{"id":9,"date":"2013-05-05T20:25:48","date_gmt":"2013-05-05T20:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/?page_id=9"},"modified":"2013-12-05T20:54:57","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T20:54:57","slug":"no-borders-here","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/features\/no-borders-here\/","title":{"rendered":"No Borders Here"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"SWAG<\/a>

SWAG team members Mark Richards ’15, Lisbeimy Chavez ’13, Taniqua Huguley ’15, Peter Ganem ’15, and Ambar Paulino ’15<\/p><\/div>\n

by Rhea Hirshman<\/em><\/p>\n

Ambar Paulino \u201915 wanted to offer Hartford\u2019s middle and high school students the kind of college and career guidance she didn\u2019t have when attending school in her Harlem neighborhood. \u201cThroughout my high school career I missed out on important opportunities and information,\u201d she says\u2014\u201cmainly because the adults who were a part of the process weren\u2019t fully able to connect with us as high schoolers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her solution? Becoming involved this year with SWAG\u2014Students Who Achieve Greatness\u2014one component of a campuswide umbrella program called Trinity College Without Borders (TCWB). SWAG connects area high school students to Trinity resources, students, and faculty who provide mentoring, advising, and college planning. The students on the SWAG team support high schoolers in the college choice and application process\u2014which can seem particularly daunting to first-generation college students\u2014and in demystifying college life itself.<\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/a>

Mark Richards ’15 and Peter Ganem \u201915 talk with young students in the classroom.<\/p><\/div>\n

Coming from a different sort of experience with mentoring, Lisbeimy Chavez \u201913, a founding member of SWAG, knew that she wanted to work with youth when she joined TCWB during her sophomore year. \u201cI have always mentored,\u201d says the economics and anthropology major, \u201cbecause, as an immigrant, I was an ESL student who needed a lot of help. I was lucky to have a great mentor in elementary school who helped me learn to read\u2014an essential skill that has helped me get where am.\u201d She notes that, initially, SWAG was conceived as an elementary school reading program, but the students turned to college mentoring when they realized reading programs already existed in local schools.<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/a>

Mike Mancini \u201914, Sarah Whitham \u201914, and Hannah Brickley \u201914 with the hydroponic system for cherry tomatoes<\/p><\/div>\n

From Trinity\u2019s own Hartford neighborhood to a village on the eastern slope of Tanzania\u2019s Mount Kilimanjaro, TCWB employs student initiative and expertise to help communities develop their capacities to meet human needs. With students eager to participate in an experiential learning program and strong administrative support from President Jones and then-Dean of the Faculty Rena Fraden, TCWB was launched in 2010 by Emilie Dressaire, assistant professor of engineering.<\/p>\n

Described by Dressaire, who continues to oversee the program, as \u201ca cross between an
\nindependent study and a club,\u201d TCWB holds weekly meetings, requires writing assignments, and offers students half an academic credit for each semester of participation. But, Dressaire notes, the TCWB students share her passion for community
\nwork, the nonprofit world, and influencing public policy. \u201cVolunteering is something I would do one way or another,\u201d she says. \u201cThrough TCWB, my own efforts have a greater impact since I\u2019m working with enthusiastic young people who have shared interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its current iteration, TCWB is supporting three projects: SWAG, which, in addition to the
\nmentoring program, offers Think Pink for middle-school girls to address their daily challenges and concerns; a community garden; and an initiative to improve sanitation in the Tanzanian village of Marangu.<\/p>\n

Engineers across the ocean<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Assistant<\/a>

Assistant Professor of Engineering Emilie Dressaire<\/p><\/div>\n

With an engineer at its helm and in a school with a strong undergraduate engineering program, TCWB is ideally situated to include an engineering initiative. The Tanzania project\u2014building a sanitation system for the Ngaruma Parish Preschool\u2014is being undertaken under the auspices of Trinity College Engineers Without Borders (TCEWB), which applied for and was granted recognition as a chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB). EWB is a national organization whose mission is to support community-driven development programs worldwide.<\/p>\n

Tarah Sullivan \u201913, a mechanical engineering major, was the driving force behind the
\ncertification of TCEWB as an EWB chapter (\u201cI can\u2019t count the number of hours that Tarah has spent on this project,\u201d Dressaire says). Sullivan explains that, once a chapter is approved for membership in EWB, it is assigned a liaison at EWB national headquarters, and a match is suggested between the chapter and a community that has applied through a local nongovernmental organization (NGO) to EWB for project assistance.<\/p>\n

After months of studying, planning, and fundraising, TCEWB will travel to Tanzania this summer to begin the on-site work: investigating the current sanitation situation, testing the environment, and developing a relationship with the community. Including the assessment, implementation, and monitoring, the project is planned to take five years. The Trinity group is being assisted through EWB by professional mentors\u2014engineers, hydrologists, and public health experts.<\/p>\n

\"Discussing<\/a>

Discussing plans at a group meeting<\/p><\/div>\n

Providing the infrastructure is only part of meeting the village\u2019s needs. \u201cWhile we\u2019re working with the community on building \u2018kid-friendly\u2019 latrines that don\u2019t require adult assistance,\u201d Sullivan says, \u201cwe\u2019ll be helping develop the education and site-maintenance programs to
\nensure good hygiene and continuous, successful use of the facilities.\u201d TCEWB will be working with the NGO, teachers, and local leaders to integrate technical assistance about hygiene and maintenance with existing beliefs and practices. \u201cWhile this project will immediately help the children of the Ngaruma school,\u201d she says, \u201cit also has the potential to strengthen the community as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardening at home<\/strong>
\nBack at home in Hartford, another group of TCWB members has been working since 2011 to create a self-sustaining community garden, which had its first growing season last summer. Food \u201cdeserts\u201d and food insecurity are pressing issues in urban areas, whose residents often find themselves without affordable, healthy food in easily accessible locations. Nearly one-third of Hartford residents live below the federal poverty level. The city has only one supermarket, while just a third of its residents own cars.<\/p>\n

The garden, built last spring by Trinity students and local residents, has 20 raised plots on Broad Street, near the Trinfo. Caf\u00e9. \u201cWe put posters around the neighborhood, students knocked on doors, and word of mouth spread,\u201d says Dressaire. The beds were completed in one day. Plots were assigned to families on a first-come, first-served basis. The seeds, donated by the Knox Parks Foundation, produced everything from tomatoes to watermelons. With most of the students away during the summer, the garden was overseen last year with help from SOS (Summer of Solutions) Hartford. This summer, the Knox Parks Foundation will step in.<\/p>\n

\"Baskets<\/a>

Baskets of the hydroponic system<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cOur plan is to continue partnering with the Knox Parks Foundation to secure the future of the garden,\u201d Dressaire says. \u201cWe also want to run programs all year, teaching kids about healthy eating.\u201d Dressaire and the students in the project are building a hydroponic (indoor) system in her research lab; the system will allow for year-round food production and education programs.<\/p>\n

Although it started within the Engineering Department, Dressaire says that TCWB attracts
\nstudents from a range of majors and backgrounds. \u201cAll the students are energetic and enthusiastic. Some projects have lost steam and disappeared; others have been added as students have come in with different concerns and experiences. Sometimes I think I\u2019m too tired or pre-occupied with other tasks to go to a group\u2019s meeting. Then I go, and I leave with a whole new reservoir of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rhea Hirshman Ambar Paulino \u201915 wanted to offer Hartford\u2019s middle and high school students the kind of college and career guidance she didn\u2019t have when attending school in her Harlem neighborhood. \u201cThroughout my high school career I missed out … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"parent":36,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9\/revisions\/218"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}