There is no doubt that 2011’s Tropical Storm Irene left a huge impact on many individuals and communities in Vermont. The storm left many in need of support to help recover their homes and lives. As a teaching assistant in the CDAE273 Service Learning Project Development and Planning course, Madison Cowan ’14 was able to work with Long Term Recovery Committees to help document what was learned after the disaster-- which practices worked well during the recovery phase and which didn’t.
Cowan, a Community and International Development major, played a key role as the TA for the service learning course—she had to sit in on most of the interviews conducted with individuals from the Long Term Recovery Committees (LTRCs), along with grading assignments, quizzes and reflection papers. She worked with Professor Kelly Hamshaw to monitor the project and course.
The ultimate goal of the project was a report on the best practices of the LTRC’s based on the research and interviews conducted. “The people involved with the LTRCs didn't want to lose what they learned from Tropical Storm Irene but they didn't have any plans in place for actually documenting what they learned,” explains Cowan. ”That was our job!”
Learning in a real-world setting
Cowan was able to learn skills and gain experience in a service learning course that she could apply in her everyday life and future career. She believes it gave her a realistic sense of what it’s like to work in a community.
Cowan recommends taking a service-learning course because it is a great opportunity to get students involved in the community and to apply what they are learning in a very realistic way. “A service-learning course is more hands-on,” she explains. “You’re not always sitting in a classroom, just listening to a lecture. You learn steps and basics and then get to actually apply them in a real-life setting.” In her own class, she witnessed the students learning project management tools to create their reports and to reinforce what they had learned in the classroom.
There were, of course, some challenges. She had not taken the course previously, so much of the material for the course was not only new to the students, but to her as well. However the experience and course taught her how to effectively manage a project, plan for a project, and how to stay on track. On a more personal level, she learned how to assert herself more, and she knew she was there to learn.
It was an amazing experience and she enjoyed working alongside her peers and with Prof. Hamshaw. “Kelly is awesome!”
