CLASS Grant Application

Exploring the College Experience

Spring 2013 Student Wisconsin Education Association Carthage College

Title of Project: Exploring the College Experience Beginning Date of Project: February 15, 2013 Student Association participating in CLASS Campus: Carthage College State: Wisconsin President: Anna Kulvik E-mail: akulvik@carthage.edu Advisor: Marilyn Ward E-mail: mward@carthage.edu NEA Student Program member primarily responsible for this project: Name: Lynsey DeWitt Position: Vice-President Cell: (262) 719-4814 E-mail: ldewitt@carthage.edu NEA Active/ESP/Higher Ed/Retired Local (The Project WILL NOT be considered if it is not a COOPERATIVE project involving members from another membership category within NEA) Name of Local: Kenosha Education Association (KEA) President: Anne Knapp Phone: (262) 654-2127 Total budget for this project $1,165.00 What amount are you requesting from the NEA-SP? $1,000.00 Volunteers Will volunteers receive college credit? yes Xno Student: Currently 10 Goal 35 Cooperating Local: Currently 1 Goal 3 Number of community people to be Served by this project Currently 11 Goal 175 Application must include a narrative (see page 9 for details). A copy of this entire application must be sent to: State Association Student Organizer, State Student President, State Association President Return completed form to: NEA Student Program Fax: (202) 822-7624 E-mail: neasp@nea.org

E-mail: knapp@kusd.edu

CLASS Grant Application Narrative 1. Description Exploring the College Experience is a one day event in which college students lead middle school students on a tour through a college campus. The middle school student will follow Carthage students as if the middle school students are simply accompanying the college students on an average day of class. The purpose of this program is to encourage students to make higher education a part of their future plans. Fifty seventh or eighth grade students from Washington Middle School will be selected to participate in this program based on recommendations from their teachers. Students will be recommended to attend this program if they seem unlikely to attend college due to lack of motivation or interest, low socioeconomic status, or if the student is interested in college but feels it is not a possibility. Students will arrive at Carthage College on a Friday, April 5th, and will be led in smaller groups by tour guides under the guise that they are simply accompanying their college tour guide on his/her average day at college. Students will visit the dorms to pick up their books (folders for the days events) and will attend a class in a college classroom about who goes to college, why, and how they get there. This class will be led by a professor and college students who will share their positive experiences of college life and explain what they plan to do with their college degrees. Students will then visit the Athletic Center (because their tour guide needs to work out after class, of course) and play games with volunteer athletes (in college you can play sports with your friends a lot). Students will tour the library and chapel (their tour guide needs to study) and then eat lunch in the student cafeteria. After lunch, students will attend two content area break-out sessions. These sessions are classes led by volunteers from different majors/fields of study that will discuss their experiences studying that subject in college and lead a related activity. Each student will select what content area break-out session they would like to attend (music, education, history, science, theater, technology, etc.) based on their academic interests and strengths. After attending these classes students will meet with their groups for a closing of the days events. As the above summary of the program indicates, Exploring the College Experience shows the smaller, yet vital, positive aspects of college that are not often emphasized when students are informed about higher education. While this program will include informative sessions, the goal of the program is to show the many benefits of college and simply give students the desire to attend rather than serve as an informational program. Students receive a multitude of information throughout their years of school about different forms of higher education; the purpose of this program is to show students, first-hand, why they would want to seek higher education through a different, and more hands-on format. 2. Expected Results By completing this college encouragement project, we will be encouraging 30 middle school students to further their education as well as giving Carthage College Student WEA members more leadership and planning experience and the opportunity to interact further with the students in the Kenosha community.

Students participating in Exploring the College Experience will: Gain a deeper understanding of why students go to college, what they study, and what they can accomplish with a college degree. Understand what steps to take in high school to get into college and get scholarships or financial aid. Realize that a college education is plausible and many resources are out there to help them achieve that dream. See the benefits of attending college and the differences between the college experience and the elementary/middle/high school experience. Be encouraged to make college a part of their future plans.

Student WEA will benefit from this program because: Members involved will gain leadership and planning skills and grow in the organization. The program will encourage more member involvement. Many of the volunteers from other organizations leading the content are break-out sessions are education minors specializing in another area (physical education or history, English, theatre, music, etc.) and are not yet members of Student WEA. This program will involve them in Student WEA through their other area of interest and will potentially bring in new members whom we have been unable to recruit until this point. Our organization will be publicized on campus, in the schools, and in the community. We will become more involved with other organizations on campus and therefore increase our reputation and visibility. We will build networking contacts for our members.

3. Activities/Timeline Prior to Applying for Grant (all of these have been accomplished) Discuss project with Grant Committee and Executive Board Ask academic organizations for volunteers to participate in content area break-out sessions to determine if this source of volunteers is feasible (it is-we already have a number of organizations on board) Contact local middle schools and select a school (Washington Middle School) Establish a date with cooperating school for the project (February 15th) Establish Grant Committee members roles in the upcoming project

December: Contact principal of Washington to determine her specific role and support

ContactWashington Middle School to confirm date and discuss details of the project, permission slips, etc. Discuss the need for a meeting in person and how students will be recommended for the program Grants Committee meets to discuss roles, responsibilities, timelines, schedules, etc. Establish meeting dates and training dates for content area break-out session volunteers and Student WEA volunteers. Discuss general concept for the content of the break-out sessions and presentations Make room reservations Contact all academic organizations who have expressed an interest in participate in the content area break-out sessions to confirm participation and give more details Contact Washington and get information on recommended students. Discuss method for distributing permission slips, student interest forms, and due date for permission slips Check about purchasing lunch tickets in the TWC Create Press Release Tell Student WEA members about need for volunteers and the roles of volunteers at general meeting Finalize list of participating organizations/volunteers and provide final list of all content areas that can be represented by volunteers

January Grant CommitteeMeets to discuss progress, finalize list of content areas represented for content area break-out sessions. Discuss and delegate other things that need to be done. Create permissions slips, information, and student interest forms and deliver to Washington ASAP Reserve any more rooms based on needs of content area break-out sessions Recruit Student WEA volunteers for tour guides, assistants, presenters, etc. and assign roles Purchase lunch tickets at TWC Mail Press Release or call and e-mail people on PR contact sheet Keep in touch with academic organizations and make sure each has 2-3 volunteers to participate in leading the sessions Create planning forms to use at session training (including what activity is planned, what materials are needed) Grant Committee MeetsDiscusses responses to Press Releases and the number of Student WEA and academic organization volunteers we have acquired. Establish what organization and Student WEA volunteers will do specifically on the day of the event and what training we need to provide or what meetings we need to have with them. Finalize dates for trainings or individual meetings. Decide whether we or the organization volunteers will purchase materials needed for sessions Contact Washington to collect permission slips that are duecollect and review Create a contact/e-mail list of all participating volunteers

Grant CommitteeMeet to discuss any questions, progress, go over anything else needed to be discussed and what else needs to be done Create a reminder notice for parents about the program date and time and distribute to Washington Middle School. Respond to any PR interest

February Grant CommitteePurchase supplies needed and folders and meet to determine anything else that needs to be done Double check room reservations and Carthage permission. Notify security Call Washington and finalize details. Have teachers remind students/parents about the program Create a final schedule for the day and send it to everyone involved in the program Grant CommitteeMeet to finalize roles for the day of the program Send reminder e-mail to academic organizations involved in the program of their schedule, roles and responsibilities, and where/when they should meet Send reminder e-mail to all Student WEA volunteers Program begins Fill out Evaluation form

4. Roles and Responsibilities Grant Coordinator: Lynsey DeWittserves as the lead coordinator, planner, and contact person for the project. Leads the Grant Committee. Volunteer Coordinator: Speaks to Student WEA to gather volunteers who may be interested in helping out with the program. PR Coordinator: Proofs and adds to the Contacts sheet. Notifies the media about the project and sends out Press Releases when necessary. Make flyers to be handed out to teachers. Grant Committee Members: Assist above coordinators in communicating with Washington Middle School, purchasing materials and any other elements of the project. Kenosha Education Association: Supports project and assist in publicizing the project and recommending teachers for the project. Student WEA Executive Board: Helps support the grant and assist grant coordinator. 5. Detailed Budget Estimated Number of Participants: Student WEA Members: 35 Carthage Faculty and Staff: 3

Schools: 1 Cooperating teachers and KEA ARs: 10+ Washington Middle School Students: 50

Total: 98+ participants Expenses: Snacks: Lunch tickets for the cafeteria-$4.50 each X 100 people (50 middle school students + 50 volunteers) = $450 Supplies for content area break-out session activities led by organizations (15 content areas X budget of $26 for each content are for materials to lead two sessions) = 390.00 Folders (one for each student- $1 X 50 students) = $50.00 100 sticky name tags (for all volunteers and students) = $10.00 Bus Expenses (for 50 students) = $100

Total Expenses: $1,000.00 Contributions: Carthage Student WEA-Additional funds needed for content area break-out sessions = $50 Carthage Student WEA-Additional bus funds needed = $150 Thank you notes: $5.00 Printing Costs = $50.00

Total Contributions: $255.00 Amount Requested from NEA-SP CLASS: $1,000.00 Total Budget for Project: $1,165.00 6. Publicity See news release and PR contact sheet 7. Ongoing Projects This program encourages the students involved to attend college. After the program is finished, the choice is ultimately up to them and in the years to come many factors will influence that choice. Therefore, in order to continue to encourage students of low socioeconomic status in our area to attend college, our chapter could speak at high schools about college life as a community service project. This specific college encouragement program could also continue in years to come with middle school students again or with high school students. Modifications could be made to simplify or reduce the program or budget to make completing this project again as a part of our regular community service.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Local Middle School Students Experience Exploring the College Experience-Hosted by Carthage College Student Group KenoshaThe Carthage College chapter of Student Wisconsin Education Association (Student WEA), is organizing an event entitled, Exploring the College Experience, in which fifty students from Washington Middle School will experience life on a college campus for a day. The program is funded as a CLASS grant from the National Education Association (NEA). Teachers from Washington Middle School will recommend students, who they feel need encouragement in including higher education in their future plans, to attend this day-long program to be held on February 15 at Carthage College. The student will tour the college campus as if theyre simply accompanying one of the college students (a member of Student WEA) as he/she goes through a normal day of classes, work-outs, lunch, and study sessions. The classes, study sessions, and work-outs will be specially formatted to inform and excite middle school students about attending college. More than fifteen other organizations from Carthage College are assisting Student WEA in this project as well. The other organizations are primarily academic clubs and fraternities that will be leading classes related to their majors or areas of study. We have volunteers from different organizations from all different majors who will explain to the middle school students what its like to study in their subject area. Theyll also lead a related activity that will excite and involve the middle school students, said Lynsey DeWitt, Grant Coordinator and Vice President of Student WEA at Carthage. Middle school students will choose which classes they would like to attend based on their interests, favorite subjects in school, or future plansjust as they would do as a college student registering for classes. Students receive a multitude of information throughout their years of school about different forms of higher education; with this program, the students will be experiencing why college is a great option firsthand. If we can inspire just one student to attend college, this program will be a success to us, says DeWitt. CLASS is simply NEA Student members volunteering time and energy to help improve their community, and at the same time, gaining practical experience and growing as professionals. NEA CLASS programs address key educational issues in the community. Since 1989, college students on more than 100 campuses across the country have become involved in giving thousands of children hope and promise of a better tomorrow. The NEA Student Program (NEA-SP) is a grassroots organization that serves 50,000 members nationwide and includes students preparing for jobs in the education profession. NEA-SP goals include providing opportunities for professional development and leadership training and advocating for student members and their concerns. Contact: Lynsey DeWitt Phone: (262) 719-4814 E-mail: ldewitt@carthage.edu

Public Relations Contact Sheet Media Newspaper Kenosha News Address 5800 7th Ave. Kenosha, WI 53140 Editor John Losness Frequency Daily Phone (262) 6566270 Fax/Email/Website Kenoshanews.com jlosness@kenoshanews.com

Carthaginian

2001 Alford Park Dr. Kenosha, WI 53140 212 4th St. Racine, WI 53140

Bill Kurtz

Three times a year

bkurtz@carthage.edu

The Journal Times

Steve Lovejoy

Daily

(262) 6343322

Fax: (262) 631-1702

Student WEA Newsletter

2001 Alford Park Dr. Kenosha, WI 53140

Missy Kistler

Monthly

lkistler@carthage.edu