{"id":171514,"date":"2021-04-15T13:15:08","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T17:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=171514"},"modified":"2021-08-26T12:38:31","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T16:38:31","slug":"students-turn-classroom-knowledge-into-real-world-outcomes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/04\/students-turn-classroom-knowledge-into-real-world-outcomes\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Turn Classroom Knowledge into Real World Outcomes\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

In between virtual classes and homework, Olivia Swanson \u201921 (CLAS) tries to make sure Connecticut\u2019s local communities are well fed.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As an advocacy outreach intern at\u00a0<\/span>Foodshare<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>a regional food bank managed by Jason Jakubowski \u201999 (CLAS), \u201901 <\/span>MPA,<\/span>\u00a0Swanson gets to put what she learns in her human rights classes to work first-hand.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Swanson and other CLAS students across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities are finding ways to take their academics out of the classroom through creative projects like playwriting, advocacy, and public speaking.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think a big part of it is thinking through how to create something that resonates with others,\u201d Swanson says. \u201cHow do you take this topic that you care about and know to be important and get others to recognize this importance?\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Feeding the Hungry<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a human rights and natural resources dual degree student, Swanson found that exploring the issues involved in governing, producing, and accessing food perfectly combined her two majors. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She worked with Alyssa Webb, Educational Program Coordinator at the\u00a0<\/span>UConn Human Rights Institute<\/span><\/a>, to find an internship that matched her interests in food banking.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cClasswork is heavy on reading and thinking about broad concepts,\u201d Swanson says. \u201cDoing an internship shows you different skills.”\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At\u00a0<\/span>Foodshare<\/span>, located in Bloomfield, Swanson drafts legislative forms and fact sheets, prepares presentations, and conducts research to support and advocate for nutritional programming at the food<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>bank, which serves a community of over 119,000 people.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s very\u00a0<\/span>i<\/span>nternationally<\/span>\u00a0focused in the classroom, such as learning what the human rights practices are of an entire country, but human rights\u00a0<\/span>is<\/span>\u00a0a community-based field,\u201d Swanson says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, her work at\u00a0<\/span>Foodshare<\/span>\u00a0is people-focused, she says, which gets her to\u00a0<\/span>think about how the concepts she learns in class apply to the real world and her Connecticut community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the community level it might not seem like the concepts apply at first, because the language of human rights treaties is often disassociated from those immediately impacted, but [this internship] is about engaging with and learning about the community.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One question she asks herself at work is: \u201cHow are we affecting people at this local level that actually means something?\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, Swanson knows the importance of people having the right to food, which is included in the right to an adequate standard of living under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But part of her internship involves advocating for policies that support that universal human right in communities like Hartford.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is one of the biggest lessons a human rights major can learn with experiences outside the classroom, and one I\u2019ve gained through my internship experience,\u201d she says. T<\/span>he\u00a0work\u00a0has led her to develop new skills, such as graphic design, as she developed materials educating the public on food assistance programs in Connecticut.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Swanson was recently accepted to\u00a0<\/span>work at\u00a0<\/span>AmeriCorps<\/span><\/a>\u00a0with multiple offers in positions that will enable her to work in food justice or community development.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHuman rights\u00a0<\/span>is<\/span>\u00a0such a broad topic, and so many things are fundamental human rights,\u201d Swanson says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jacob
Olivia Swanson interned virtually at Foodshare due to the pandemic. Above, Jason Jakubowski ’99 (CLAS) ’01 MPA, president and CEO of Foodshare, helps load cars during food distribution at Rentschler Stadium in East Hartford on May 20, 2020. Peter Morenus, University Communications.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Heavy is the\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Head<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While applying for the University Scholars\u00a0<\/span>Program<\/span>\u00a0his junior year, Alexander Mika \u201921 (CLAS), an English major, pitched a project combining a research paper and a play about how isolationism and ultranationalism can harm a state.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The unusual combination of a research paper and an original creative work, Mika says, allowed him to support his own argument factually, while also illustrating his and other points of view on the topic using art.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn my proposal I had ultranationalism and jingoism and a Greek chorus in there at some point,\u201d Mika says. \u201cIt was a huge mess that needed sorting, and I wasn\u2019t sure where exactly I wanted to go with it. But then, in a frantic rabbit-hole search, I discovered the story of the Belgian king.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

King\u00a0<\/span>Badouin<\/span>\u00a0of Belgium, who reigned from 1951 to 1993,\u00a0<\/span>was suspended as King for one day<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in 1990 based on his personal beliefs about abortion.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather than signing into law a bill that would legalize the practice in Belgium,\u00a0<\/span>Badouin<\/span>\u00a0took the day off and the Prime Minister signed the bill in his stead.\u00a0<\/span>Badouin<\/span>\u00a0was reinstated as king the next day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This was the foundation of Mika\u2019s play, titled\u00a0<\/span>Heavy is the Head<\/span><\/i>, Mika says. It details the story of a constitutional monarch whose country is about to enter a NATO-like alliance. The king is against this alliance, but he is legally required to sign any bill that comes to him.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like King\u00a0<\/span>Badouin<\/span>, Mika\u2019s fictional king refuses to sign the bill out of principle, letting his ministry sign the bill and reinstate him later. But the king is still against the global alliance, and later works to prevent it. The play is mostly written as a tragedy.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Drawing on Shakespeare\u2019s use of different rhetorical styles to indicate class, Mika uses\u00a0<\/span>blank<\/span>\u00a0verse to indicate characters with traditionalist, outdated views, like the king.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn drama, almost no plays are written in verse\u00a0<\/span>now<\/span>;<\/span>\u00a0it\u2019s a fairly outdated way of writing,\u201d Mika says. \u201cI was hoping to signal in that way that the king is also outdated in these [isolationist] views.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Early in the research for his play, Mika worked with Professor of English and Associate Dean Lyn Tribble on Shakespearean drama.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Tribble was a great help in pointing me toward generative resources and showing me what the key elements of a Shakespearean play are and how to emulate them,\u201d Mika says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He also worked with\u00a0<\/span>Distinguished<\/span>\u00a0Professor of History Frank Costigliola to get a solid historical background. He had taken\u00a0<\/span>The Rise of U.S. Global Power<\/span><\/i>\u00a0with\u00a0<\/span>Costigliola<\/span>\u00a0his freshman year, and that sparked his interest in isolationism.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that he\u2019s drafting the play, he\u2019s working with English Associate Professor Ellen Litman and Professor Jean Marsden.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mika hopes to stage a dramatic reading of the play after he\u00a0<\/span>graduates<\/span>\u00a0and the COVID-19 pandemic allows for gatherings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to have a performance of my play in the future,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Rory
Rory McGloin ’11 Ph.D. addresses an audience at the annual UConn Communication Public Speaking Night in April, 2017.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UConn\u2019s Best Public Speaker<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a graduate of a small liberal arts college, Rory McGloin \u201911 Ph.D. became a professor at UConn with a mission to give students the type of out-of-classroom, meaningful experiences he\u2019d had as an undergraduate.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“There was a need to bring the students together to give them an out-of-class experience that they could put to use in the real world,\u201d says the associate professor of communication.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During a conversation in his office one day while teaching\u00a0<\/span>Comm 1100: Principles of Public Speaking<\/span><\/i>, he says, a group of students from the Communication Society, which McGloin advised for eight years, suggested he coordinate a public speaking competition.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The following spring, after a trial-run in the fall, Rory and his team of dedicated undergraduates launched UConn\u2019s First Public Speaking Competition, where students from all majors could audition to compete for the title of \u201cUConn\u2019s Best Public Speaker\u201d and a scholarship prize.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The event was chaired by McGloin and produced by the UConn Communication <\/span>Society,<\/span>\u00a0an undergraduate\u00a0<\/span>club<\/span>\u00a0affiliated with the Department of Communication.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This annual competition was one way for students to practice expressing a strong opinion or idea with evidence, in front of a live audience, building on the public speaking techniques they\u2019d learned throughout their time as an undergraduate student.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to showcase UConn\u2019s top [public speaking] talent,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The event brought the top five public speakers together in a competition that included three rounds. In the first round, each student delivered a five-minute speech in answer to a common question, such as \u201cWhat impact does social media have on our relationships?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the second round, contestants responded to a question about their first speech in two minutes, and in the third round they were given fifteen minutes to come up with a speech\u00a0<\/span>to<\/span>\u00a0an impromptu topic and deliver it in four minutes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students took responsibility for recruiting participants, booking the theater, setting the stage, handling ticket reservations, and promoting the event on social media.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rory also coordinated alumni judges to participate in the event,\u00a0<\/span>giving\u00a0<\/span>the student<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>chance to\u00a0<\/span>meet with them and create career connections<\/span>. For instance, in 2019, Ben Goldman \u201918 (CLAS), a former student of McGloin’s and now an anchor at Fox 61, sat on the panel of judges.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to get some of our most distinguished alumni to come back and judge the competitions,\u201d McGloin says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

McGloin also notes that this competition gave students an opportunity to showcase their speaking skills beyond the classroom. The competition provided a wide range of learning opportunities for students to showcase a breadth of communication skills, including student leadership, event planning, hospitality, and financing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Former Communication Society President Brooke\u00a0<\/span>Hirsheimer<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201915 (CLAS)\u00a0<\/span>worked on the event for all four years as an undergraduate, having an integral role in the competition\u2019s growth.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today,\u00a0<\/span>Hirsheimer<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>serves as a Communications Specialist for the World Wildlife Fund, a position she would have described as her \u201cdream job\u201d many years ago when she was an undergraduate, McGloin says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s valuable about a public speaking competition like this one, McGloin says, is that it promotes tremendous growth and confidence for the speakers. One students<\/span>\u00a0S<\/span>teve Reilly\u00a0<\/span>\u201917 (CLAS)<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>was uncomfortable and didn\u2019t always have the self-<\/span>es<\/span>t<\/span>eem t<\/span>o perform<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0McGloin says.\u00a0<\/span>Reilly placed in the third annual competition and helped coordinate the event the following year.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Reilly now works as a senior client service associate at Invesco, Ltd. In New York City.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time he finished, he was just beaming with confidence<\/span>,\u201d says McGloin.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is part of a series of articles highlighting the breadth of opportunities for experiential learning, research, one-on-one guidance, or mentorship between students and faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Explore more under the hashtag #DiscoverUConnCLAS.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students seeking hands-on experience find playwriting, food security advocacy, and public speaking competitions boost their classroom learning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":171539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,1715,2193,2312,2235],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2214],"class_list":["post-171514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-community-impact","category-hartford-county","category-hri","category-today-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-10 16:14:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171514"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171550,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171514\/revisions\/171550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/171539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171514"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=171514"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=171514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}