Running head: ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES

Estudiantes para Estudiantes: Fundraising for Elementary School Children in Guanajuato, Mexico Academic Service Learning Project Lindsey Hoogkamer, Lindsey Pierce, and Miranda Sulley Seattle University EDUC 520 Professor Nina Valerio Spring 2012

ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES Table of Contents

Members and Individual Contributions..pp. 3-4 Proposal..pp. 5-6 Progress Report...pp. 6-7 Frameworkpp. 8-14 Implemented Action Log....pp. 15-17 Summary Reflections.pp. 18-20 References.....p. 21

ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES Members and Individual Contributions Lindsey Hoogkamer: Contacted coordinator of Seattle University Student Development Administrations 20th Anniversary event as potential partner for fundraising efforts Attended informational session about the summer graduate course in Guanajuato, Mexicolocation of the school for which we were fundraising

Met with Dr. Valerio to obtain more information about the school and student population in Guanajuato, as well as fundraising strategies

Contacted representative of Seattle Central Community College (SCCC) about possibility of tabling there for fundraising

Met with Dr. Valerio second time to update her on status of project and obtain more advice about how to proceed

Contacted MECHA student group representative at SCCC as potential partner for fundraising efforts

Researched the web for fundraising strategies and found an online fundraising service to potentially use for the project

Wrote Framework, Summary Reflections, and References portions of portfolio

Lindsey Pierce: Recorded information in Academic Service Learning Project Resource Packet and submitted to Dr. Valerio Met with Dr. Valerio to obtain more information about the school and student population in Guanajuato, as well as fundraising strategies

ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES Contacted co-editor-in-chief of MAGIS, Seattle University Student Development Associations scholarly journal, as potential partner for fundraising efforts Contacted graduate assistant in Seattle University Student Activities office about possibility of tabling for fundraising Met with Dr. Valerio second time to update her on status of project and obtain more advice about how to proceed Wrote Table of Contents, Members and Individual Contributions, Proposal, Progress Report, and Implemented Action Log portions of portfolio Miranda Sulley: Attended informational session about the summer graduate course in Guanajuato, Mexicolocation of the school for which we were fundraising Contacted and met with Dr. Valerio to obtain more information about the school and student population in Guanajuato, as well as fundraising strategies Contacted Bon Appetit as potential partner for fundraising efforts Met with Dr. Valerio second time to update her on status of project and obtain more advice about how to proceed Created PowerPoint presentation and informational brochure with contributions from team members Proposed and organized social justice activity for classmates during presentation

ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES Proposal We propose to raise a minimum of $250.00 for the Jardin de Ninos elementary school in Guanajuato, Mexico, so that they may purchase necessary school supplies for their students. We

will explore various methods for fundraising, with a focus on partnering with appropriate campus organizations to obtain donations from college students. In this way, the project is a students for students model, which we find to be more meaningful than seeking donations from easy sources, like wealthy personal contacts. Organizations we plan to contact for partnerships include: Seattle Universitys food service provider, Bon Appetit; Seattle University Student Development Association; Seattle University Student Development Administration program; Seattle University Student Activities; Seattle Central Community College student groups; and others, if necessary. We chose this project because Dr. Valerio presented it to the class as something she would like one of the Academic Service Learning Project groups to undertake. We felt that it would be a good opportunity to gain experience in fundraising and potentially grant writing, while connecting with other college students to promote the social justice mission of Seattle University. We also felt that this particular population in Mexico was in high need and, therefore, wanted to directly support them. The Jardin de Ninos (in Spanish, Childrens Garden) school contains 100 students in grades kindergarten through third, about 25 of whom receive special education. In addition to basic school subjects, the children learn: art, intra/interpersonal development, physical education, health, environmental studies, and cultural studies. Unfortunately, however, the school is in significant need of books, school supplies, and educational toys to bolster a qualitative learning environment (N. Valerio, personal communication, April 23, 2012). The funds we plan to raise

ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES will go directly to the Club Rotario Guanajuato (Rotary Club of Guanajuato), which will then purchase the supplies in Mexico (N. Valerio, personal communication, May 11, 2012). We believe this direct service learning project connects to the mission of Seattle University and the conceptual framework for the College of Education because it involves

reaching out to a community that is arguably in more need than some of those more local to us. It contributes to a just and humane world by fulfilling an immediate need for a diverse population, while raising awareness in our own community about educational equity and poverty in Mexico (Seattle University Mission Statement, 2012; College of Education Conceptual Framework, 2012). We do realize that, with only a quarter, the breadth of our project is limited, but we still expect to raise awareness about this issue, as well as do our best to obtain enough funds to meet our goal. Progress Report About halfway through the quarter, after we each contacted different sources as potential fundraising partners, we found that none were showing much interest in our cause and, in some cases, were not even returning emails and phone calls. While this was a bit frustrating, we were still committed to collecting as many donations as possible in the time we had left. We could have done this in quick and dirty ways, like tabling once at the Saturday market, asking our friends and personal contacts for donations, or having a social gathering with a suggested donation at the door, but we felt strongly about making this project more meaningful than that. We knew that we would not be fulfilling the social justice mission if we opted for a fundraising method that would do little to raise awareness about the issue or forge partnerships with people outside of our own circles. Therefore, we continued to brainstorm creative fundraising strategies,

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meeting with each other almost every week before class and meeting with Dr. Valerio twice for suggestions. Since our initial contacts for fundraising did not work out (Bon Appetit, SU Student Development Association, SU Student Development Administration 20th Anniversary coordinator, etc.), we decided to contact a few others, in hopes of a better response. These included Seattle Central Community College student groups and the Seattle University Student Activities office. Ultimately, neither followed up with our requests to table on their campuses. Our discouragement from these unrequited communications, paired with the difficulty of organizing a quarter-long fundraising project amidst our many other school and life commitments, resulted in our desire to turn this project into an advocacy for action model, rather than a direct service model. In doing so, we thought we could devise a coherent fundraising project for a future group to implement, supporting this same population in Guanajuato. However, after speaking with Dr. Valerio, we realized that adopting this new model would require a great deal of work on top of what we had already done and was, ultimately, not a viable option for us. Therefore, regrettably, we have been unsuccessful in raising any funds for the Jardin de Ninos school, despite our well-intentioned efforts. Fortunately, the $250.00 was donated by an outside source connected to Dr. Valerio, so hopefully the schools immediate needs will still be met. While we wish we could have had a more direct impact on this population, we have certainly learned some lessons about the difficulty of fundraising, especially in a limited time frame.

ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES Framework What community service will you directly provide? We planned on raising $250 (minimum) for low-income elementary school students in

Guanajuato, Mexico, so that they can obtain much-needed school supplies. We explored various avenues for doing this, with an emphasis on students giving to other students. What action will you take? We attempted to partner with SU Food Services, SU Student Development Association, Graduate Student Council, MECHA at Seattle Central Community College, SU Student Activities, among other organizations to do creative fundraising. Who will benefit from your action and how? We will benefit through gaining fundraising experience (with which some of us had very little), and the community of Guanajuato will benefit by directly receiving funds for school supplies that they might not otherwise be able to access. We plan to serve [take action] in the ____?____ community by . . . Our goal was to raise $250 (minimum) for Jardin de Ninos, a low-income elementary school in Guanajuato, Mexico (N. Valerio, personal communication, 13 March 2012). The funds obtained were to be used to obtain much-needed school supplies. The person/people who will benefit from our action is/are . . . The people who will benefit from our actions are the approximately 100 students at Jardin de Ninos. There are three teachers at this school teaching 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades. Of the 100 students served, approximately 25 are special-education students (N. Valerio, personal communication, 13 March 2012). Additionally, our team (Lindsey P., Lindsey H., and Miranda)

ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES is benefitting from this project by learning the ins-and-outs of fundraising for a worthy cause, and also learning how challenging fundraising really is. He/she/they will benefit by . . . Having the necessary school supplies is imperative to be a functional school, regardless

of the country. Mexicos public education system is filled with issues of poor quality, insufficient coverage, and high dropout rates (Santibanez, Vernez, & Razquin, 2005). Out of every 100 students entering the first grade of primary school in Mexico, around 68 of them will complete all nine years of basic education (p. viii). Therefore, the money gathered to purchase school supplies for this school will help to alleviate some of this pressure. How will your academic learning in this course be enhanced through the service you will provide? That is, what course concepts and/or issues will you better understand from your action and how? Our academic learning is enhanced through this service-learning project by experiencing a more enriching educational process though service learning. The following key course concepts are now better understood by completing this project: Praxis, civic professionalism, service learning, oppression, classism, and marginalization. Praxis is critical thinking applied to real-life applications (Freire, 1993). We critically examined the present educational state of the public education in Mexico in order to better understand why these funds needed to be raised. Having this connection between theory and practicality was important for us as a team. Civic professionalism involves personal ethics and doing the right thing (Bellah, 2004). We (Lindsey H., Lindsey P., and Miranda), as privileged graduate students in the

ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES American higher education system, have a responsibility to give back. This project was one of the ways to make this happen. Marginalization is the social process of being pushed to the outskirts, as if the individuals do not belong. Marginalization blocks social opportunities. Out of the 100

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students in the school, approximately 25 are special-education students. The students of Jardin de Ninos are a highly marginalized population, and we imagine that such effects of being marginalized are only stronger in Mexico. This group of students could especially benefit from receiving new school supplies. Service-learning projects help to foster civic responsibility through real-life applications. Our intention of raising $250 to purchase school supplies was service learning, even though we did not end up raising any funds. Our intention was to implement a meaningful strategy for raising funds. Oppression is the pervasive nature of social inequality this is present within society, and the individuals who are part of that society. It is obvious after reading Education in Mexico: Challenges and Opportunities by Santibanez, Vernez, and Razquin (2005) that not all schools in Mexico are treated equally. The research notes that schools located in rural communities often perform worse in reading and math than schools in urban areas. Classism is also evidenced through our previous example of math and reading scores in rural and urban communities. Students who lack the funds to purchase supplies for school are from a lower socioeconomic status, which is connected to the concept of classism. Where do you see the concepts in action? How do you experience the concepts as you provide direct service?

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Considering we did not actually raise any funds, these are challenging questions. We feel that if we were going on the study abroad trip this summer to Guanajuato, we would have more of an opportunity to see these social justice concepts in action. Additionally, it would have been valuable to know specifically what school supplies were going to be purchased. How many notebooks? Crayons? Scissors? Pencils? Glue? What personal assumptions are challenged? We honestly assumed raising $250.00 for such a heart-tugging population would be a relatively easy task to accomplish. We thought that having to complete this project in the span of one academic quarter would be no problem. Lindsey P. and Lindsey H. did not come into this project with any fundraising background, and Miranda has plenty of fundraising experience. We had so many ideas of possible funding avenues, so we assumed (at least) one would prove to be fruitful. What discomforts or surprises occur? Our group experienced many challenges when seeking ways to raise funds. It was surprising how challenging this task was, especially considering we wanted to raise the funds in a meaningful way, and not simply receive the funds from any source. Our overall theme was Estudiantes para Estudiantes, and we wanted to stick with this theme by having college students donate. It was a challenge contacting so many different potential contributors, only to have none of them pan out. Our group went through many potential connections, and every single one of these potential contacts was either a polite no, or they simply did not return our email/phone call. What does it all mean?

ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES There is still a lot of work to do! Our group was well intentioned with this fundraising project, and we sought to fill a need for a well-deserving population. Our group came up with

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additional alternatives, even after we realized we did not have any more time to actually raise the funds. Our ideas were as follows: Team up with the MAGIS editors-in-chief to arrange for a suggested donation of $2 to be collected for each MAGIS journal distributed. This would be a suggested donation, and the purchases would of course learn where their donations would go. This idea could be implemented at the MAGIS reception where people would gather in one place to receive copies of the journal. This idea could be expanded to other publication-release events. Use www.gofundme.com to create a personalized website where anybody could donate online to our cause. After the free website is created, our group would share the website via our personal social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and also post on the SUSDA group pages. People can donate online using their credit or debit card. This website is a creative, easy fundraising system that helps users create an engaging page for easy sharing. Even though we did not raise any funds, we hope somebody else (who perhaps will be attending the study abroad trip to Mexico), will be able to implement some of these fundraising ideas. Reflect throughout the experience to expand your awareness of your socio-cultural identities, cognition [e.g., thinking, perspectives], dispositions [e.g., values, sentiments, beliefs, perspectives, assumptions, attitudes], and philosophical orientations. This project has provided our team the opportunity to make a noticeable change for a group of children who would benefit from our fundraising efforts. Through our class readings and discussions, it is apparent that a few people can make a large difference. Specifically,

ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES Miranda and Lindsey H. read Half the Sky, where many examples were given that proved positive change for women could be made by the efforts of only one individual. We believe this project made us more aware of our own socio-cultural identities as upcoming professional women living in the United States. We are especially aware of the

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privileges we hold regarding our education and the opportunities we have to succeed. Knowing that many other people in this world are not afforded the same opportunities motivates us to reach out to less privileged populations. Reflect on how your service experience contributes to your accomplishment of any of the Course Objectives/Student Performance Outcomes. We believe that we have achieved the following course objectives through the completion of this project: Justice Concepts, Theories, and Framework: This class, in combination with this servicelearning project, has given us the necessary language to connect our definitions of social justice to real-life instances. Structures that Support or Impede: The public education system in Mexico impedes the success of Jardin de Ninos. The school does not receive many funds from outside sources, and struggles to provide the necessary supplies for their students (hence, this project!). Spheres of Influence, Alliance, and Advocacy: We have the tools to be both advocates and allies to those populations who need support. We realize that our spheres of influence are large and powerful. Human Relations: This project involved making connections with a variety of individuals and groups. In order to succeed in this endeavor, our group needed to successfully

ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES communicate our intentions and goals with this project. Additionally, as a team, we needed to successfully problem-solve and keep communication strong. This was challenging considering the number of times we had to revise our plans. How will your civic learning be enhanced through your action in terms of social responsibility?

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Our civic learning is enhanced by understanding our connection to the larger society. We are socially responsible for doing our part to create more justice and equity in the world, even in areas where we do not have a personal connection or where we have not visited. If we blindly went through our lives without being aware of the oppression that exists, we would be selling ourselves short. As graduate students at Seattle University, we have a responsibility to become holistically educated. Social justice and awareness is a huge part of this puzzle. That is, how does the service you plan to provide enhance your knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are relevant to your professional practice? All three of us are students in the Student Development Administration (SDA) program, and we all intend to work within the higher education system. It is imperative that we understand school systems throughout the world, and not just in the United States. As graduate students, we are responsible for becoming globally educated and understanding the implications for our professional practice. Additionally, all phases of education are interrelated, so when one phase suffers (primary education, for example), then all phases also suffer. If students are not being educated as children, then they will likely not attend college. It is in our best interest to do all we can to improve all levels of education, in all countries.

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Implemented Action Log April 18th-25th: Lindsey H. contacts coordinator of Seattle University Student Development Administrations 20th Anniversary event to see if it would be possible for us to table, pass out brochures, or do some other form of fundraising for Jardin de Ninos at the event. Miranda and Lindsey H. attend informational meeting about the summer course in Guanajuato to get more information about the location and the purpose of the trip. Miranda schedules a time to meet with Dr. Valerio to discuss the population we are serving and get advice about fundraising strategies. Miranda contacts the director of Bon Appetit food services about the possibility of having students donate their excess dining dollars at the end of the quarter to our cause (which is already done for another non-profit organization). Lindsey P. contacts co-editor-in-chief of MAGIS to see about the possibility of tabling at the release reception and/or asking for a suggested donation for each copy of the journal dispersed, in order to support our cause. Our group meets/communicates via email consistently to discuss our plans of action. Lindsey P. records this information on the ASLP packet and submits it to Dr. Valerio. Lindsey H. obtains more information about Jardin de Ninos from Dr. Valerio, via email. The group meets with Dr. Valerio to discuss this in more depth. April 26th-May 2nd:

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Our group receives feedback from Dr. Valerio about our proposal and waits to hear back from our contacts about fundraising partnerships (as well as following up with them).

Each of our contacts eventually declines our requests or does not respond at all. We devise our next steps.

May 3rd-9th: Lindsey H. contacts Seattle Central Community Colleges student activities office to find out if we can table on campus. She receives a response, saying that we must partner with a student group to do so. She contacts a representative of the schools MECHA club to see if they will partner with us for this cause (if only so that we can reserve a table on campus). Dr. Valerio reaches out to us to address some of our concerns about this project and figure out ways to proceed. We all meet with her before class. She subsequently sends us more information via email about Jardin de Ninos and their needs. May 10th-16th: Lindsey P. contacts graduate assistant in Seattle Universitys Student Activities office to see if we can table on campus for fundraising and spreading awareness about our cause. Upon not hearing back from SCCCs MECHA club or SUs Student Activities office, our group talks about the possibility of making our project an advocacy for action model. The group discusses strategies that could be implemented in the future, and Lindsey H. researches online for fundraising tips. She finds the website: www.gofundme.com, which enables users to create an account where donations can be made online and later

ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES deposited into an account of the users choice. The site collects a nominal commission from funds raised and does not charge anything if no donations are made.

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We meet once again before class to discuss our advocacy for action plan and to delegate responsibilities for our presentation and portfolio. During class, we find out that sticking with our direct service model is more feasible, even though we were unsuccessful in collecting any donations.

May 17th-23rd: We each carry out our specified duties in creating the presentation and portfolio (see Members and Individual Contributions, pp. 3-4). We present during the mock conference in class.

May 24th-30th: We make finishing touches on our portfolio and submit it to Dr. Valerio.

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Summary Reflections On Community Service: Describe the service you provided, who was involved, who benefited and how. We proposed to raise a minimum of $250.00 for the Jardin de Ninos elementary school in Guanajuato, Mexico, so that they may purchase necessary school supplies for their students. We explored various methods for fundraising, with a focus on partnering with appropriate campus organizations to obtain donations from college students. After connecting with many different individuals and groups (please reference Individual Contributions), we were unsuccessful in raising the funds. Fortunately, the $250.00 was donated by an outside source connected to Dr. Valerio, so hopefully the schools immediate needs will still be met. While we wish we could have had a more direct impact on this population, we have certainly learned some lessons about the difficulty of fundraising, especially in a limited time frame. On Academic Learning: Specify course objectives that you now better grasp/understand (articulate key learnings, unlearnings, relearnings) We understand the following course objective and how they relate to our learning regarding social justice: Praxis is critical thinking applied to real-life applications (Freire, 1993). We now better understand the public education system in Mexico, and have a better understanding why these funds needed to be raised. Having this connection between theory and practicality was important for us as a team. Civic professionalism involves personal ethics and doing the right thing (Bellah, 2004). We (Lindsey H., Lindsey P., and Miranda), as privileged graduate students in the

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American higher education system, have a responsibility to give back. Our feelings about giving back have been strengthened, and we honestly hope others will be able to pick up where we left off. Marginalization is the social process of being pushed to the outskirts, as if the individuals do not belong. Marginalization blocks social opportunities. Out of the 100 students in the school, 27 are special-education students. We see the need to support this population, and help to overcome the marginalization of this group. Service-learning projects help to foster civic responsibility through real-life applications. Our intention of raising $250 to purchase school supplies was service learning, even though we did not end up raising any funds. We continue to struggle with the how to raise funds in a meaningful way. Money is money, but not all money is earned with social justice in mind. Our intention was to implement a meaningful strategy for raising funds, and that proved harder than originally imagined. Oppression is the pervasive nature of social inequality this is present within society, and the individuals who are part of that society. It is obvious after reading Education in Mexico: Challenges and Opportunities by Santibanez, Vernez, and Razquin (2005) that not all schools in Mexico are treated equally. The research notes that schools located in rural communities often perform worse in reading and math than schools in urban areas. We hope to continue learning about the current status of the public education system in Mexico. Our thirst for this knowledge is barely quenched. Classism is also evidenced through our previous example of math and reading scores in rural and urban communities. Students who lack the funds to purchase supplies for school are from a lower socioeconomic status, which is connected to the concept of classism.

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We are now more aware of this specific population that could have greatly benefited from our fundraising efforts. On Civic Learning: Explain how your service-action has influenced your knowledge, skills, and dispositions about social responsibility in your professional role and field of practice [articulate your personal and/or collective perspectives and dispositions]. Our knowledge of civic learning has been enhanced by understanding our connection to the larger society. We have learned that we are socially responsible for doing our part to create more justice and equity in the world, even in areas where we do not have a personal connection or where we have not visited. If we blindly went through our lives without being aware of the oppression that exists, we would be selling ourselves short. As graduate students at Seattle University, we have a responsibility to become holistically educated. Social justice and awareness is a huge part of this puzzle. This project has helped us fully realize the duty we hold to create more awareness and equity in the world. All three of us are students in the Student Development Administration (SDA) program, and we all intend to work within the higher education system. It is imperative that we understand school systems throughout the world, and not just in the United States. As graduate students, we are responsible for becoming globally educated and understanding the implications for our professional practice. Additionally, all phases of education are interrelated, so when one phase suffers (primary education, for example), then all phases also suffer. If students are not being educated as children, then they will likely not attend college. It is in our best interest to do all we can to improve all levels of education, in all countries.

ESTUDIANTES PARA ESTUDIANTES References Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W. J., Castaneda, R., Hackman, H. W., Peters, M. L. and Zuniga, X. (Eds.). (2010). Readings for diversity and social justice: New York: Rutledge. Agren, D. (2012, March 30). Education system holding Mexico back, critics say. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-03-21/mexicoeducation/53872544/1 Bellah, R. (2004). Education for justice and the common good, Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, 25(8), 28-37. Club Rotario de Guanajuarto. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/pages/ClubRotario-de-Guanajuato/208354935872567

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GoFundMe. (2012). Learn how to fundraise. Retrieved from http://www.gofundme.com/how-tofundraise/ Freire, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Revised Edition, New York, NY: Continuum. Santibanez, L., Vernez, G, & Razquin, P. (2005). Education in Mexico: Challenges and opportunities. Rand Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.worldfund.org/assets/files/RAND_Education%20in%20Mexico.pdf