North Hennepin Community College’s Food Cupboard

By  Jamie Ives

Times can be tough for today’s college student. There are the worries of getting to class on-time, studying for tests and navigating the maze of financial aid paperwork. Sometimes it is as simple as getting adequate nutrition. North Hennepin Community College is addressing that struggle for its students. The Food Cupboard began as the vision of two North Hennepin students in 2011, which has since grown into a collaborative effort between students, staff and the community.

Scheduled to open September 4^th 2012, the Food Cupboard will operate from 3:00 PM to 6:30 PM on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. It will be located in the Campus Center, room 225, distributing food, as well as information about local resources, for students with financial need. Students will be required to show their student ID and will receive items depending on their current circumstances.

The Food Cupboard will also foster community involvement, encouraging the students, staff and faculty of North Hennepin to develop a sense of responsibility for the community. The volunteer-run resource will allow students and faculty to provide support by donating time, service, as well as food items. Students will experience how to directly affect the community around them, and the benefits that these partnerships provide.

An integral part of establishing the Food Cupboard has been the support of community organizations. They will also provide resource information to those using the Food Cupboard, further increasing the value to students, which is exactly what the committee for this project wants to do. Food Cupboard Coordinator, and student, Richard Barnier said, “Our goal is to provide a quality service that is valued by the students.”

Food donations can be brought to the North Hennepin Student Life office, located in the Campus Center. Monetary donations can be sent via check to:

NHCC Foundation
7411 85th Avenue North
Brooklyn Park, MN 55445

Please specify “NHCC Food Cupboard” in the memo line when making monetary donations. For more information please call Troy Nellis, Director of Service Learning, at 763-488-0409.

 

Angela Bonfiglio, an Augsburg student and Newman Civic Fellow, shares reflections on  active citizenship.

DemocracyU

By Angela Bonfiglio

For a number of years, I have found a variety of sources of inspiration to see why it is important to be an active citizen in the world and for me personally to take action and participate in what is most important.  This inspiration has come from sources such as my faith, inspirational leaders, people who believed in me, and being struck by some of the deepest issues that face our society, such as racism, poverty and inequality in schools. It is an imbalance in equity and fairness that is at the core of many of these issues.

As humans we are always changing. This is especially true in college where opportunities continue to arise as learning takes place inside and outside the classroom.  If the person I was, knew the person I am today, we would not recognize each other.

At the end of my sophomore…

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Peas, Spinach, and Squash, Oh My! Macalester Alumni and Stone’s Throw Urban Farm

Macalester alumni are putting their passion for urban agriculture to work.  Check out their exciting new venture!

Five Questions For: Maggie Hendrickson

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maggie Hendrickson was born and raised in Wahpeton, North Dakota. She earned a B.S. in Speech Language Hearing Science from Minnesota State University Moorhead.  This past year, Maggie served as an AmeriCorps VISTA in McAllen, TX, near the border of Mexico.  She served as a Health and Wellness Coordinator for IDEA Public Schools, working with a primarily Hispanic population. Maggie is currently serving her second year of AmeriCorps as the College Health Corps VISTA Leader through MN Campus Compact.  She is very excited to be a part of such a great organization while fulfilling her passion for health. Outside of the working environment Maggie enjoys tennis, golf, Twins baseball, traveling, and the outdoors.

1)    What about your college experience influenced where you are today?  

The hands-on experiences in college allowed me to learn my likes and dislikes.  I learned that I thrive on building relationships with people, especially underserved populations.  I volunteered with a variety of programs throughout college that primed me for my VISTA service today.

2)    What is the most exciting thing that you do in your job?

Working with fellow VISTAs, great MNCC staff, and being a part of the health world everyday are all exciting aspects of my job! I specifically enjoy collaborating with others on initiatives, researching articles and news, and drinking coffee with Lucy.

3)    What book should everybody read, and why?

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren.  I find myself reading this book any time I have a crossroads in life when I’m not sure which direction to take.  So far it has done wonders on helping me make life-changing decisions.

4)    Who or what is inspiring your work these days?

The correlation between health literacy and chronic disease prevention – specifically the sociological/environmental aspects related to obesity.

5)    What are you passionate about?
I’m passionate about helping others strive to live life to the fullest through health and wellness initiatives.

Enhancing problem-based learning with civic engagement

The chart below is from a post by Peter Skillen,  about Project Based Learning (PBL), on the Powerful Learning Practice blog. The piece makes some very good points about the value of PBL. It does, however, present teaching and learning as things done in a rather limiting dualistic teacher/student context.

For those of us engaged in the work of community-centered teaching and learning, there is another piece to this equation, one that provides context, deeper meaning and relevance. In service-learning projects, whether they are
direct service, community-based research, or anything in-between, community partners are co-educators.

In community-centered PBL, the questions are not fictional case studies. They go right to the student’s values; often into their own back yards. The collaboration is richer because students don’t simply work with their friends. They are thrust into the reality of locking arms across generations or cultures in order to improve local quality of life. Content, knowledge and purpose manifest themselves in the lives of people they see in everyday contexts. Teachers and students are not simply two opposite ends of a school continuum; They are also both community members. Learning doesn’t get any more “real world.”

Is there anyone out there willing to take a crack at creating a slightly different version of this chart; one that includes the depth and balance that the community brings to the PBL table?

– John Hamerlinck

Chart: Effective PBL Continua by Peter Skillen & Brenda Sherry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.