This past Tuesday, Director of the Civic Leaders Internship Program Dr. Chad Follis facilitated the Spring ’25 CLIP onboarding session. Within this session, Dr. Follis set and confirmed the professional expectations of each intern in their time interning and representing MUS at the state capitol in Jefferson City. Originally, this onboarding was supposed to take place at the capitol itself; however, Dr. Follis pivoted the session to Zoom to keep interns off dangerous, icy roads following this weekend’s snow storm.
The onboarding session began with a welcome from House Intern Coordinators, Rep. Bennie Cook and Rep. Emily Weber and their LAs.
Dr. Follis invited a handful of guest speakers to answer any questions incoming interns might have. These included past CLIP interns, Former Maryland State Delegate, Kelly Schulz, Representative John Voss, and Kristen Hall, Senior Human Resource Analyst at the House of Representatives.
Guest Speakers advised students on a large array of topics from professional dress, to work ethic, to the importance of commuting in comfortable shoes and packing heels in your bag so one doesn’t already have blisters upon entering the capitol.
Dr. Graham McCaulley, Director of the Office of Community Engaged Learning, also joined the session to discuss Handbook expectations. The Office of Community Engaged Learning is proud to have the spring class of 2025 CLIP Interns represent us and MU in the state capitol.
Global Service in Costa Rica
On January 4, a cohort of Mizzou Service Learning students will embark on an annual global service trip to Costa Rica to aid in a sea turtle conservation and protection program coordinated by ASVO (Asociación de Voluntarios para el Servicio en Áreas Protegidas de Costa Rica). Organizations and NGOs in Costa Rica value volunteers due to staff shortages and budget shortfalls in protected areas and working with wildlife.
Service students participate in consist of:
Participating in beach and community clean-up efforts
Staffing the turtle hatchery
Monitoring the hatchery nests
Interacting with tourists and locals to provide information about the sea turtle population
Collecting data when turtles hatch and releasing baby turtles into the ocean
Immerse yourself in the cultural and environmental diversity of the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and earn three credits during winter break. Service participants provide support that is needed to perform the many activities and responsibilities that otherwise could not be completed.
SHOW ME: Learning That Sticks
The Office of Community Engaged Learning honored to have been featured this month by SHOW ME MIZZOU for our summer High Impact Practice Summer Institute, a professional development retreat focused on aiding faculty and professors in integrating HIPs into their courses.
From left: Ashlie Lester, Antoinette Landor and Michelle Teti at the High Impact Practices Summer Institute (photo by Joey Yancey)
Below are excerpts of the SHOW ME MIZZOU article. You can find the original and full-length article HERE.
“The summer institute provided support to faculty seeking to enhance their courses by drafting either a course proposal or a revised course syllabus while in attendance. The organizers hoped 50 faculty would attend, but over a hundred registered.
During the two-day institute faculty were challenged to reflect on their undergraduate years and think about when they engaged in learning in a format different from the traditional model of receiving information in the classroom. Many recalled transformative experiences of creativity and growth that remain with them now.
HIPs are referred to as “learning that sticks,” because the term describes experiential and purposeful learning practices. Examples of HIPs include internships, undergraduate research, global learning, service learning, community-based learning, writing-intensive courses and first-year seminars and experiences.
Research shows that HIPs contribute to improved retention and graduation rates among participating students.HIPs are part of the student success goals of University of Missouri strategic plan. Goal #7 says: Achieve 100% participation rate of graduating seniors in 3+ high impact educational practices (e.g., undergraduate research; study abroad; practicum/experiential learning experiences; internships; leadership development).
Following the summer institute, 30 faculty were selected to participate in an interdisciplinary Community of Practice based on the strength of their proposal and with the support of their academic unit. These “HIPs champions” are developing or adapting a course emphasizing one of four HIPs areas: research intensive, writing intensive, service learning or Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs). An estimated 750 students will be impacted by these 30 courses.
Kristin Schwain (pictured left), professor of art history in the School of Visual Studies, College of Arts & Science, was glad to see how many of her colleagues at the summer institute were already familiar with high-impact practices and dedicated to improving their teaching and student learning. She was looking forward to the upcoming community of practice meetings.
“When you see people again and again, it creates a community,” Schwain said. “It’s clear that there’s already a community in that there are already people who show up and take advantage of these opportunities. This pilot program formalizes that and creates the chance for more opportunities in the future.”
Kristin Schwain (photo by Joey Yancey)
Schwain’s course, ARH_VS 2850: Introduction to Visual Culture, which was already writing intensive, introduces students to the problems of understanding, analyzing and writing about art and visual culture. In adapting the course to be research intensive, as well, Schwain will incorporate questions about all the ways research has changed.
She said the most helpful thing about her breakout session at the summer institute was seeing how other faculty are breaking apart the research process and then putting it back together again for students.
The HIPS Community of Practice meets six times throughout academic year at the Teaching for Learning Center to engage in professional development opportunities. Members will continue learning about research-based best practices from colleagues and the alignment of their courses with institutional goals. Members will measure course satisfaction and engagement in the pilot HIP courses. Additionally, each member’s academic unit will receive a stipend of $1000 per credit hour in operational support during the semester the course is taught.
Mizzou faculty at the HIPs Community of Practice meeting in September.
McCaulley said that the 30-member group will be divided into smaller groups to share best practices, course learning outcomes, and generate materials to share, such as a syllabus bank to enhance their academic learning objectives, regardless of discipline. This is a way to “scale up” HIPs integration for new faculty to use through materials on Canvas.
“It’s a way to differentiate ourselves from other institutions,” he said. “It’s a competitive advantage. If you come to Mizzou, you’re not just going to be learning, but you’re going to stretch that learning through these types of practices.”
2024 Student Award Recipient: Kate Wexell
This past summer, Kate Wexell served as the policy and communications coordinator for a village very close to her family’s heart, Bishop Hill, Illinois.
“Having witnessed the state of affairs in Bishop Hill my entire life, I wanted to help with their struggling local government. The main issue that Bishop Hill is facing is the lack of funding. They have an annual budget of just over $40,000 and due to federal laws, municipalities aren’t allowed to save their funding for long-term projects. This means that the town cannot afford to pay their elected officials, let alone a grant writer to help with maintenance projects.”
For years, Wexell witnessed an inefficiency with the distribution of information and town marketing. Tourism is the primary source of income, but the town has no formal marketing channel. Because of this, Wexell determined that she would aid by building an official website for the town to dispense local announcements, in hopes that this will increase transparency. The website was approved by the board in February, and Wexell is now solely responsible for the development of the website and acquisition of a hosting platform.
“Undergoing this internship made me realize that I would like to be involved with the policy process… I have now been trained in local government management, public policy, public administration, program evaluation, and many processes that allow me to critically think about the world and lead others to implement solutions.” –Kate Wexell.
Next month, on October 16th from 11AM-3PM, the Office of Community Engaged Learning is sponsoring the first ever Public Service Career & Internship Fair in Memorial Union! Students of all years and majors will have the opportunity to speak with local and statewide professionals in both the government and nonprofit sectors. Wherever your interests regarding public service may lie, there are opportunities for YOU!
We have set up two panels within Memorial Union’s Stotler Lounge in which professional panelists in both government and non-profit sectors will sit to answer any questions all interested students might have in order to ensure students have all of the resources they could want and need to tackle a future pursuing public service and leadership.
2024 Student Award Recipient: Jade Sapp
“I have been a member of Jumpstart for the past two years, where I serve at-risk preschool children. Additionally, over winter break, I served on a sea turtle conservation trip in Costa Rica.”
– Jade Sapp, senior Interdisciplinary Studies and Occupational Therapy Assistingstudent
Jumpstart is a national early education organization working toward the day every child in America enters kindergarten prepared to succeed. We provide language, literacy, and social-emotional programming for preschool children from under-resourced communities and promote quality early learning for all children.
Pictured to left: Jade Sapp painting in Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve.
“When we began this program, we saw shy, unconfident girls who didn’t believe in themselves and how much they could accomplish… Introducing a sense of acceptance and welcomeness into a child’s life can make such a large impact on them. Now, at the end of the program, I am coaching bold, excited girls that are so confident in all that they want to achieve.”
Pictured to right: Jade Sapp posing with four other Jumpstart volunteers.
Students participating in the Costa Rica Global Service Program earn three credits during winter break. Led by Dr. Donette Alonzo, projects will involve working on a sea turtle conservation and protection program coordinated by ASVO (Asociación de Voluntarios para el Servicio en Áreas Protegidas de Costa Rica). Program activities include:
• Staffing the turtle hatchery
• Monitoring the hatchery nests
• Interacting with tourists and locals to provide information about the sea turtle population
• Collecting data when turtles hatch and releasing baby turtles into the ocean
• Participating in beach and community clean-up efforts
The daily schedule for volunteers in ASVO, Montezuma.The beach in Montezuma where volunteers complete daily clean up.Volunteers painting in Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve.A Toucan spotted by volunteers. Delicious, authentic Costa Rican dinners.
Global Service in Northern Thailand
Published on Oct. 29, 2024
Did you know that you can study abroad for service? Our office and the Office of Study Abroad offer a once in a lifetime program to Northern Thailand in which participants familiarize themselves with Thai culture, customs, and locals and give back to local communities and Asian elephant conservation efforts.
Leading up to departure, students meet regularly with peers and program instructors to study Thai culture and the history of elephant conservation efforts within the South East Asia. Spend one week temple-hopping, cooking Pad Thai in cooking school classes, and receiving Thai massages in the northern cities of both Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Then, for the second week, travel an hour west of Chiang Mai to Elephant Nature Park, a world-renowned non-profit animal sanctuary for Asian elephants that is directed by Lek Chalet, highly acclaimed global animal rights advocate, and her husband Darrick Thompson.
Spend a semester volunteering with Cedar Creek, a local equine therapy center. Assist riders on short walks and sprints, connect with community non-profit partners, and spend quality time outside with horses!
Cedar Creek‘s mission is to provide equine assisted therapy to individuals with disabilities in mid-Missouri. Therapeutic Horseback Riding is an established treatment method widely recognized by medical, psychiatric, and social service professionals throughout the world.
Volunteers spend 2 hours a week with riders and horses for a low-stress, outdoor way to give back!
