Tag: Civic Engagement

The director of The High Impact Network (THINK), a Harvard Law School student sent the message below. There are some very interesting activities included as well as the possibility for starting a group. Worth the read:

THINK starts college chapters that lead workshops and games on how to most effectively make the world a better place.  These activities are highly interactive and show how to put the ideas into practice.

As you are reading this, 30 THINK chapters are launching at colleges in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Sweden, Brazil, and India. We are cultivating a global community of highly effective and caring people to make the world a better place. Check out our website at www.thehighimpactnetwork.org.

If you want to improve the world, it is incredibly important to:

1. Know the most pressing causes, from extreme poverty and animal welfare to environmental and global risks.

2. Know the most promising paths to addressing these – which careers and research avenues to pursue, and which organizations and charities to support.

3. Gain the skills to excel on those paths – boost your intelligence, compassion, and productivity.

We’re designing lots of group activities and games within these areas for chapters to choose from (you can also make your own). Here are ten of them: www.thehighimpactnetwork.org/modules

We’re looking for passionate and organized students to lead a THINK chapter at Syracuse University. Leading a chapter primarily involves organizing events, where you guide members through the group activities and have periodic social events. (It’s not that hard – we have resources for you and a support team standing by to help with logistics – and it’s a nice resume booster.)

If you’d like to be a chapter founder at Syracuse University, let us know at beafounder@thehighimpactnetwork.org. And please send me any questions you have!

You are cordially invited to join Eco-Reps at Syracuse University, the USGBC Student Council, ESF’s Green Campus Initiative, and any and all other concerned students for an open forum meeting on Saturday, October 19th, at 1:30 PM in Gifford Auditorium, in Huntington Beard Crouse Hall. At this meeting, a cohesive and comprehensive plan for uniting the student body will be presented, with the goal of accomplishing part or all of the goals laid out by Bill McKibben in his recent lecture, particularly in regards to the divestment of funds from Fossil Fuel corporations. We encourage you to attend and have your voice heard! 

 Join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/events/425762930805658/?context=create

 Questions? Contact Zach Goldberg, President of Eco-Reps (zrgoldbe@syr.edu), or Samantha Hinz, President of USGBC Student Council (smhinz@syr.edu).

Jennifer Lawson volunteered at New Milson Hospital, where she had the chance to work with patients and experience the work environment of a medical facility. Here’s what she had to say about her experience at the hospital:

 “By being in the hospital setting with patients of all ages and from all walks of life, I not only got to work with them but witness how others interact with them. The biggest character trait I desire after this experience is patience. Nurses deal with an immense amount of complaining, requests, and sheer difficulty – but never once did I see any of them ever compromise their care based on personal opinions and preferences in reference to the patients. I understand that civic engagement requires a tolerance for all people in the community regardless of personal feelings. In the future I will continue to look for opportunities that influence a large diversity of people to widen my understanding of community.”

Well, yes, reading and talking and participating. Honors is inviting popular speaker, veteran communications strategist and award-winning writer and editor, Jay Walljasper to give a talk on the status of the commons. What is the commons, you ask? That is exactly the place at which we will begin. Here’s the deal:

1. Find at least three friends who want to participate with you
2. Download the brief essay available here
3. Everyone in your group reads the essay and meets to discuss it
4. Attend the Thursday, November 8th talk with Jay Walljasper in LSB 001 at 8pm
5. Take a picture of your group at the talk to show you participated
6. Enter three civic engagement hours online and attach a copy of the photo as the supervisor’s approval signature

 

It’s that easy and you will be helping to spread a discussion we want to share with the Honors community. Community building, meaningful conversation, interactive dialogue….that’s civic engagement!

Contact Karen kjhall@syr.edu if you need help getting started!

Honors student Michael Hu set up a Learn To Be an online tutoring chapter here at SU. Here’s the information you need to get involved:

Learn To Be is a non-profit volunteer organization that offers free online tutoring through our virtual whiteboard system to under-served students throughout the United States. There are currently 16 chapters across the country and ours at Syracuse was started in the Spring of 2011. In that time, we’ve partnered with Say Yes to Education to assist with the Syracuse City School District and received the Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement and Scholarship. 

 Currently, we are looking to recruit interested students to tutor for our innovative organization. The uniqueness of LTB is that we work around your schedule in the convenience of your dorm/house. Not only that, but this is an excellent resume booster and counts as volunteer service.

 If you’re interested in finding out more information please feel free to check out our website at http://www.learntobe.org/su For those of you who may not be able to tutor and are still interested in helping out with establishing local partnerships, we are always welcoming members to help staff our chapter. Thank you for taking the time to read this message, if you have any further questions feel free to contact me.

 Leann Miles  408-823-9074  ljmiles@syr.edu