Tag: SMU

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Announcements Armstrong Commons Virginia-Snider Commons Ware Commons

It’s not goodbye, but see you later!

This past spring, Engage Dallas celebrated three of their own student leaders graduating!

Eduardo Yanez Pastene earned a B.A. in Markets and Culture with a minor in Advertising. He is currently pursuing a career in product development. 

Kirk Thomas graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science with a security specialization. After graduation, he’ll be working in corporate technology at Allstate. 

Gigi Kinani completed a B.A. in Economics and will be doing marketing and business development for a software company in Dallas. 

Thank you again, Eduardo, Kirk, and Gigi for all you’ve done for Engage Dallas. We can’t wait to watch you continue to think big and do good beyond your years on the Hilltop. 

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Announcements

Love to serve? Consider new individual service opportunity, solo service

As a new initiative, Engage Dallas is consistently seeking feedback and insights on ways to innovate our work, improve our processes, and reaffirm mutual benefit between SMU and the South and West Dallas communities.

Student cleaning classroomHere’s what we discovered since our modest beginning in October 2020: While our community partners enjoy having Engage Dallas groups come on-site and serve alongside them, sometimes they need only one or two students — not an entire group. 

Engage Dallas also knows SMU students have varied schedules and may not always be available to serve with their Residential Commons during scheduled group service.  

So, what’s the solution? A new form of individual service called solo service. Solo service launched to students on February 14, 2022. 

Student and faculty planting vegetables While Engage Dallas still offers monthly, group service through the Residential Commons, solo service is a type of Engage Dallas Individual Service. Solo service provides semi-structured opportunities for students to volunteer and provide direct service on an individual basis. Engage Dallas curates these individual service opportunities for students, based on their Residential Commons affiliation, to volunteer as their schedule and the community need align.  

 

Solo Service is characterized by:  

  • Individual, or sometimes a pair, of students participate in service  
  • Students organize their own transportation to and from the service site 
  • Students sign-up or schedule directly with the Community Partner representative  
  • An Engage Dallas Student Director is not present during service 
  • Students must register and respond to monthly check-in emails from Engage Dallas until complete 
  • Students track their individual service hours via the Community Partner process or on their Engagement Hours Log 

Students can learn more and find out how you can get started with solo service today. 

Plus, recognized Engage Dallas community partners can submit solo service opportunities via our online form.  

 

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Announcements News

Engage Dallas announces 16 new community partners

Engage Dallas is excited to announce our newest community partners as we continue our work to address community needs in South and West Dallas via SMU’s Residential Commons.

In Fall 2021, the Engage Dallas Offsite and Risk Management Committee noticed that as Engage Dallas grew, the needs of our students and community partners started to vary. Engage Dallas strives to facilitate a mutually beneficial relationship between the campus and SMU community. To ensure that community partners have volunteer support at various times and that students had opportunities to serve outside of their class schedules, the need to expand our network of community partners surfaced.

Audryanna Reed, Offsite and Risk Management Committee co-chair, shared “interviewing and onboarding new community partners has been an exciting process. Our new partners are energetic and are anticipating serving our students. I think expanding our number of community partners was a great idea so that our students can have consistent opportunities to serve throughout the community.”

Our community partners offer a combination of monthly, group volunteer opportunities and individual opportunities such as solo service, individual pathways, and internships for SMU students. Service opportunities for the spring semester will kick off in February 2022 with monthly, group service through the RC and solo service to support community partners with limited volunteer capacity.

Jin Ae, Volunteer and Operations Association for Readers 2 Leaders, noted that “Readers 2 Leaders is so grateful to partner with Engage Dallas and have SMU students serve with us to support student learning, especially during this challenging time. As an SMU Embrey Human Rights Program alumna, I am so inspired to see the university taking an active approach in connecting with and serving the Dallas community.”

SMU is excited to announce the following organizations as the Spring 2022 community partner cohort for Engage Dallas. Each Residential Commons is listed with its chosen community need and new partner(s).

Armstrong Commons | Homelessness

  • The Stewpot

Boaz Commons | Food Insecurity

  • CitySquare
  • Mission Oak Cliff

Cockrell-McIntosh Commons| College Access & Preparation

  • LNESC
  • Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas

Crum Commons |Arts as Social Impact

  • Remembering Black Dallas
  • Bishop Arts Theater Center

Kathy Crow Commons | Environmental Injustice

  • Trinity River Audubon Center

Loyd Commons | STEM Education

  • Crowned Scholars
  • Jubilee Park

McElvaney Commons | Community Wellbeing

  • Brother Bill’s Helping Hands

Morrison-McGinnis Commons | Childhood Poverty

  • Vogel Alcove
  • Behind Every Door

Virginia-Snider Commons | Childhood Literacy

  • Readers 2 Leaders

Ware Commons | Community Rebuilding

  • Empowering the Masses
  • Frazier Revitalization

For more information on Engage Dallas partnerships, visit the Engage Dallas website. Inquiries by community organizations or suggestions for partnership can be submitted via the Engage Dallas Community Partner Information Form.

 

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Announcements Armstrong Commons Boaz Commons Cockrell-McIntosh Commons Community Partners Crum Commons Event Kathy Crow Commons Loyd Commons McElvaney Commons MHPS Commons Morrison-McGinnis Commons News Reflections Virginia-Snider Commons Ware Commons

#1Day4Dallas a success in inaugural year

Engage Dallas hosted its inaugural Residential Commons Fall Day of Service, #1Day4Dallas, on Saturday, October 16th.  

Each of the 11 Residential Commons were represented with over 100 participants serving at 8 different locations around South and West Dallas: Rebuilding Together North Texas, North Texas Food Bank, Heart House, Restorative Farms, SMU College Access Programs, The Senior Source, and Voice of Hope. Collectively, participants contributed over 500 hours of service and engagement during #1Day4Dallas. 

Kirk Thomas, who serves as the Student Director of Ware Commons, was a leader in the planning for #1Day4Dallas. He described the experience of seeing the event come together as a thrill. 

“Seeing 1Day4Dallas come together for the first time in Engage Dallas’s history after weeks of planning was electric, like the feeling of weightlessness on a rollercoaster,” said Thomas. “Not only was it fulfilling being a part of meaningful community service work to help our neighbors in Dallas, but having that feeling amplified knowing that all across Dallas, SMU students were doing projects anywhere from home repairs to planting fresh vegetables in a community garden. Personally, I care because in doing these projects, we are able to create a sustainable cycle of people helping people. The more communities and neighbors we support and build up, the better off they will be not just today, but for tomorrow also.” 

Kirk and his fellow Ware students served with Rebuilding Together North Texas for #1Day4Dallas, where they helped to remove carpet and place wood flooring in the home of a West Dallas resident.

A student participant shared, “It was a wonderful experience to finally volunteer and directly serve another community.” The impact service had on students was tangible throughout the day. Engage Dallas is excited to continue to serve our Dallas neighbors. Students who remained on campus served our community through The Not So Big Event, hosted by SMU Big Event in partnership with Tango Tab.

Thank you to all students, faculty, staff members, and Community Partners for engaging with us through #1Day4Dallas. Please visit our website, www.smu.edu/studentaffairs/engagedallas, to learn more. Contact us at engagedallas@smu.edu. Follow us on Instagram at @smu.engage.dallas. 

 

Engage Dallas is a place-based community engagement initiative via SMU’s Residential Commons to address community needs focusing on South and West Dallas. The initiative is a long-term, university-wide commitment led by students to partner with local residents, organizations, and other leaders to positively impact the community. There is equal emphasis on campus and community impact stemming from the initiative. 

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Announcements News Ware Commons

Ware Commons wins $1,000 donation to community partner, Rebuilding Together NTX, at Gamma Phi’s Moonball sand volleyball tournament

On October 23rd, the Ware Commons Volleyball team played in Gamma Phi’s Moonball sand volleyball tournament at the Dedman Rec Center’s sand volleyball courts. Moonball is SMU’s Gamma Phi Beta‘s signature philanthropy event where their chapter hosts either a kickball, volleyball, or basketball tournament each academic year to raise funds for their philanthropic partner, Girls on the Run.

After winning multiple games undefeated, Ware Commons took 1st place in the tournament, winning a $1,000 donation to a nonprofit of the team’s choice.

Ware Commons choose to donate the $1,000 prize to Rebuilding Together NTX, one of Ware’s nonprofit partners through Engage Dallas. Rebuilding Together is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable home ownership and revitalize communities with free home and facility repairs. In Dallas/Ft. Worth, Rebuilding Together has served since 2001 to make critical safety and accessibility improvements to more than 500 homes so their clients may live in safe and accessible homes.

Since the beginning of the partnership between Ware Commons and Rebuilding Together NTX in Fall 2020, Ware residents have already performed over 750 hours of service for Rebuilding Together. Most recently, residents replaced and repaired flooring for a veteran, widow neighbor in South Dallas.