Community Engagement: Rio Grande Valley

When I visited Florida State’s campus, I automatically felt welcomed and met students with varying backgrounds. Therefore, my college experience at Florida State University will continue to build my exposure to diverse cultures, and make me feel a part of a close knit community that brings us all together around its education standards, local community involvement, and its sports programs. As a member of the FSU community, I will contribute to its diversity, become an engaged member of the micro-society and find ways to volunteer my time to local programs, such as animal care and compliance within the FSU Office of Research. I embody Florida State University’s motto, “Vires, Artes, Mores”. I continue to leverage my strengths, sharpen my skills and build upon my reputation and

My passion towards working with students every day has led me to the decision of pursuing a doctoral degree in Student Affairs in Higher Education at Miami University. I have chosen this program to prepare myself for a future role as a professor or a senior level college administrator. This program will allow me to become more proficient within the students’ educational experience and therefore better engage students in active learning.

Since my visit to UM two years ago, I have imagined being a part of its culture of diversity and its campus full of amazing facilities. Through a college education there, I know I can place my studies in a bigger context that includes multicultural perspectives, global human and environmental needs, the role of technology and creativity, and service to our

I believe community involvement is essential in order to cultivate skills, increase awareness and educate people to have a fruitful venture in mind, body and spirit. The cultural diversity, partnerships with public, private and non-profit organizations have been instrumental to our success in this region. Despite the different ideologies and competing viewpoints, I hope to become an agent of

This paper is separated into two parts that are connected. The first part will cover my beliefs about higher education focusing on my Student Affairs philosophy while integrating theories and work from current or previous successful Student Affairs professionals. The second part will also discuss my beliefs, foundation of my faith, my strengths, my challenges, my beliefs, my values, and my goals.

The three purposes and missions of higher education are education, research, and public service. The first one to be addressed is education. In his paper, “Goals: The Intended Outcomes of Higher Education,” author Bowen (1977) has stated education is “not only the academic curricula, classes, and laboratories, but also all those influences upon students flowing from association with peers and faculty members and from the many and varied experiences of campus” (p. 24). Educating students is an important mission for higher education, but educating students is not limited to their academics. The mission for higher education involving education can be categorized as cognitive learning, affective development, and practical competence (Bowen, 1977, p. 27). While cognitive learning is based on expanding on students’ knowledge, affective development and practical competence are based on the overall being of the student. The intent of affective development is to help enhance

As the Latino population in the United States continues to increase, civic engagement is important in attaining political visibility and influence in every level of government. Initiating participation in local government is important in order to improve social ties and relationships among community members. On a city level, Latinos can practice civic engagement by attending city council meetings and participating in volunteering or community events. Through community building, Latinos can organize and work together in achieving common goals.

They have worked and consulted in research projects with local governments in Texas and across the nation, non-profit organizations, NGOs, public universities to serve in the interests of public health, safety, housing, education, disaster preparedness, civic engagement. With projects concerning social issues, education, youth services, civic, job readiness, and law enforcement. They have delivered innovative solutions and impactful services to the community through conferences, seminars, transformative programs and workshops.

By helping students understand the ethical dimensions of leadership, while taking what they learn in the classrooms to help solve problems and bring about change, Missouri State strives to prepare students for the future. Study abroad programs are utilized by many departments, including the CDR, in order to offer students opportunities which will increase their cultural competence. Furthermore, community engagement allows students to experience how the world works through a different lens, giving them the opportunity to work with their communities and build up their ability to lead in their careers. ("What is public affairs? - Public Affairs - Missouri State University,"

The City of Chula Vista, California has engaged U3 Advisors to help establish a University and Innovation District campus on a 375-acre site in the southeast corner of the City. Chula Vista, a growing city located approximately four miles north of the US/Mexico border and midpoint between the downtowns of San Diego and Tijuana, envisions this campus as an educational destination and regional economic engine. U3 is guiding the effort to identify potential partner institutions for this project and is exploring opportunities with higher education partners globally and domestically.

San Luis Obispo County spans over 3,616 square miles. Currently, in all of that area, there are only two active homeless shelters according to the San Luis Obispo Homeless Shelter Directory. The Maxine Lewis Memorial Homeless Shelter provides 50 beds year round, with anywhere between 25-35 additional overflow beds provided by one church every month. The Santa Maria Emergency Shelter Campus has 150 beds available for up to 90 days at a time. Our two homeless shelters can only house up to 235 occupants at a time (SLO Homeless...). At any given time, as I had mentioned earlier, between 2,000 and 4,000 people are homeless in our county. It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that there is not nearly enough housing options available to those in need.

Community life and civic engagement are a huge responsibility of citizens, although it is not required by citizens, it is an important aspect of a proper citizen. Residents of a community have the constant responsibility of making the society around them reflect an advance in the eminence of lives in the community. The simple duty of any citizen is to give to the common good. Civic responsibilities are achieved by volunteering and choice. Volunteering, involving in positive organizations and aids, or tutoring people in certain subjects, are all ways that people can subsidize to the good of the community. Small deeds that seem to prosper someone in some way or the other is still a way of helping. To learn something from the assistance that one does to another, the deed does not have to be big, as long as the person providing the assistance is doing it with a good heart they can always acknowledge a lesson. Compassion and love is necessary in helping others. When people have the opportunity to help others they may not always get a gift in return, sometimes they may not even get a reply back. This is when the person has to realize that the purpose of helping someone is not for the thank you or the gift, but is for the satisfaction of their soul, betterment of the other, and the ability to learn a lesson. Assisting people needs to be done in a thoughtful and effective way for it to create a lasting impact on his/her self and on society itself.

Recognized as being one of the top 34 degree-granting public research institutions that belongs to the prominent Association of American Universities, the University of Colorado (CU) prides itself on providing a lasting effect on its communities through “collaborative research, innovation and entrepreneurship” (para. 1). This university consists of a system of three other public, not-for-profit universities, which are the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

The learning categories for VCU ASPiRE were solicited via the digital survey that was sent out to peer institutions. Based on the results of the surveys, the ASPiRE team chose four co-curricular learning categories on which to focus: engaging with the community; leading co-curricular sessions or program recruitment; learning by attending workshops, lectures, or community events; and living in the residence hall designated for all ASPiRE cohorts and by participating in “social activities like watching and discussing a movie” (G. Hart, Personal Communication, Survey Response, November 5, 2015). Dr. Brown, VCU ASPiRE Director, also indicated that while they “do not focus on linking ASPiRE goals to general education requirements”, she did acknowledge a “reinforcement of skills and overlapping of goals” (Dr. E.B. Brown, personal communication, November 13, 2015). Similarly, Clarke (1994) expresses this overlap and transferring of skills occurs when teachable moments are “expanded beyond the classroom as they engage in non-academic environments”

When I began the university, I was thrilled and animated about my major. Accordingly, I was eager to learn all possible useful information about it, its practices, along with the new utilizations of