Classroom Projects Become Reality
By Emily Hambidge
Journalism senior
A classroom project turned into the new Purdue Cultural Awareness Committee when some highly motivated Communication 114 students took their ideas to Purdue President Martin Jischke.
Wendy Zeitz-Anderson, a Ph.D. student in the department, was pleasantly surprised when students in her 114 class took their group project idea – to start a committee aimed at uniting cultures at Purdue – and wrote a letter to President Jischke, asking him to provide funding for their idea. Zeitz-Anderson said her students saw a need to unify the cultural groups on campus and took action.
"To actually have students who cared enough to follow through and make a difference and had a vision is inspiring," Zeitz-Anderson said.
The PCAC began its first semester on campus this fall. The mission of the committee is "to educate, entertain, and unite the student body and faculty about cultures that exist at Purdue through student organized events."
The project was fulfilling the group project requirement in COM114. The project gives students $100,000, hypothetically, to spend on a project that would make a difference in the community or the world.
Students Aabha Suchak, Christian Walker, Maggy Brutsman, Monica Hensley, and Michael Lawlor took their project seriously. They were in contact with Seven Nations, a Celtic rock band, and tried to reach Nelson Mandela to make their project as big as possible.
Walker, a sophomore in the School of Management and native of Germany, is co-president of PCAC. He said the success of the project is important because it will do more than just help students in their time at Purdue but will help them understand the real world better as well.
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PCAC members try Hookah pipes at a recent get-together |
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Other innovative class projects:
Poster Session |
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| Kristen Lucas' COM114 class in the engineering learning community held a poster session in Rawls Hall and invited the Purdue community to come see and hear about their group projects. |
Engagement Grants
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Adopt-a-Dog month promotion |
All six groups in Assistant Professor Pat Rochon's Problems in Public Relations class
that applied for grants from the Office of Engagement have received awards.
The awards, which totaled $7,517, will be used for projects to help the Hanna Community Center, Meals on Wheels, the Lafayette YMCA's Sleigh Bell 5K run, the Humane Society's Adopt-A-Dog Month and Home for the Holiday's promotions, and the Indiana Children's Wish Fund.
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| Hannah Community Center's Promote the Vote Event |
Instructor Scott Schroeder's Advanced Video Production class received $4,338.41 in engagement grants for five proposals.
The class is producing informational videos and public service announcements for five local non-profit organizations: YWCA's Stay and Play program, Clegg Botanical Gardens, YMCA, Community Family Resource Center and Tippecanoe Humane Society.
Most of the money is going to purchase tape stock, props and air time for the videos the students are creating.
"This project gives each pair of students an opportunity to produce real videos for a real client," Schroeder said. "This money should take away some limits and enable the students to create top-notch video productions that can be used as part of each student's demo reel, which they will need to land that first job out of college."
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"If it is successful, it will make history," he said. "Awareness, education, and understanding of other cultures are the only way to correct many of the world's problems."
Some events designed to make students more aware of other cultures include dinners at various restaurants that serve authentic foods from nations such as Japan, Turkey, Mexico, India and others. PCAC also plans to have foreign film nights, salsa and belly dancing lessons, and guest speakers.
PCAC has about 20 members. Suchak, the other co-president, said she hopes word will spread and even more students will be interested in becoming involved. She also said that PCAC hopes to connect with other groups already in existence to promote diversity on campus. |
