Connect2Complete Miami Hamilton: April 2015

Meet Amy Michael!!

Amy is a junior Special Education major with a minor in disability studies. Amy joined our team in Spring 2014, after she heard about the program at Fall Fest in 2013. Amy and her husband have four children, the youngest attends Campus Kids on Miami Hamilton's campus.

Fun Fact: All of Amy's children have names that are 6 letters long and begin with the letter H!

Amy's career goals are to make a positive change in education. Her favorite thing about being an Advocate is meeting diverse groups of students, learning their strengths and challenges, and helping them to problem solve and connect to what they need to succeed!

Amy loves sushi and payday candy bars. Her favorite color is orange and her favorite pie is apple. When Amy was asked "Who is your hero and why?" she responded with: "My kids! They have overcome so much and have no idea the battles they have fought."

E-cards always make her laugh and her favorite joke is: "Why are lattes called lattes? Because they cost a-lot-tae".

If Amy could change one thing in the world, she would eliminate stereotypes. Her advice to incoming students is: "Be empathetic. Try to understand why people are different and face the challenges they do. Be respect, don't judge, help!".

Connect2Complete!

In Spring 2014, Amy served in Karen Blount's ABLE Writing class. Her class volunteered at the Animal Adoption Foundation participating in their "Walk a Hound" program and socializing with cats. Amy wrote a great blog about her experience titled "Animal Adoption Foundation Experience"!

We were ecstatic when Amy was able to continue her work with us in Fall 2014 in Becky Richard's ENG007, Fundamentals of Writing course. On Wednesday September 10, 2014 Amy and her class volunteered at Shared Harvest Food Bank for their Civic Engagement project.

Shared Harvest was preparing for Panerathon, one of their largest fundraisers throughout the year. A substantial portion of the proceeds benefit the backpack program which provides weekend meals for kids. The Miami Hamilton Connect2Complete volunteers helped to pack "swag bags" for those participating in the Panerathon. The backs were stuffed full of goodies and important community information. The students learned that volunteering at a food bank doesn't always mean working with food. They learned the power of volunteers bu stuffing 350 bags in just under an hour. Three classes visited that day, stuffing a total of 1050 "swag bags" for the Panerathon.
Click here to view more pictures on our flickr!

CCAMPIS!

During the last semester, Amy has been serving as our CCAMPIS Peer Advocate in Campus Kids, Miami University Hamilton's on campus childcare center. CCAMPIS stands for "Childcare access means parents in school". CCAMPIS is a federal program that "supports the participation of low-income parents in postsecondary education through the provision of campus-based child care services."

Amy & her family

This is our first semester partnering with Campus Kids, Traci Anders (Director of Campus Kids), and the CCAMPIS grant to provide student parents with continued support throughout the semester. Amy has done an amazing job forging the program and connecting with student parents on and off campus. During the school week, Amy works in the Child Care center meeting with parents or finding resources to support their education and success. During Spring Break Amy organized a play date picnic at a near by playground!

We're excited that Amy will be working with us again next semester on the CCAMPIS program! She's an amazing mother, student and Advocate! We cannot wait to see how the CCAMPIS-Advocate program grows with her on board!

Meet Paula Chantana!

Paula is a senior Integrated Studies major with a concentration in Early Childhood Education. Paula has been a Connect2Complete Advocate at Miami Hamilton since our first semester, Fall 2013. Which means this is Paula's 4th semester as C2CA!!

Her desired career is as a school social worker or sign language interpreter. She chose to become an advocate to be able to interact with new students and to help them feel welcome. Her favorite things about being an Advocate are meeting people in her community and helping students with the resources available at Miami.

Her advice to an incoming student is: "When you feel overwhelmed just take a deep breath and count backwards from 10 while saying to yourself 'I can do this because I am a successful student'. "

Paula's favorite foods are seafood and pizza and her favorite sweets are ice cream, brownies, and cookies! She often brings cookies to our Advocate meetings on Fridays.Her favorite colors are blue and pink and her favorite quote is from John F. Kennedy "Ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country.

In the community Paula volunteers with YWCA's Girls Inc. program and works with Kindercare, Child Day Care center!

Paula is currently serving as a Connect2Complete Advocate in Laura Metz's Art181 Concepts in Art class on Tuesday nights. She has previously served in Karen Blount's ABLE Writing class (Fall 2013 & Spring 2014) and Lois Brown's EDT002 (Fall 2014) College Reading.

Civic Engagement Projects:
During the Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 semesters, Paula's classes volunteered at Animal Adoption Foundation (AAF)! At the shelter students had an opportunity to social with cats or walk dogs in their "Walk a Hound" program. Students also learned about adoption policies and that AAF is a no-kill shelter. You can read more about their trips in these blogs: AAF & Fundamentals of Writing and Animal Adoption Foundation!

During our third semester of the Connect2Complete program Paula served in EDT002, College Reading with Lois Brown. This class volunteered at Booker T. Washington Community Center. The class reorganized the books in the library and moved one of the shelves to create more study space in the room! Pictures below!!

This semester, Spring 2015, Paula's class will be engaging with the community by sponsoring an art show! Art181 is a Miami Plan art class and while most of the students are not artist they do create art pieces throughout the semester. We're excited for the students to have an opportunity to share their art with the community!

Pictures from Booker T. Washington, Fall 2014