Video by Newslink Indiana
After months of hard work and real-world immersion, 13 groups of students showcased their immersive learning projects with the hopes of informing others.
The Building Better Communities Fellows program presented its projects Wednesday in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center, giving students the chance to show the real-world experience they gained.
The fellows program provides Ball State students with opportunities to expand their knowledge beyond the classroom. The immersive projects challenged students to find solutions to some of the problems facing Indiana businesses and organizations.
For junior Megan Kalman, she said the program also provided assurance that majoring in special education was the right choice for her. Kalman worked alongside students in her project to create a day camp for children with mild and moderate disabilities. The camp, Blackford County High Riding Art and Equestrian Day Camp, featured horseback riding and enrichment activities.
“It really helped me solidify that I really do want to do special education when I get out of college,” Kalman said. “The experience of doing this camp and being an influence in somebody’s life means more to me than anything else.”
Projects are not limited to specific majors, allowing students to share their personal knowledge with group members in other concentrations. By expanding the range of majors, students said they were able to have their work looked at objectively and receive help on specific problems.
“Some people were better at certain things, but we all cooperated together to get things done,” Kalman said. “Like the special education majors — we helped other people learn how to interact with special education kids.”
Graduate architecture student Dusty Lake found this inclusiveness helpful in her project, Nature Play. Students who had experience working with kids could evaluate architectural designs for outdoor learning areas for preschoolers. Since Lake had already been through Ball State’s architecture program, she was able to help younger students in her group.
“Landscape architecture is kind of new to me,” said Andrea Kuruda, a sophomore landscape architecture major who also worked on Nature Play. “It was great to work with the upperclassmen because they definitely have more experience.”
But even for older students, the projects were able to provide lessons they would not be able to receive in the classroom. Working closely with their community partners, the students were able to apply their skills to real-world situations instead of exercises in class.
Senior advertising major Stephanie Alles and the other students in her group worked with Arts Place, an arts appreciation center with facilities in cities in Indiana and Ohio, to help broaden their brand image. The brand image campaign helped to link Arts Place’s three venues and gave students the opportunity to work with professionals in their field.
“I think you get really good experience with people who already have jobs,” Alles said. “It’s more real world than class, I’d say.”
For more information on these projects and the other 10 projects presented Wednesday can be found on the Building Better Communities page on Ball State’s website.
After months of hard work and real-world immersion, 13 groups of students showcased their immersive learning projects with the hopes of informing others.
The Building Better Communities Fellows program presented its projects Wednesday in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center, giving students the chance to show the real-world experience they gained.
The fellows program provides Ball State students with opportunities to expand their knowledge beyond the classroom. The immersive projects challenged students to find solutions to some of the problems facing Indiana businesses and organizations.
For junior Megan Kalman, she said the program also provided assurance that majoring in special education was the right choice for her. Kalman worked alongside students in her project to create a day camp for children with mild and moderate disabilities. The camp, Blackford County High Riding Art and Equestrian Day Camp, featured horseback riding and enrichment activities.
“It really helped me solidify that I really do want to do special education when I get out of college,” Kalman said. “The experience of doing this camp and being an influence in somebody’s life means more to me than anything else.”
Projects are not limited to specific majors, allowing students to share their personal knowledge with group members in other concentrations. By expanding the range of majors, students said they were able to have their work looked at objectively and receive help on specific problems.
“Some people were better at certain things, but we all cooperated together to get things done,” Kalman said. “Like the special education majors — we helped other people learn how to interact with special education kids.”
Graduate architecture student Dusty Lake found this inclusiveness helpful in her project, Nature Play. Students who had experience working with kids could evaluate architectural designs for outdoor learning areas for preschoolers. Since Lake had already been through Ball State’s architecture program, she was able to help younger students in her group.
“Landscape architecture is kind of new to me,” said Andrea Kuruda, a sophomore landscape architecture major who also worked on Nature Play. “It was great to work with the upperclassmen because they definitely have more experience.”
But even for older students, the projects were able to provide lessons they would not be able to receive in the classroom. Working closely with their community partners, the students were able to apply their skills to real-world situations instead of exercises in class.
Senior advertising major Stephanie Alles and the other students in her group worked with Arts Place, an arts appreciation center with facilities in cities in Indiana and Ohio, to help broaden their brand image. The brand image campaign helped to link Arts Place’s three venues and gave students the opportunity to work with professionals in their field.
“I think you get really good experience with people who already have jobs,” Alles said. “It’s more real world than class, I’d say.”
For more information on these projects and the other 10 projects presented Wednesday can be found on the Building Better Communities page on Ball State’s website.
