Project SHINE (Students Helping in the Naturalization of Elders) culminated its inaugural semester of service on Saturday, Dec. 11, with an end-of-semester celebration held at the Vega Family Resource Center in Utica. The event celebrated the successes of 66 Hamilton College and Utica College students who volunteered more than 1,300 hours during the fall semester as a service-learning component of their academic courses to tutor older immigrants and refugees in English and help them prepare for the citizenship exam.
These students served as ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and citizenship coaches in several classrooms at the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, BOCES Utica ACCESS Site, and Matt Apartments. The celebration also recognized these community partners and all of their ESOL and citizenship learners for participating in Project SHINE and for allowing and welcoming the college students into their classrooms, and for helping to make Project SHINE a reality in Central New York. Project SHINE is a result of a Learn & Serve grant that Hamilton College and Utica College received as a partnership through Temple University and the national Project SHINE program.
The event began with an introduction by Judy Owens-Manley, the Project SHINE director, who welcomed the SHINE coaches (college students), community partners, ESOL instructors and their learners to the celebration. Cora Bruns, the Project SHINE coordinator at Utica College and Amanda Siepiola, the Project SHINE coordinator at Hamilton College then led the guests in two activities designed to reflect on the semester's experience. Everyone then enjoyed a meal catered by two Utica restaurants, Europa Restaurant and Pho Mekong, House of Noodles. The event ended with the awarding of certificates of appreciation for the SHINE coaches and community partners and their learners for making Project SHINE's pilot semester a success.
During the fall 2004 semester, Project SHINE coaches spent 1,335 hours aiding Utica's older refugees and immigrants in English and citizenship exam preparation. They coached more than 160 learners during the semester. One SHINE coach described her experience coaching a refugee when she said, "My learner played soccer and volleyball in Kenya—I play field hockey. She was sweet and we laughed and smiled. I hope I can work with her again in the future. We really connected!" Two of these learners successfully passed the citizenship exam with the help of their SHINE coaches. One SHINE coach stated, "Someone from our class passed their citizenship test and we are looking forward to attending the ceremony. It was very exciting when he came back and told us!"
The Project SHINE experience was more than the act of tutoring someone in English for two hours each week. It allowed the college students to step out of their comfort zones, get off the Hill, try something new, meet new people from all over the world, teach, learn, and fulfill a real need in their near-by community of Utica. The students' professors noticed the impact of their Project SHINE experiences back in the classroom, as well. One Hamilton professor noted, "What has struck me about the SHINE students is that all of a sudden in a topic unrelated on a surface level to SHINE, they will bring up an observation that they've made from their experiences there. It's great."
Project SHINE begins its second semester on January 29 with an orientation, which will be held at Hamilton. SHINE will be expanding its impact to include more coaches, learners, community partners and faculty. Eight Hamilton faculty members agreed to include Project SHINE as an option in their courses. These professors include Diane Fox with Introduction to Vietnamese Literature; Susan Mason with Essential Instructional Models for Volunteer Teachers and Tutors; Rick Werner with Theory and Practice of Non-violence and Ethics of Globalization; David Steitz with Adulthood and Aging; Pat O'Neill with Globalization and Cinema; Vivyan Adair with both of her Introduction to Women's Studies sections; and Danielle Demuth with Introduction to Women's Studies. Next semester there will be new SHINE coaches in addition to the many fall semester coaches who plan to continue coaching as volunteers. Project SHINE also gained one new community partnership for next semester with St. Francis De Sales in Utica, where coaches will provide English tutoring to Vietnamese elders. If you are interested in being a part of Project SHINE next semester, please contact Amanda Siepiola at asiepiol@hamilton.edu or at 859-4879.
-- by Amanda Siepiola '02
