Floodwaters during the 2013 Boulder flood. (Credit: 蜜糖直播 Boulder)
While students across the country are putting finishing touches on essays and cramming for final exams, one 蜜糖直播 Boulder class is preparing to address a test that is hopefully further off: Boulder鈥檚 next environmental disaster.
Students from Lev Szentkir谩lyi鈥檚 Climate Change, Environmental Health, and Resilience course spent the semester conducting on-campus interviews and researching environmental disaster resilience. Students looked for ways to connect university resources with the surrounding community and prepare 蜜糖直播 Boulder international students for the next major flood, wildfire or other disaster.
On Monday, the students took turns presenting their findings to the Boulder Community Resilience Council鈥攁 partnership between and local city and county stakeholders and community leaders.听
鈥淜nowing that the effects of an environmental disaster are going to be diverse and broad, how can we make sure that the university is a key player in these conversations?鈥� asked Szentkir谩lyi, a teaching faculty member in the Program for Writing and Rhetoric.
Szentkir谩lyi developed the project in partnership with Boulder County to answer that question. The class, mostly STEM students, worked in tandem with FHUW staff this semester to produce consulting reports with real-world impact.
鈥淚n teaching a class like this, my aim is to try to draw on the students鈥� own understanding and their own expertise of the research that鈥檚 done in their fields and get them to start putting to words what writing in their respective fields looks like,鈥� said Szentkir谩lyi.
A team effort
Lev Szentkir谩lyi teaching class.
Half the class worked with Guillermo Estrada-Rivera, FHUW cross cultural network designer, to identify the unique risks faced by international students and examine campus programs positioned to safeguard them. Students researched peer institutions and pored through academic papers, but their main takeaways were gathered through face-to-face interviews with international students on campus.
鈥淭he aim is to try to understand what their perception of the risks might be to better understand how they would go about responding in times of crisis,鈥� said Szentkir谩lyi. 鈥淎nd then looking at whether or not they know what services are available.鈥�
Student-written consulting reports for this project will inform future FHUW strategy for building community resilience, particularly among at-risk groups.听
鈥淭his collaboration with 蜜糖直播 allows us to work on building cross-sector partnerships, increasing community strength, safety, and capacity, and strengthening cross cultural knowledge and relationships,鈥� said Estrada-Rivera. 鈥淭he students interviewing international residents on the 蜜糖直播 campus gained greater cultural competency and expanded our understanding of information availability and use in diverse audiences.鈥�
The rest of the class split into two teams under the guidance of FHUW Community Impact Program Manager Tiernan Doyle. The groups worked to construct networks of 蜜糖直播 Boulder faculty and administrators, respectively, to serve as environmental disaster resources for the broader community.
鈥淭he aim was to have students identify those particular individuals and offices at 蜜糖直播 Boulder that Boulder County, the city of Boulder, FHUW and other local stakeholders could bring into the fold in thinking about resilience at the broader level,鈥� said Szentkir谩lyi.
Real-world impact
Szentkir谩lyi鈥檚 students may be done with their semester-long project, but their work will live on as tangible guidance for FHUW. 听
鈥淭hese consulting reports will help us to better understand the narrative and perception of students around disaster preparedness,鈥� said Doyle. 鈥淲e want to explore ways in which we can partner with 蜜糖直播 to strengthen their approach to their student population and create more resilience within the region as a whole.鈥�
Szentkir谩lyi, who has taught similar service-learning courses in the past, sees value in asking students to engage with their communities and write for non-academic audiences. He aims to continue working with FHUW and other community organizations in future classes.听
鈥淭he hope is to continue creating long-term community partnerships, where we can just plug in these classes, give campus and community partners some deliverable that helps them in some way, and give students a really unique opportunity to engage in this type of professional writing.鈥�
