This weekend, a few of my classmates and I volunteered with people from the community at St. Mary's Church in Newton to help Cradles to Crayons sort through hundreds of donations. Being a part of this event made me realize how important it is for the community to be involved with non-profit organizations. By sorting the donations into categories such as girls and boys clothes, toys, and winter accessories, it made the sorting process at their warehouse, The Giving Factory, easier.
Spending time helping an organization doesn't only help the people in need, but gives the ones who volunteer the gratification of helping their community.
Our event and winter clothing drive are ways the students of Lasell College can get involved and help children in need.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Great class project
When people say that they hate school its either because of the professor or just the content that the professors try to teach. In this Media Relations class we are truly doing something that will pertain to the real world. We are setting up meetings, contacting businesses, and working with one another to get this event lifted off the ground. Although we have encountered some small road bumps along the way, we still have a great vision of what this class can achieve. I really wish that every student can have two of the professors that I have had at Lasell college that really do care what you learn in class. Those two teachers not only make school fun again, but they make you think critically with out having to open a book and do the critical thinking questions that are usually at the end of a chapter outline.
I really hope everyone can help us out by coming to our event and giving at least one article of warm clothing for our winter coat drive.
I really hope everyone can help us out by coming to our event and giving at least one article of warm clothing for our winter coat drive.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Connected Learning
At Lasell College, directors and professors stress the school's strong connected learning program. However, I just realized that only a few professors are actually commited to this curriculumn. As a junior, I expected my previous years to be filled with an abundance of "connected learning" experiences, but this semester is my first practice with connecting what I learn in the classroom to the outside world. Although I think it's late to be learning how to apply my knowledge, I'm glad to be doing it at all.
To connect what we learn about media relations, my class is hosting an winter clothing benefit in the campus center called Rockin' the Cradle. We are all responsible for different tasks and pulling everything together to ensure success for this event. I am on the writing team, and responsible for creating documents to distrubte to people involved in the event. Rockin' the Cradle will not only benefit children in need of winter clothing items but also the students in Professor Vicente's Media Relations class. I think the learning experience we gain by planning this event and seeing the final outcome, will help us in the future.
I personally have already learned so much. Especially about Lasell College. I never knew that it could be so difficult to get department heads involved-or even to respond to our letters and emails! We're hosting an event at the school which NEEDS local awareness, we PAY the teachers, shouldnt they want to be involved?
It frustrates me that the school's reputation for being so commited to connected learning is pretty much close to false. When I came to this school I thought I'd get a lot of hands-on experience, and I wouldnt just be sitting in the classroom taking notes and listening to some boring lecture. Unfortunatly, I've only had two teachers that commited their classes to teaching us how to apply the things we learn to real situations in the communications industry.
Looks like I know who to try to take more classes with in following semesters! FYI Fellow students: make sure you talk to your friends about which teachers to take your courses with! Unless, that is, you enjoy mind-numbing powerpoints and dreadful lectures...
To connect what we learn about media relations, my class is hosting an winter clothing benefit in the campus center called Rockin' the Cradle. We are all responsible for different tasks and pulling everything together to ensure success for this event. I am on the writing team, and responsible for creating documents to distrubte to people involved in the event. Rockin' the Cradle will not only benefit children in need of winter clothing items but also the students in Professor Vicente's Media Relations class. I think the learning experience we gain by planning this event and seeing the final outcome, will help us in the future.
I personally have already learned so much. Especially about Lasell College. I never knew that it could be so difficult to get department heads involved-or even to respond to our letters and emails! We're hosting an event at the school which NEEDS local awareness, we PAY the teachers, shouldnt they want to be involved?
It frustrates me that the school's reputation for being so commited to connected learning is pretty much close to false. When I came to this school I thought I'd get a lot of hands-on experience, and I wouldnt just be sitting in the classroom taking notes and listening to some boring lecture. Unfortunatly, I've only had two teachers that commited their classes to teaching us how to apply the things we learn to real situations in the communications industry.
Looks like I know who to try to take more classes with in following semesters! FYI Fellow students: make sure you talk to your friends about which teachers to take your courses with! Unless, that is, you enjoy mind-numbing powerpoints and dreadful lectures...
Monday, November 2, 2009
Cradles to Crayons Family Volunteer Day
This is the flyer designed and being used to advertise Cradles to Crayons' Family Volunteer Day.
The Creative Team is working on 3 more flyers for all of the events we have going on soon (student party November 19th and the Winter Coat Drive for November 29-December 6).
Our events are finally seeming to come together and all loose ends are being tied. We will be advertising the party and coat drive soon so that will definitely give us the boost we need to really get everything done.
The Creative Team is working on 3 more flyers for all of the events we have going on soon (student party November 19th and the Winter Coat Drive for November 29-December 6).
Our events are finally seeming to come together and all loose ends are being tied. We will be advertising the party and coat drive soon so that will definitely give us the boost we need to really get everything done.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Creating a blog
Two months into what has become a giant collective brainstorm effort, to create and hold a fundraiser to benefit non-profit group Cradles to Crayons, the wheels finally seem to be moving. Myself and a class of about 15 are involved in a media relations class which is striving to to fulfill academic requirements, while meeting social and civic responsibility, without the dull and mundane existence of textbook learning. Our professor Erin D. Vicente has developed a relationship with Cradles to Crayons PR guru Josh Nespoli based around student ran PR campaigns for Cradles to Crayons. Cradles to Crayons saves both time and material while students, in turn, benefit from what Erin calls "real world" experience.
The beautiful thing about this project is; even if ego's are involved, people who need help are getting helped. There are no over zealous goal driven brown noser's trying to weasel their way to the top of the class room, and their are no greedy corporate pigs rubbing their hands in glee because of free labor. The cause is real, and the motivation is genuine.
The road to success has been turbulent, our biggest road block has been the bureaucratic detours higher administration has placed in our way. You would think the people who's paychecks are paid for by students would be helping conquer their challenges instead of being their challenge.
The class has adjusted to the most recent bump in the road and we are at the point where we can really visualize the event coming to life. Everyone in the class has separate duties in the collective effort; people are creating and publishing flyer's: having meetings with food vendors, sending press releases to newspapers, working with locally based companies to receive donations to be raffled at the event, and have been part of the recent solidification of a musical performance by Bostons own DJ MR-REA, amongst other tasks.
I have spent allot of time in a college classroom, and left school for a while to work in the "real world." I have been back in college since the spring of 2007, I am a full time student who works to pay for all the same things my professors do, while going to class; i have my foot in both worlds, and this class is closest a classroom has come to preparing kids/adults for the working world. If other teachers can learn to step away from the chalkboard, throw away the text book and trash PowerPoint, they will get the much needed engagement students consciously and subconsciously thrive on.
The beautiful thing about this project is; even if ego's are involved, people who need help are getting helped. There are no over zealous goal driven brown noser's trying to weasel their way to the top of the class room, and their are no greedy corporate pigs rubbing their hands in glee because of free labor. The cause is real, and the motivation is genuine.
The road to success has been turbulent, our biggest road block has been the bureaucratic detours higher administration has placed in our way. You would think the people who's paychecks are paid for by students would be helping conquer their challenges instead of being their challenge.
The class has adjusted to the most recent bump in the road and we are at the point where we can really visualize the event coming to life. Everyone in the class has separate duties in the collective effort; people are creating and publishing flyer's: having meetings with food vendors, sending press releases to newspapers, working with locally based companies to receive donations to be raffled at the event, and have been part of the recent solidification of a musical performance by Bostons own DJ MR-REA, amongst other tasks.
I have spent allot of time in a college classroom, and left school for a while to work in the "real world." I have been back in college since the spring of 2007, I am a full time student who works to pay for all the same things my professors do, while going to class; i have my foot in both worlds, and this class is closest a classroom has come to preparing kids/adults for the working world. If other teachers can learn to step away from the chalkboard, throw away the text book and trash PowerPoint, they will get the much needed engagement students consciously and subconsciously thrive on.
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