Outreach and Engagement Awards

Ohio State University Nominated Programs

In 2008, Ohio State had a pool of 34 outstanding programs from which to choose its nominees for the regional Outreach Scholarship W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award and the C. Peter Magrath University/Community Engagement Award. The scope and quality of these programs represent the broad spectrum of Ohio State’s partnerships with communities and industry.

Educational Improvement

Celebrate the Legacy: City of Columbus Martin Luther King Day Celebration

Ohio State Partner: Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing, College of Humanities
Community Partners: Dan Willis, Celebration Director, First Class Events; Mayor Michael B. Coleman, City of Columbus, Celebration Host; Community Relations Commission; Franklin County Commission; Veterans Memorial; Nationwide Children’s Hospital; Ballet Met; Acting in Columbus; Live Technologies; WBNS 10TV, Angela Pace; NBC-4, Mike Jackson; Columbus City Schools
Photo: Student script team

For the fourth consecutive year, a three-person team of students pursuing the Minor in Professional Writing, housed in Ohio State’s Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing, has crafted a script for the hour-long annual event held each January on Dr. King’s birthday. The program is hosted by Mayor Michael B. Coleman, performed before an audience of 1,200+, televised live that day, and aired 15 times during Black History and Women’s History months on the city’s cable-access channel, GTC-3. Free and open to the public, this event is staged downtown at Veterans Memorial immediately following the annual commemorative march led by the mayor across Broad Street from City Hall. Dan Willis, Program Director, said the purpose of the show is to “educate, inspire, and empower our audience about the legacy of Dr. King, our responsibility to uphold that legacy, and our interest in discovering and rediscovering how his legacy manifests itself through local, national, and international history.” Mayor Coleman noted that this event enables Columbus citizens to “learn about the history we all share as a people of hope and action.” Through story, song, and dance, the program shares insight into the lives of people—both famous and relatively unknown—who helped shape the nation’s and the city’s civil rights movements. The script team’s efforts spotlight historical moments often unknown or forgotten by both the adults and youth of our city. This project provides the Ohio State student script team with a sophisticated and creative writing project and an opportunity to be involved in meaningful civic engagement. The students researched key civil rights figures, reviewed Dr. King’s speeches, explored Columbus neighborhoods, investigated the work of visual artists, and interviewed city leaders and activists, including Barbara Nicholson, Executive Director, the Martin Luther King Jr. Performing and Cultural Arts Complex; Nancy Clendenen, Columbus City Schools Gifted and Talented Program teacher; and Linda Wright, mother, and David Edgar, middle school student, involved with the Near East Side History Project. The script team’s work is central to the success of the celebration and pivotal to the work of the program’s partners. The students’ script includes three scenes performed by professional actors, cast by Acting in Columbus, as well as the scene segues read by TV celebrity emcees. The event’s music director writes an original score each year based on the script and performed by his student pit orchestra; the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Mass Children’s Choir (150 children, ages 6-12) performs original songs also inspired by the script. For its Youth Met dancers, Ballet Met Columbus choreographs one to two pieces each year to dovetail with elements of the program. Ohio State’s student writers also contribute background information to the show’s printed program. An additional benefit of this program: this partnership enhances the visibility of the university in broad and significant city government and media circles.

Impact Statements

From Trish Houston, Coordinator, Minor in Professional Writing, Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing. Goal: To discover and rediscover how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy manifests itself through local, national, and international history. Because of the work of the Professional Writing Minor students engaged in its script production, Ohio State serves as a key partner in the creation of the City of Columbus’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration. Their script serves as the heart of the show and guides the development of elements contributed by the other artistic collaborators, including the musical director, Ballet Met dancers, and the 150-member children’s choir. Although there are many other events in the city that honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, this particular program is unique in its focus on retelling—to ever new generations—Dr. King’s story and the stories of sometimes ordinary citizens who have made contributions to the progression of civil rights. The thoughtful research the students do to uncover stories from our city’s, our nation’s, and our world’s past civil rights struggles and the careful crafting of that research into dramatic storytelling is critical to the success of each year’s production. The three-member student script team was quick to embrace director Dan Willis’s vision for the program and became full players in the creative generation of the show. According to Willis, these students did “the right kind of research” and uncovered long-forgotten or overlooked historic figures to highlight in the script. These discoveries often surprised even Willis and enhanced the program’s concept and direction. Our students have identified individual, little-known moments of bravery or community action that have changed, in both big and small ways, the course of our shared history. The hope is to use these discoveries to surprise audience members as well, prompting them not only to say, “I didn’t know that happened here,” but also to say, “I could do that, too.” This year’s “aha” moments include a recounting of the contributions of the Tyler family, Columbus residents since the early 1800s, whose members include a Civil War veteran, an attaché for Governor William McKinley, a classical pianist, and the first African American to score a touchdown for the Buckeyes. The 2008 script was so well done that, at the end of last January’s program, Mayor Coleman departed from his prewritten remarks to speak to moments in the show that had moved him. Judge Robert Duncan, whose family suffered bomb threats because he made a critical decision about desegregating Columbus City Schools, was extremely moved by the portrayal of his contribution to this difficult moment in our city’s history. This small team of students has the ability to reach all the citizens of Columbus, and in the process, the students have been changed, too.
From an interview with Dan Willis, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration Program Director. The purpose of the show is to educate, inspire, and empower our audience about the legacy of Dr. King and our responsibility to uphold that legacy, and our interest in discovering and rediscovering how his legacy manifests itself through local, national, and international history. Our program is a family-focused event that provides parents with a resource to educate their children about, and themselves be inspired by, the shared community history that we all own. There are so many local stories that have not yet been told, and each year the Ohio State student script team uncovers and presents these treasures of our city’s and our nation’s past and present. Stories about the progression of the civil rights movements often feature everyday people who are our neighbors, local shopkeepers, and coworkers. For example, the 2009 program showcases the work of a group of Monroe Middle School students who documented their neighborhood’s past and successfully garnered five Ohio Historical Society markers installed around Mt. Vernon Avenue to permanently commemorate the rich cultural history of Columbus’s Near East Side. To fulfill the Martin Luther King Day celebration’s educational mission, we lead by example incorporating students from elementary school through college in all aspects of the production of the event and its variety of entertainment, including as the creators of the script, as singers in our 150-member children’s choir, as dancers and poets, as orchestra pit musicians, and as onsite volunteers. These young people learn, by doing, the value of giving back to our community. Columbus has had many successes in community development. By the examples we dramatically set forth in each program, we inspire and empower our audience members to continue to make changes in our Columbus community. Our audience learns that even small acts can create dynamic results, and they become more aware that our differences in age, gender, race, and ethnicity do not keep us from being successful. The show reaches a broad audience of Columbus citizens, from the mayor and other city leaders to educators and family members of the many children involved. More than 1,200 people attend the live performance each year, while numerous others watch its simultaneous live telecast. The hour-long show is also rebroadcast on the city’s cable access channel 15 times during Black History (February) and Women’s History (March) months, making it available for classroom and home viewing.

Pride and Life Skills (PALS) Mentoring

Ohio State Partner: Psychology and English, Ohio State Marion
Community Partners: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Marion County
Links: Project Proud Achievement

The Pride and Life Skills (PALS) Mentoring program, formerly called “Project Proud Achievement,” connects Ohio State Marion undergraduate students with mentees from Marion Public Schools through the Marion County chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters. To date, the program has reached over 100 children in various K-12 schools in the Marion County area. Following a round of interview screenings and background checks, student mentors are matched with at-risk school children so that they can develop a long-term mentoring relationship with them. Each quarter, students are expected to have at least 8 contact hours with their mentee. Students typically meet one on one with their mentee, or “Little,” for an hour a week to work on academic skills, play games, or simply talk about issues affecting their lives in and out of school. This relationship lasts at least through the 10-week quarter, although many students continue their mentoring relationship with their matched mentee across multiple quarters. Additionally, actively participating mentors meet with each other and the directors during the quarter in order to share experiences, seek mentoring advice, and offer suggestions for improving the program in the future. In order to earn academic credit for the experience, student mentors are expected to provide written reflections of their experience. This assignment has varied over the years to be either an informal journal, a more formal questionnaire, or (as it is currently) a short end-of-term essay. In addition to providing a positive mentoring experience for younger students, PALS has a noticeably dramatic impact on the mentors themselves. Although students receive course credit for their mentoring roles, most often, students state that the greatest benefit is the opportunity to have a tangible effect on a young person’s life. They get to see the direct impact and importance of their time spent with their “Little.” Funded by an Ohio State Excellence in Engagement grant from 2004, project directors have developed orientation and training resources, stocked a library of educational toys and books, and increased Ohio State Marion student participation through recruitment activities that, at its highest point, drew 25-30 mentors per quarter (over our typical average of around 12). Participating students earn one credit hour of independent study in English, Psychology, or Spanish. Administratively, the program is headed by two faculty members from Ohio State Marion (assistant professors in English and Psychology), as well as a program director from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Marion.

Impact Statements

The first goal of the Ohio State University at Marion’s Pride and Life Skills (PALS) mentoring project is to provide stable, consistent adult presence in the lives of at-risk, school-aged children and adolescents. Longitudinal research conducted on Big Brothers Big Sisters mentor relationships has consistently documented measurable long-term effects on the lives of the children involved. Mentored students are 52% less likely to skip school, 37% less likely to skip class, and 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs. Locally, our statistics reflect that over 80% have shown improvement in overall school performance and attitude towards school.
The second goal of the PALS mentoring project is to provide undergraduate students an opportunity to interact with and develop a relationship with at-risk, school-aged children and adolescents. Once our students are matched with a mentee, they generally tend enroll in the program in subsequent quarters, choosing to maintain their mentor relationship with the child.

Student Life Student Internship Program

Ohio State Partner:Office of Student Life
Community Partners: High School and Career Education Curriculum Development and Instructional Support Department of Columbus City Schools
Links: Program overview (Word)

Giving Columbus City Schools students a full-time summer job while preparing them for college is the goal of the Student Life Student Internship Program (SIP) at Ohio State. Since 2001, the Ohio State Office of Student Life (SL) and the High School and Career Education Curriculum Development and Instructional Support Department of Columbus City Schools (CCS) have been partners in an innovative program that meets multiple needs for both and offers participating students many benefits and opportunities. Created and managed by Student Life Human Resources, the SL Student Internship Program has become one of the largest and most important summer placement sites for Columbus City Schools. How the Program Works: Students enter the program as high school juniors or seniors from CCS. They must meet screening guidelines (2.0 cumulative grade point average, good discipline record, teacher recommendation, presentation of resume, successful interview). Students who have graduated from a CCS high school and are currently enrolled in an accredited college or university are allowed to remain in the work program as long as they are making satisfactory academic progress. Students are employed for 40 hours per week in various departmental operations and work under the supervision of regular Student Life managers. Eleventh-Grade Students and the Academic Enrichment Program: Although 11th-grade students are paid for an entire 40-hour week, they spend 5 hours of it taking seminars and classes that prepare them for success in college. This Academic Enrichment Program prepares 11th-grade student interns to take the American College Test (ACT) or the Ohio Graduation Test. Interns also attend weekly workshops/seminars that focus on all aspects of college life: academic advising, financial aid counseling, minority scholarship review, admissions/application processing, SAT/ACT counseling, money management forum, essay construction for standardized tests, academic scholarship enhancement classes, student activities/involvement presentations, workplace violence seminars, sexual harassment workshops, motivational lectures, dress/etiquette roundtable, and team development sessions. Students receive a total of 8 hours weekly in paid release time for participation in these activities. Eleventh-grade students who demonstrate high academic performance in high school, exhibit superior ACT class performance, and display exemplary job-site deportment are awarded Ohio State admissions application scholarships and receive assistance in completing paperwork necessary for matriculation to the university.

InterACT

Ohio State Partners: Department of Theatre, College of the Arts; WOSU Public Media; Faculty and TA Development (FTAD); Office of Undergraduate Admissions and First Year Experience (FYE), Office of University Outreach and Engagement; College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; College of Engineering; Office of Academic Affairs (OAA); aJames Cancer Hospital
Community Partners: patients of the James Hospital
Photo: InterACT rehearsal
Link: project website

Samantha Nevins struggles to ignore a disruptive and seemingly aggressive student in her introductory theatre class. She is obviously unnerved by the student’s behavior and doesn’t want to exacerbate an already difficult situation. Unlike recent tragic events at other college campuses, the scenario in this case isn’t real because the aggressive student, the teacher’s assistant, and the other students in the class are all actors. They are members of an undergraduate service- learning class called InterACT that received the Multicultural Award for best program in 2007 and continued to develop their outreach partnership and service in 2008. InterACT has made it its mission to write and perform real-life scenarios that occur on campus and in some cases, beyond, in an effort to provide instruction and make change. In another scenario, tensions rise within a team of undergraduate engineering students working on a class project when one member consistently makes sexist remarks about a peer. This scenario is used as course material for an engineering class on college teaching and intended to provide instruction on team management. The performance provides live interaction with the problem and is a unique alternative to the more typical lecture or Powerpoint presentation. What makes InterACT unique is that all the actors are trained in improvisation and remain in character after each scenario has played itself out. When the scene comes to an end, a new scene develops on the spot when the audience is invited into the theatre space and is called on to interact with the characters. The audience is encouraged to ask questions, offer solutions, and volunteer to play the part of the teaching assistant. They are given a safe format to try out possible problem-solving techniques on a pretend group of students who have failed to work together effectively. The audience need not worry about making mistakes. This is the playground where mistakes are welcome and are essential to discovering what may or may not work. The audience also engages in conversation with one another during these performances. One of InterACT’s goals is that this dialogue will continue long after. InterACT made a new and profound partner with survivors of cancer from the James Cancer Hospital. During the winter and fall quarters, the InterACT students and cancer survivors collaborated to devise a theatrical piece that celebrated survivorship, strength, and life. Both students and survivors shared the stage to present their creation during the Nationwide Summer Conference on Survivorship in Columbus in July. Students and survivors alike expressed their deep appreciation for this unique opportunity. The demand for InterACT has grown as the university community recognizes the value and need for new and innovative methods of instruction about challenging topics.

Impact Statements

InterACT’s mission is to write and perform real -ife scenarios that occur on campus and in some cases, beyond, in an effort to provide instruction and make change. The demand for InterACT has grown as the university community recognizes the value and need for new and innovative methods of instruction about challenging topics. Last year InterACT served Faculty and TA Development (FTAD), First Year Experience (FYE), University Extension and Outreach, the College of Engineering, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, WOSU Public Media at COSI, the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA), and the James Cancer Hospital. Of the partnership Director of JamesCare for Life Patricia Schmitt said, “It’s been nothing short of remarkable and probably one of the single most effective an meaningful experiences we’ve ever provided our cancer survivors…To see individuals move from a state of fearful anxiety that often accompanies living with great uncertainty due to a challenging (and uninvited) disease to one of empowerment and self-efficacy is really a remarkable thing.”
The InterACT program has been well received by the university community. Under the direction of Robin Post (M.F.A. 2006) InterACT has presented interactive events for Faculty and TA development (FTAD) the Office of Minority Affairs (OMA), First Year Experience, Office of University Outreach and Engagement, the Wellness Center, College of Dentistry, and the Office of Disability Services. In addition, InterACT has fielded requests for future potential projects with the Martin Luther King Complex, the Wexner Center, the Multicultural Center, WOSU, the College of Engineering, and even Purdue University.

Blueprint:College

Ohio State Partners: Undergraduate Admissions and First-Year Experience, Economic Access Initiative, P-12 Project, OSU Childcare Center; Medical Center; Colleges of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Archeology); Mathematical and Physical Sciences (Chemistry); Arts (Dance); Education and Human Ecology; Byrd Polar Research Center
Community Partners: Columbus City Schools, I Know I Can, Ohio Tuition Trust Authority, Ohio College Access Network
Links: website
Photo: Blueprint:College kickoff

Parents are one of the most influential factors in a student’s decision to enroll in college. Following important research on parent involvement as a critical component to a student’s decision to enroll in college (Cabera & La Nasa, 2000; Horn, 1998; Hossler, Braxton, & Coppersmith, 1989; Hossler, Schmit, & Vesper, 1999; Perna, 2000; Smith, 2007), the primary mission of the Blueprint:College program is to provide access to information sources, to create social networks that support college going, and provide college planning tools to parents who are often excluded from these resources based on their limited formal education. Blueprint:College is a partnership with 11 Columbus City Schools elementary schools. It takes place over 6 weeks in the spring and consists of a kick-off dinner, five workshops, a Saturday campus visit and academic exploration program, and, a graduation ceremony. Within the workshops, the curriculum is delineated into a parent/advocate track and a student track. Current research indicates that the most salient awareness issues among the parent/advocate population are student participation in a college preparatory curriculum, college entrance requirements, and financing opportunities. These components are cornerstones of the curriculum. The parent/advocate track also addresses the benefits of a college education, the parent’s role in education, academic fundamentals, strategies to promote college aspirations, career exploration, goal-setting, educational transitions, and activities and resources to help parents/advocates further their own education. The curriculum is structured to help participants build agency and increase their involvement in, and support for, their students’ college aspirations. A parallel, complimentary and age-appropriate curriculum for K-5th graders is delivered by current OSU students in the “college camp” student track. Programming efforts focus on diversity awareness, relationship building, role models, career exploration, self-esteem/image, risky behavior and academic achievement (study skills, classroom behavior strategies, time management, self-help and other support resources). OSU Childcare provides service for children under the age of 5. Transportation and meals are also provided for families. Blueprint:College hosts update workshops for families who graduate from the program, keeping families connected to college planning resources throughout the middle school years. In 2007-08, 46 families (135 parents and children) were served. In 2008-09, 110 families (280 parents and children) will be served.

Impact Statement

In parent evaluations from the spring 2008 sessions, none of the following questions received less than 90% (agree/strongly agree) and most were above 95%:

This session helped me gain a better understanding of how to finance my child’s college education.
After this session, I have a clearer idea about what the FAFSA is and how to fill it out.
I have a better understanding of common mistakes I should avoid in the college financing process.
I now know how to begin saving for college.
The speakers) answered all of the questions that I had about today’s topic.
The speakers were clear and easy to understand.
The content of the information met my expectations.
Overall, I learned things about college financing that I didn’t previously know.

The findings from the parent evaluation have been used to secure funding to expand Blueprint:College from 5 to 11 schools in 2008-09. Underserved families are eager to gain access to information on college planning in a safe and welcoming environment, and Blueprint:College does just that. Pre-post survey data are currently being analyzed to determine the extent to which the program influenced parent attitudes and behaviors related to educational involvement and higher education.

2009 O&E Awards: Educational Improvement page 1

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Dancers rehearsing for MLK Day

Actor portraying Martin Luther King

Views from “The War”
An InterACT Production

InterACT company

Kids attending “College Camp”

Parents and kids at the kickoff

Outreach and Engagement Awards