Relationships," began as part of her research as student assistant to Cynthia Edwards, associate professor of psychology. "I presented my research on the relationship between certain personality traits and roommate compatibility," Kearney said. Her research is "pulled from the data that Dr. Edwards and other students have collected over the past three years as part of a Meredith Longitudinal Leadership Study." Thie's presentation on "Ovipositioning preference of Aedes albopictus to different colors" examines where Asian tiger mosquitoes prefer to lay eggs. She worked on this research with Larry Grimes, professor of biology. Of Grimes, Thie said, "As an experienced entomologist, he has assisted me in a multitude of ways as I have learned how to conduct research, and has been an excellent source of information." Both Thie and Kearney felt that participating in this research conference would strengthen their research skills. "I hope to get feedback from the people who see my poster, in order to improve it for the next conference I attend," Kearney said prior to the conference. "I will also gain confidence in presenting my findings, something that will benefit me in future presentations." Students from Davidson, Duke, East Carolina, NC State, St. Augustine's, Salem, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Greensboro and UNC-Wilmington also participated. Thie said she was interested in seeing how her research "measures up with the work of other undergraduates in the Triangle."
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This semester First Year Experience (FYE) classes served the community by volunteering and implementing their own service projects. Whether making craft bags or holding bake sales, FYE students worked together and lent a hand to their chosen charity.