Winterm Project Reports

Here are reports from just a few of the Community Service Winter Term (Winterm) Project just completed. More extensive reports will be posted soon from the junior class Ecuador program and the Art that Serves project.

There's No Place Like Home: Homelessness in the United States

Students spent this Winterm engaged in an examination of homelessness in the United States. It was a chance for them to explore the following questions: Who Is homeless? What causes homelessness? What can we do about it?

They spent time in class learning about topics such as: relocation, gentrification, welfare, transitional housing, public housing, and the shelter system. Students also confronted stereotypes about homeless
people and discovered that class mobility is a myth. They worked together in a small group to challenge themselves and other group members to think about why homelessness continues in this country. Finally, they were exposed to the idea that addressing immediate needs, along with long term actions, are necessary for real change to take place.

It was a full two weeks of class, with a variety of activities: documentaries, research, discussions, meetings with the directors of various assistance programs, and a trip to New York City. The group met
with the director of Morningside Shelter in Brattleboro, the Director of the Brattleboro Area Housing Authority, and the director of the Homeless Project associated with the Goddard Center in Manhattan.

Creating Science Exhibits for the Nature Museum at Grafton

The Nature Museum at Grafton is hosting an exhibit titled “The Pale Blue Dot” this May and expressed interest in having students help design the exhibit.  For winterm, our group was asked to create at least one exhibit relating to “Origins and Endings,” and more specifically, to birds and eggs.  We reviewed the ideas that the museum gave us, visited the Montshire Museum in Norwich, VT for inspiration and had a guest speaker teach us about the elements of effective exhibit designs before deciding to create a quiz board relating to egg vocabulary and an indoor, bird scavenger hunt.  Both of these exhibits will be on display at the Nature Museum starting in May. 

Where is the Justice in the U.S. Justice System?

Over the past two weeks our group has learned about two very different aspects of the justice system and their uses in society: the retributive (criminal or punitive) justice system and the restorative justice system.  We visited the Brattleboro Community Justice Center (BCJC) in Brattleboro.  One of twelve in Vermont, the BCJC is committed to using Restorative Justice to rebuild relationships and repair the harm caused within the community.  We also worked on projects to support their Justice Alternatives program. 

We debated about the concept of control versus security and had questions about the reasons for law enforcement in schools.  Shannon's father Tom Dougherty came in to discuss his jobs as a New York City cop (for 20 years) and currently as a school resource officer at Brattleboro Union High School. 

We watched the documentary “Prison Town, USA” about Susanville, California.  Susanville is a small, rural town with about 15,000 residents.  Susanville has four maximum security prisons that contain more prisoners than that of the population of Susanville.  We analyzed the relationship of prisons and profit, in addition to the impacts of prisons in small communities.  We discussed these concepts further when we met Paul Wright, a former prisoner for 17 years.   He shared his experiences in the Washington State Prison System and about how he created Prison Legal News magazine, which is dedicated to protecting the human rights of prisoners. 

Finally, our very own Kyle Tansley and Kyle Takei led a discussion on their experience last year at the U.S. – Mexico border and the issues of immigration.  We had a conversation about band-aid solutions and root causes of social issues.  In all, the U.S. Justice System is a complex one, but we learned a lot!

North Carolina Coastal Studies

This year during Winterm a group returned to the coast of North Carolina. The group worked with two non-profits and two government organizations. Their tasks varied; cleaning turtle and snake tanks in a preserve, building oyster reefs for juveniles to removing invasive from a cypress swamp. They learned from a number of specialists and, of course, bonded as a group. Even with weather challenges the group represented Compass with poise, intelligence and care.

Here are reports from just a few of the Community Service Winter Term (Winterm) Project just completed. More extensive reports will be posted soon from the junior class Ecuador program and the Art that Serves project.