桃花直播

Contact: Aspen Harris

STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥斕一ㄖ辈� State is honoring four outreach projects with the university鈥檚 fifth annual Community Engagement Awards.

Winners for 2022 were awarded in three categories, including community-engaged service; scholarship of engagement; and community-engaged teaching and learning.

Winning projects receive $3,000, and honorable mention projects receive $750 to further their engagements. The recipients were selected by 桃花直播鈥檚 Center for Community-Engaged Learning, Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President, Office of Research and Economic Development and the Division of Student Affairs.

Honorees include (by category):

Community-Engaged Service

Winner鈥斺�淗ealth Destination Access,鈥� submitted by Yolanda Pruitt and David Buys, 桃花直播 Extension and Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion program manager and associate professor, respectively. This rideshare program aimed to improve access to healthy foods across the 桃花直播 Delta Region in light of the state鈥檚 low car ownership rates and common lack of full-service grocery stores in rural communities. Pruitt and Buys collaborated with existing stakeholders to provide technical assistance to improve sustainability outcomes and build trust in the community. Through grassroots and social media, connections were made in the community which created more visibility and empowered residents to tell their stories. Buys and Pruitt believe the initiative could be duplicated in similar communities to achieve the access of necessities in other rural areas.

Scholarship of Engagement

Winner鈥斺�淩ethinking Public Housing,鈥� submitted by David Perkes and Kelsey Johnson, 桃花直播 Gulf Coast Community Design Studio director and assistant director, respectively. 桃花直播鈥檚 GCCDS was hired by Quadel Consulting and Training in 2021 to lead the planning and design work of the Old North Laurel Neighborhood鈥檚 conversion to public housing led by the Housing Authority of the City of Laurel. As a way to bring needed affordable housing, attention and resources to the neighborhood, HACL and Quadel needed GCCDS to create a comprehensive neighborhood plan in addition to a high-quality conceptual design for the Old Charity hospital site located in the center of the area. Over the next year, GCCDS worked with HACL, the City of Laurel, and neighborhood community members to develop the needed plans to position the site to be a catalyst for positive change.

Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning

Winner鈥斺�淭eaching Health Communication,鈥� submitted by Holli Seitz, 桃花直播 assistant professor of communication. Seitz created and evaluated a Health Communication course consisting of 20 桃花直播 students to teach communication concepts through experiential learning while contributing to a health issue of importance in the community. For the course, students worked with one of two community partners including the Preventing Opioid Misuse in the Southeast Initiative and the EXCITE vaccine project. The course consisted of a survey and written reflection of what the students hoped to learn, a situation and audience analysis, creating draft health communication messages, and testing their messages with members of the target populations. The students then produced portfolios and shared their work and final messages with community partners for possible incorporation into existing health communication campaigns.

Honorable Mention鈥斺�淲ater Quality and Education Awareness,鈥� submitted by Varun Paul, 桃花直播 assistant professor of geosciences. As part of a graduate-level course, the first project consisted of two activities where students collaborated with Partnership Middle School teachers and their classrooms and the 桃花直播 Department of Facilities Management. Graduate students developed a lesson plan on water analysis and demonstrated water quality measurement techniques to PMS students and teachers during an 鈥淥rientation鈥� day. The following week, a 鈥淔ield Day鈥� was held where graduate students and PMS teachers led the middle school student groups to sample and analyze water from 桃花直播鈥檚 recreational Chadwick Lake. The second project centered on developing signs to convey the various stages of the water cycle and contamination by creating a story about an anthropomorphized water droplet. 桃花直播 Facilities Management helped locate places to install the signs and handled maintenance.

For more information on 桃花直播鈥檚 Community Engagement Awards or the Center for Community-Engaged Learning, visit .

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