OCTOBER 2000
FSU STUDENTS TURNING OUT TO HELP TALLAHASSEE STUDENTS
For years, FSU students studying education have enthusiastically tutored children in public schools.
This year, however, FSU is planning to do more. Under the K-12 Initiative, students will attempt to bridge a gap between the haves and have nots in Leon County.
In addition to educational help, students with backgrounds in a variety of subjects will address health and social problems in Southside neighborhoods and join in urban planning and business development.
The project is "very idealistic" and essential, said Laura Hassler, director of FSU's Office of K-12 Initiatives.
"I don't think we can hope to have a real impact on Southside schools with less than a far-reaching, broad-based approach," Hassler said.
Furthermore, the K-12 Initiative aims at involving other community groups in the project.
FSU hopes to "work with the city Chamber of Commerce and others who have an interest in the quality of life," Hassler said.
"It's part of the movement known as service learning," said Peter Easton, an associate professor of FSU Educational Found-ations and Policy Studies.
Students also help themselves by identifying what they would like to do in their own futures, Easton said. "They get a real-life sense of what those lessons mean."
One of the first groups involved in the program will be FSU's
School of Nursing.
Nursing students will "offer health services, health education,
and provide home health visits to the students and teachers in
several schools on the Southside," said Dean Evelyn Singer.
Assessing the results of FSU's commitment to service is a major component of the program.
The assessment could show whether the Southside collaboration with FSU enhances the success of both students and those in the community. And it could show how the program affects the lives of the children on the Southside - if the divide is being narrowed between those in less affluent neighborhoods and those more fortunate.
"We're hoping to build powerful strategies," Hassler said.
- Dana Peck
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