{"id":115929,"date":"2018-05-22T16:47:25","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T20:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=115929"},"modified":"2026-01-05T14:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T19:58:13","slug":"slideshow-students-in-downtown-lewiston-with-their-actionresearch-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2018\/05\/22\/slideshow-students-in-downtown-lewiston-with-their-actionresearch-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Slideshow: Students in downtown Lewiston with their Action\/Research projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the end of Short Term<\/a> \u2014 and the end of a great start.<\/span><\/p>\n

STA\/RT, that is \u2014 the Short Term Action\/Research Team, a working group comprising 10 students who head downtown every year for five-week projects with local partners.<\/span><\/p>\n

With support from the Harward Center for Community Partnerships<\/a>, the students bring skills, stick-to-itiveness, and, it turns out, a good dose of self-awareness to their work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meet a few of this year\u2019s STA\/RT students and hear about the challenges and rewards of their projects:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Zsofia Duarte ’18<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/p><\/div>\n

Hometown<\/b>: Portland, Maine<\/span><\/p>\n

Major<\/b>: Environmental studies<\/span><\/p>\n

Partner<\/b>: Center for Wisdom\u2019s Women<\/span><\/p>\n

Project<\/b>: <\/span>Develop a volunteer program plan for Sophia\u2019s House, a residence that supports and empowers women who are survivors of addiction, trafficking, and incarceration through holistic healing in a shared community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zsofia says<\/b>: As with most relationships in life, there is a time to listen with empathy and a time to listen to solve problems. <\/span><\/p>\n

During my project, I interviewed women who use the services of Wisdom\u2019s Women and women who are incarcerated locally. Initially during these interviews, I was eager to leave every conversation with concrete action steps that I could type into my final report. <\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, I learned that a specific type of listening \u2014 empathetic listening \u2014 was more appropriate and more effective in this research setting. In becoming a companion to the women, I was able to create a more effective volunteer program plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Allison Cormier ’19<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/p><\/div>\n

Hometown<\/b>: Deer Isle, Maine<\/span><\/p>\n

Major<\/b>: Classical and medieval studies<\/span><\/p>\n

Partner<\/b>: Museum L-A<\/span><\/p>\n

Projec<\/b>t: <\/span>Work with the museum\u2019s coordinator of collections and exhibits to create a plan \u2014 including support documents and procedures \u2014 for a digital collections project.<\/span><\/p>\n

Allison says<\/b>: C<\/span>ommunity-engaged work takes a community. It is not something that you can accomplish alone or just with the help of your partner organization. You certainly can’t go into a project thinking you’re going to step in and magically make everything happen according to plan. This Short Term I learned to go with the flow and pull together a product from an idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Zev\u00a0Carter ’18<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/p><\/div>\n

Hometown<\/b>: Mattituck, N.Y.<\/span><\/p>\n

Major<\/b>: Politics<\/span><\/p>\n

Partner<\/b>: Healthy Homeworks<\/span><\/p>\n

Project<\/b>: Through photography and reviewing real estate records, c<\/span>ontribute to a database for Lewiston<\/span>\u2019s downtown neighborhood that seeks to <\/span>identify safe and affordable housing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zev says<\/b>: Taking photographs of Lewiston’s housing stock and pulling public records on<\/span> bank liens or recent renovations <\/span>are not the most challenging tasks, but that misses the point. Doing <\/span>hands-on, self-evident w<\/span>ork in Lewiston\u2019s downtown, <\/span>I found myself feeling and thinking about things I didn’t expect<\/span>. I talked with folks who reoriented my perspective. And I redoubled my efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Certainly, there is satisfaction from reading a book or writing a paper. But I now know not to forget that even the more prosaic experiences can in fact change my perspective and bolster my commitment to the task at hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Rachel Chappell ’18<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/p><\/div>\n

Hometown<\/b>: Baltimore<\/span><\/p>\n

Major<\/b>: Sociology<\/span><\/p>\n

Partne<\/b>r: Catholic Charities\u2019 prisoner re-entry program, REPAIR (Returning Ex-Prisoners: Aid, Information, Reintegration)<\/span><\/p>\n

Project<\/b>: Create promotional materials, including a video, to <\/span>highlight REPAIR’s mission to support men and women re-entering communities from incarceration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rachel says<\/b>: I\u2019ve worked in Bates\u2019 Digital Media Studios since my first year, so I know video-production terminology. I\u2019m privileged to have that knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n

To accomplish the goal of mutually beneficial community engagement \u2014 not one-sided community service \u2014 I had to reevaluate how I explained video production and what goes into making an effective video whose information is accessible for everyone. Once we all had this knowledge, I had a better idea of my partner\u2019s needs \u2014 what they wanted the video to be like and how I could execute it in the most efficient way possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Sophia Thayer ’18<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/p><\/div>\n

Hometown<\/b>: West Boothbay Harbor, Maine<\/span><\/p>\n

Major<\/b>: History, and gender and sexuality studies<\/span><\/p>\n

Partner<\/b>: Lewiston Housing Authority<\/span><\/p>\n

Project<\/b>: Develop a food security plan for Blake Street Towers, public housing for senior citizens and younger disabled people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sophia says<\/b>: You need to listen and engage with the people you are working with. Recognizing and responding to personal experiences is vital in producing relevant and successful outcomes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Matthew Glasgow ’19 and Courtney Porfido ’18<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Matthew Glasgow ’19 and Hannah Porfido ’18 during an oral history session with nurse Patti Dyer. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

Hometowns<\/b>: Salt Lake City (Glasgow); Ramsey, N.J. (Porfido)
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Majors<\/b>: Sociology (Glasgow); psychology (Porfido)
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Partner<\/b>: Central Maine Medical Center<\/span><\/p>\n

Project<\/b>: Interview older <\/span>alumni of the Maine College of Health Professions<\/span> to capture experiences, viewpoints, and memories.<\/span> Founded in 1891, MCHP offers programs in nursing, nuclear medicine, radiologic technology, and computed tomography.<\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew says<\/b>: Community-engaged work is centered on reciprocity. The community and the community worker learn from each other and grow together. I have learned a lot about nursing, a profession that is pertinent to my Bates studies in medical sociology, while tangibly benefiting the nurses I am working with. It\u2019s been cool to use my theory-based academic knowledge in a community setting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Courtney says<\/b>: My greatest learning experience was hearing a diverse group of people describe how their common education provided the backbone for their future success. Each individual’s story was nuanced and completely different, yet each individual drew a line connecting their successes and their education at MCHP.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bates students contribute skills, stick-to-itiveness, and, it turns out, a good dose of self-awareness to Short Term projects in Lewiston-Auburn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":115930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[30,130,175,31,223,11009],"tags":[4087,10830,10845],"class_list":["post-115929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civic-engagement","category-collaboration","category-justice-poverty","category-lewiston-auburn","category-slideshow","category-the-college","tag-harward-center-for-community-partnerships","tag-lewiston-auburn","tag-short-term"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115929"}],"version-history":[{"count":63,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171588,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115929\/revisions\/171588"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}