ETSU students, faculty and guests gathered at the Millennium Center Monday afternoon to give and view presentations concerning Alternative Breaks, service-learning programs and other projects students had completed this semester.
This was the second showcase that had been organized by Teresa Brooks Taylor, director of ETSU’s Service-Learning and America Reads Programs, to give students in the Leadership and Civic Engagement program a chance to tell their stories and share their research.
Each of the 13 presentations were given through a combination of speeches, posters, slideshows and video, and were scored by a value rubric. Dr. Amy Johnson, director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at ETSU, returned for her second year as an evaluator of the showcase.
“I’m glad to be back,” said Johnson. “I always come away feeling so good about the good the students are doing in our community.”
Joy Fulkerson, coordinator for the Alternative Spring Break program at ETSU, also returned for her second year as a judge of the showcase while Professor Daniel Hedden, Presidential Honors Community Service Scholars director and curriculum coordinator, was a member on the panel for the first time.
Students’ projects covered a wide array of topics such as the impact that the recently added American Sign Language minor has had on the Power of Performing Arts program participants, the importance of taking part in the Public Service Corps and why working in the field of special needs education is rewarding for the student and the teacher.
An emphasis was placed on Alternative Breaks by students Caitlyn Powers, Marianne Perkins, Noah Rutherford and McKenzie Templeton who discussed the work they did in Indiana, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina regarding issues such as environmental conservation, the opioid crisis, immigration and human trafficking.
According to Allison Smith, graduate student and winner of the inaugural Service Showcase, there were many more presentations given and people in attendance than the previous year.
The third annual Service Showcase will tentatively take place in the spring of 2020, but a date and time have not yet been set.
