Category: General Service Info

Attention JCCC students! If you are doing service learning or other community-engagement activities and you want to showcase your amazing work, then make sure to check out the Kansas Service and Civic Engagement Conference. Present on your project and hear from like-minded students across the state who are positively impacting their communities as well.

The deadline for proposals is October 6! Click here to learn more about this FREE and virtual conference taking place on November 3-4.

See you there!

We’ve all heard about the spread of COVID-19, otherwise known as the Coronavirus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this new respiratory illness has been increasingly reported in localities around the world, including in the United States, since its original outburst in Wuhan, China. So far, the CDC has confirmed 938 cases in the U.S., with 29 deaths. However, data from Worldometer reveal that out of the 129,854 people in the world who have been infected with the coronavirus, 68,672 have recovered and 4,751 deaths have occurred; this means that around only 4% of people infected with the coronavirus have died, while nearly 53% of people have recovered.

This high number of recoveries is, in part, certainly due to the doctors and medical responders working to counter and prevent the spread of the virus. Public health authorities alongside nonprofit organizations have worked to provide the necessary tools to help respond to COVID-19. Protective gear, such as masks, gloves, gowns and coveralls, and other equipment, are critical for medical professionals to help those infected, while protecting themselves.

However, the United States is facing a massive shortage of supplies, and most notably, facemasks. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has revealed that the U.S. has only 1% of the necessary masks needed if COVID-19 should the disease became rampant.

With COVID-19 increasingly affecting communities around the world, as well as here in the United States, you may be wondering what you can do to help. Firstly, don’t panic! There are protective measures you can take to prevent and reduce your chances of being infected with the virus. The World Health Organization outlines critical precautions to take, such as washing your hands often or cleaning them with alcohol based sanitizers, avoiding touching your mouth, nose and eyes, and refraining from spreading germs by coughing and sneezing openly. Mostly importantly, stay home if you do not feel well and consult a medical professional by calling in advance.

Another way to help is by donating to organizations who are helping combat COVID-19 through providing funding for medical supplies. Charities such as Direct Relief are providing personal protective equipment for health workers responding to the virus around the world, and in the United States. You can donate to Direct Relief here.

Numerous other trustworthy organizations and charities responding to COVID-19 could use donations as well, in order to curb this growing pandemic and keep communities safe. A list of those organizations can be found here.

Written by Community-Based Learning work-study student, Ethan Bilyeu. 

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated to the Johnson County Christmas Bureau Barrel! We filled the barrel up with winter clothes, toys, and food that are all going to help local families in need. Part of Johnson County Community College’s mission is to strengthen communities, and we proved that we are dedicated to that today! Thank you again to everyone who played a part!

I think we can all agree that one way to make yourself appealing to future employers is to build up your resume. But these days, it’s so hard to gain experience without experience! Sometimes the hardest part can be getting that first position in your field. A great way to get past that hump is to volunteer and do extracurricular activities, and the Community Based Learning department has rolled out a new program that can give you experience in both!

The Civic Leadership program has three parts: Service, Leadership, and Reflection.

Maybe you already volunteer and maybe you already participate in leadership activities on campus, then this program is for you! If you complete it, you will receive a certificate and a distinction on the graduation program. Not to mention experience for your resume!

Here are the basic requirements:

Service:

• Complete a class with a service-learning requirement
• Complete a total of 75 hours of community service in addition to that requirement.

Leadership:

In order to meet the leadership requirement students must acquire 1000 points by choosing between the options below:

1. Taking the LEAD 130 class offered at JCCC (500) – the Spring 2018 CRN is 10747
2. Holding an office of a student club or organization for an entire academic year (350)
3. Attending a leadership conference or symposium (250)
4. Completing the Cavalier Leadership Development Program (250)
5. 125 points for completing one semester
6. Coordinating a service or leadership related event (150)
7. Observing a board meeting of a non-profit agency, city council or state legislature (150)

Reflection:

As the final component of the Civic Leadership Program, each student will enroll in an online course that requires journal entries and discussion to be evaluated by the Civic Leadership coordinator. The student will also be required to complete a final project which exemplifies and synthesizes the student’s civic experiences and development. Finally, students will create a poster for their capstone project to be shown at the Celebrate Service event at the end of the spring semester.

 

If you’re interested, shoot Tara Karaim an email at tkaraim@jccc.edu. We’d love to have you!

Oh hey JCCC and welcome! This blog will be the hub for all Community Based Learning’s news and announcements. We are doing a lot of exciting things this year including administering grants to teachers who want to implement service learning, revamping the Civic Honors program into the new and improved Civic Leadership program and helping students find as many volunteer opportunities as possible! Together, us in CBL, faculty, and students are working to make our community a better place. And in doing so, hopefully we can improve student lives as well because, let’s be real, volunteerism looks amazing on a resume! The CBL office is all about using the community as an education resource and strengthening the JCCC community while we’re at it.

So keep checking back in for volunteer opportunities and updates on how our amazing students are saving the world, one service-learning hour at a time!