INNOVATIVE STUDENT EMPOWERMENT PROJECT (STEP) AT MIAMI DADE COLLEGE KICKS-OFF WITH GRANT FROM THE STATE FARM YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD
Miami, October 30, 2007 – Imagine being a teenager living in a neighborhood plagued with problems. Also imagine being given the opportunity to take photographs of your surroundings with the hope of affecting changes. That’s the idea behind the Student Empowerment Project (STEP) project at Miami Dade College (MDC).
With a generous grant from the State Farm Youth Advisory Board, Miami Dade College created the “Service-Learning Infusion Project” with a goal of graduating a new generation of teachers well versed in service-learning. MDC will now extend a similar opportunity to high school students with the Student Empowerment Project.
The STEP project kicks-off with an Empowerment Summit at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3, at the InterAmerican Campus, 627 S.W. 27 Ave., room 3103, Miami.
For the summit, MDC recruited 75 students from Miami Edison Senior High, Miami Senior High School and Miami Norland Senior High. Using grant funds, MDC gave each student a camera to take pictures of their neighborhood. At the summit, they will present their photographs depicting things they would like to change about their communities.
They will also discuss Miami-Dade County’s most pressing issues, such as poverty, poor educational attainment and environmental challenges, and begin mapping out their plan of action for the project’s duration, including at least six Saturday sessions. Additionally, MDC’s School of Education, the Center for Community Involvement and the STEP students will lead professional development training for teachers at each high school in the spring.
“Through the Empowerment Summit and the Saturday Service-Learning Days, we will prepare students to go back to their respective high schools and organize major service-learning projects with their classmates,” said Josh Young, director of the MDC Center for Community Involvement. Service-learning is a teaching method that supplements classroom studies with hands-on projects to address needs in the community.
MDC was one of 45 organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada to receive a service-learning, youth-led grant from the State Farm Youth Advisory Board, a diverse group of 30 youths, who were chosen to lead and oversee the service-learning initiative. The Youth Board also provides technical assistance, communication and oversight to site grantees in the U.S. and in the Alberta, New Brunswick and Ontario provinces of Canada.
State Farm insures more cars than any other insurer in North America and is the leading U.S. home insurer. Its 17,000 agents and 68,000 employees serve more than 75 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and more than 1.6 million bank accounts.
Miami Dade College is America’s largest institution of higher education that provides accessible and affordable high-quality education by keeping the learner’s needs at the center of the decision-making process, and working in partnership with its dynamic and multicultural community.
WHAT: Student Empowerment Project (STEP) kick-off and summit
WHERE: Miami Dade College InterAmerican Campus, 627 S.W. 27 Ave., Room 3103
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 3, starting at 9 a.m.
MDC Service-Learning Contact: Joshua Young (305) 237-7477
State Farm Media Contact: José Soto (305) 458-3935
Media contacts: Juan C. Mendieta, MDC director of communications, 305-237-7611, jmendiet@mdc.edu; Beverly C. Rodrigues, MDC director of media relations, 305-237-3949, brodrigu@mdc.edu or Sue Arrowsmith, 305-237-3710, sue.arrowsmith@mdc.eduOther MDC news releases are available on the web at <www.mdc.edu>.