Office of Active Citizenship & Service: Upcoming and Past Events

Posted by leachdp on Friday, September 15, 2017 in DOS News.

OACS is hosting five events as a part of Constitution and Citizenship Week. Please join us on Monday the 18^th for an interactive event with Professor Mitchell Korn and Vandy Spoken Word connecting art and politics, hear from Dr. Carrie Russell and Professor David Lewis on the presidential pardon power, and join Dean Vanessa Beasley for a discussion on the White House and the First Amendment. On Tuesday the 19^th, join VSG and OACS on the Commons Center Lower Quad Lawn for a screening of National Treasure. Finally, join us on Thursday the 21^st for a panel discussion featuring Dr. Bob Barksy, the Nashville International Center for Empowerment, and Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition for a panel on the lived experience of refugees and the relevance of the Constitution.

The OACS Fall Weekend of Service is taking place Sept. 22-24! The Fall Weekend of Service is an opportunity for the Vanderbilt students to partner with local non-profits to enact positive social change in our community. Service opportunities will be sponsored and coordinated by student-led service organizations, the Office of Active Citizenship and Service, and Hands On Nashville. The Fall Weekend of Service is a great better to better understand the Nashville community and build new relationships!

Student organizations that wish to host a service opportunity during the weekend of service should register their event with OACS for it to be eligible for GME/MVE credit. Organizations that register their service event with OACS are also eligible to apply for a limited amount of funding to support their event. The grant application can be found on the OACS Anchorlink page.

Individuals who are interested in participating in the Weekend of Service can contact Meagan Smith at meagan.smith@vanderbilt.edu.

All are welcome and encouraged to attend the 11th Annual Nichols Humanitarian Fund Reception! Join us in a celebration of 11 years of partnership that has enabled 303 students to engage in humanitarian aid work, with 42 student recipients engaged in service in 14 countries in 2016. This reception offers the opportunity to speak directly with students who have traveled abroad to engage in service and is a great opportunity to learn more about how the fund can support the students you interact with. Please do pass this opportunity along to them as well. Formal remarks will be made by Dr. Clive Mentzel, Dr. Cynthia Cyrus, and Mrs. Janice Nichols. For more information about the fund and on how to apply, please visit the Nichols Humanitarian Fund website.

Nearly 100 service organizations and 350 attendees participated in the OACS Service Organization Fair on Thursday, Sept. 7. Organizations represented included more than 50 student organizations advised by OACS, more than 40 non-profit organizations, the Tennessee Secretary of State (voter registration), and  Hands On Nashville. Many thanks to Hands On Nashville for their integral role in including non-profits in the Service Organization Fair for the first time this year!

Students enrolled in the Local OACS DIVE programs participated in the Meaningful Service Institute on Tuesday, Sept. 5. The Meaningful Service Institute introduced the IPARD model of service engagement (Investigation, Preparation and Planning, Action, Reflection, and Demonstration), the ways in which the process of Human-Centered Design and IPARD are similar and different, and who has the power to determine whether or not service was or is “meaningful.” After laying the foundation of Human-Center Design at the Local OACS DIVE Bootcamp and of critical service-learning at the Meaningful Service Institute, the members of the Affordable Housing and Food Waste/Food Deserts cohorts will now begin service with local non-profits addressing those issues. Students will also in small groups apply the process of human-centered design to address a challenge identified by their community partner.

Last week, the MHS 3890 students engaged in discussion with Anthony Agosti and Emily Sellers from Catholic Charities to better understand exactly who refugees are, the process of becoming a refugee, and what the refugee resettlement process looks like in the United States.