Spring Break
No longer an island
by Anya Bergman
Features | 10/23/07
Posted online at 11:36 PM EST on 10/22/07
/ Last updated at 7:48 PM EST on 10/22/07
A committee of Waltham community leaders, made up of five students, 10 professors and eight staffers, put together a blueprint mission statement last May with the goals of bringing Waltham into the classroom, the Rose Art Museum and the Athletics Center, and integrating Brandeis students into the city.
This semester, roughly six courses contain a CEL component. Next semester about eight courses are expected to do so. Aside from academic programs, CEL is permeating extracurricular life on campus.
The women who attended the "Acting Together" conference have been invited back in two weeks to view exhibits in the Rose and participate in a bilingual caption-writing activity, Auslander said.
"The idea behind an academic course with a community-based project is that students study theories and concepts while they are having experiences in the complex, real world of community," wrote Thara Fuller, the coordinator for experiential education, in an e-mail to the Justice. "Their readings and discussions give a context for what they see and experience and help them to ask important questions about the underlying causes of issues."
During the symposium last spring, "Justice Begins at Home: Building Waltham-Brandeis Partnerships," the seeds for CEL were planted, Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Elaine Wong said.
The program brought together faculty, students and community partners from Waltham. "They got to meet each other to talk about needs, to talk about ways in which Brandeis has been involved in the past, so we actually had people talk about things they had been doing," she said.
Olga McClellan, chief diabetes nurse at the Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center, said last week in a phone interview that she suggested the idea of a walking group composed of students and diabetic Waltham residents. McClellan says the group grants an opportunity for interaction, exercising their English and Spanish skills as well as their bodies.
This semester, roughly six courses contain a CEL component. Next semester about eight courses are expected to do so. Aside from academic programs, CEL is permeating extracurricular life on campus.
The women who attended the "Acting Together" conference have been invited back in two weeks to view exhibits in the Rose and participate in a bilingual caption-writing activity, Auslander said.
"The idea behind an academic course with a community-based project is that students study theories and concepts while they are having experiences in the complex, real world of community," wrote Thara Fuller, the coordinator for experiential education, in an e-mail to the Justice. "Their readings and discussions give a context for what they see and experience and help them to ask important questions about the underlying causes of issues."
During the symposium last spring, "Justice Begins at Home: Building Waltham-Brandeis Partnerships," the seeds for CEL were planted, Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Elaine Wong said.
The program brought together faculty, students and community partners from Waltham. "They got to meet each other to talk about needs, to talk about ways in which Brandeis has been involved in the past, so we actually had people talk about things they had been doing," she said.
Olga McClellan, chief diabetes nurse at the Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center, said last week in a phone interview that she suggested the idea of a walking group composed of students and diabetic Waltham residents. McClellan says the group grants an opportunity for interaction, exercising their English and Spanish skills as well as their bodies.
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