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Mayor
I strive to take advantage of every internship/volunteer experience by learning new skills to take with me in my future endeavors. For example, I interned with the Greater Memphis Greenline, a non-profit organization. As an intern, I evaluated the possibility of establishing bicycle and walking paths throughout the Mid-Town area. I surveyed community members and contacted various organizations in other cities, such as Portland and Chicago, that already have established greenlines. Ultimately after our conversation, I was able to understand their method of implementation of a greenline. It was a remarkable experience because it has given me insight into the working of a non-profit organization, most importantly I was able to see how a business functions on the day to day basis. Below I have posted a newspaper article of work that I did throughout the duration of that internship. I also have participated with the Rudy Gay Charity Basketball Game during the NBA lockout and multiple marketing and sales activities.
Daily Helmsman's News Article on Greater Memphis Greenline
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On the right path The Greater Memphis Greenline to possibly extend near University of Memphis campus By William Young
Published: Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Updated: Thursday, October 11, 2012 15:10
Christina Holloway
A cyclist rolls down the Shelby Farms Green Line near Highland Avenue. The walking/cycling trail runs all the way through Memphis, starting in Binghampton and ending at Shelby Farms.
A University of Memphis professor and student are working with Greater Memphis Greenline to make the city more eco-friendly.
Patrick Dede, a sophomore sports and leisure management major, is interning with the organization, which is a grassroots advocacy group that develops multi-use trails in the Greater Memphis area.
Scout Anglin, professor of Environmental Studies is Dede’s instructor and also the project coordinator for Greater Memphis Greenline.
“I help people become aware of the green lines created throughout the city,” said Dede, 19. “I want people to be able to recognize the positive aspects of green lines and how it can change the environment of Memphis socially and economically.”
The two are partnering with Shelby Farms Park Conservancy for a class project. Shelby Farms was the first project that Greater Memphis Greenline completed. Dede’s internship class is working extending the Greenline to the Humes Heights neighborhood near The U of M.
“We are working to get community input on how a green line would affect (The University of) Memphis,” Anglin said.
Anglin said she wants people to know that the organization is not always the expert and that the community has just as much of a voice as those within the organization.
“We want students to know they can make an impact on their community. It’s our job to allow their voice to be heard,” Anglin said.
Greater Memphis Greenline converts abandoned railroads into trails for cyclists and walkers. This happens in other cities also and is referred to as the “Rails to Trails” movement.
Syd Lerner, executive director the group, said the path could serve as basic transportation from East Memphis to The U of M without a car and give residents a recreational trail that is safe.
“I think it will provide Memphis with a safe place for recreation,” Lerner said.
The Greenline is free to the public, and on weekends, has more than 400 people per hour taking advantage of the trail system.
Additions to the Shelby Farms Greenline like trash cans and bike racks are being added. Plans to start a Greenline in North Memphis, focusing on creating a school-walking program in North Memphis, are also in talks.
“This helps people have a more active lifestyle,” Lerner said. “The biggest payoff is it allows people to rub elbow-to-elbow with each other and build a stronger community.”
Published: Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Updated: Thursday, October 11, 2012 15:10
Christina Holloway
A cyclist rolls down the Shelby Farms Green Line near Highland Avenue. The walking/cycling trail runs all the way through Memphis, starting in Binghampton and ending at Shelby Farms.
A University of Memphis professor and student are working with Greater Memphis Greenline to make the city more eco-friendly.
Patrick Dede, a sophomore sports and leisure management major, is interning with the organization, which is a grassroots advocacy group that develops multi-use trails in the Greater Memphis area.
Scout Anglin, professor of Environmental Studies is Dede’s instructor and also the project coordinator for Greater Memphis Greenline.
“I help people become aware of the green lines created throughout the city,” said Dede, 19. “I want people to be able to recognize the positive aspects of green lines and how it can change the environment of Memphis socially and economically.”
The two are partnering with Shelby Farms Park Conservancy for a class project. Shelby Farms was the first project that Greater Memphis Greenline completed. Dede’s internship class is working extending the Greenline to the Humes Heights neighborhood near The U of M.
“We are working to get community input on how a green line would affect (The University of) Memphis,” Anglin said.
Anglin said she wants people to know that the organization is not always the expert and that the community has just as much of a voice as those within the organization.
“We want students to know they can make an impact on their community. It’s our job to allow their voice to be heard,” Anglin said.
Greater Memphis Greenline converts abandoned railroads into trails for cyclists and walkers. This happens in other cities also and is referred to as the “Rails to Trails” movement.
Syd Lerner, executive director the group, said the path could serve as basic transportation from East Memphis to The U of M without a car and give residents a recreational trail that is safe.
“I think it will provide Memphis with a safe place for recreation,” Lerner said.
The Greenline is free to the public, and on weekends, has more than 400 people per hour taking advantage of the trail system.
Additions to the Shelby Farms Greenline like trash cans and bike racks are being added. Plans to start a Greenline in North Memphis, focusing on creating a school-walking program in North Memphis, are also in talks.
“This helps people have a more active lifestyle,” Lerner said. “The biggest payoff is it allows people to rub elbow-to-elbow with each other and build a stronger community.”
In-depth Summary
Patrick K. Dede
Service-learning is an instructing technique that combines service to the community with classroom curriculum. It is a hands-on approach that helps the student to not only learn but excel in the subject while developing a sense of responsibility for the community. Throughout the Spring 2012 Semester of the Environmental Studies Directed Research Class, the methodology of Service Learning was used to help the residents of the Humes Heights Neighborhood to have their viewpoints, concerns, and their overall opinions heard on the subject of placing an access trail to the Shelby Farms Greenline in their community. The interaction within the community and the academic perspective from the classroom helped students to generate various concepts that could be used to help meet the needs of the community as well as creating ideas for the Shelby Farms Greenline to make use of in order to give them insight on how the community felt as well. Service Learning coursework in the Environmental Studies Directed Research Class, not only consisted of talking to the residents of the Humes Heights Neighborhood but through the students taking field notes and through writing journals that helped students to better develop and govern the surveys that were eventually administered throughout the Hume Heights Neighborhood. Service Learning helped students to step outside of the classroom and into the community to help bring about a transformation.
“The “scholarship of engagement” terminology derives from the work of the late Ernest Boyer, a former president of the Carnegie Academy for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. Boyer’s Original concern was to broaden the definition of scholarship beyond research to include the scholarship of teaching, application, and integration (Boyer, 1990). The main focus of Engaged Scholarship is to expand on the chances for community involvement in higher education. Engaged Scholarship calls for students to collaborate ideas and opinions within the classroom amongst each other and to also apply the knowledge found outside of the classroom in the surrounding communities (or communities of interest). Throughout the Environmental Studies Directed Research Class, the instructor initially provided academic journals, case studies, (and highlighted notes found online) to not only give students a prelude to the next classes discussion, but to stir up the students feelings toward the topic. By implementing discussions, the instructor promoted a healthy, in depth, and discerning discussion amongst students and herself which is a part of the engaged scholarship process but helped to push towards students carrying out research and the analytical procedures done outside of the classroom. Because of the instructors relationship with the Shelby Farms Greenline, the students were able engage in activities promoted by the Shelby Farms Greenline which went hand-in-hand with the studies being conducted in the Environmental Studies Directed Research class, and also left the students with knowledge that they could have not acquired otherwise (if they had not partnered up with the Shelby Farms Greenline). A quote derived from Ernest Boyer states “By emphasizing “scholarship” rather than “learning,” the scholarship of engagement suggests a set of practices that cuts across all aspects of the tradition functions of higher education” (Sandmann 2003).
Engaged Scholarship promoted integration inside the classroom as well as outside the classroom. Through the Engaged Scholarship process, students were shown how to collaborate knowledge derived from the classroom and the community to produce the most effective results. Service Learning through Engaged Scholarship gave students hands-on interaction assisted students in integrate concepts developed by themselves in order to help better the community. Service Learning encouraged students to have their own outlook on certain aspects in the community through working with the community. Engaged Scholarship and Service Learning work together to fabricate a way in which to go about assess problems within communities. Through the use of the Engaged Scholarship Theory and the methodology of Service Learning students of the Environmental Studies Directed Research Class were able to not only experience learning in an untraditional setting but were able to grasp ideas that they had not been familiarized with initially.
One of the main aspects of the Environmental Directed Research class was the fact that it was partially designed for students to take acquired knowledge from the classroom and from there use the knowledge to create surveys that were conducted throughout the Humes Height Community. Throughout the semester students were involved with the creation of the Humes Height Neighborhood survey. At the beginning of the course the instructor enlightened the students on the various survey methods which are what assisted the students in creating their very own surveys and administering them. According to one of the assigned readings (assigned by the instructor of the Environment Directed Research class) Survey research has been ever-present since the 1930’s. The reading also mentioned that good survey technique can add a lot of value to the study of ethnic groups or ethnography. In the Environmental Directed Research Class, the three main methods for collecting survey questionnaire data were face-to-face interviews, self-administered questionnaires, and telephone interviews (the students of ENVR 4000 class chose to use the face-to-face method). Survey Research then expanded and promoted several programs used to assist in questionnaire data collection for example CATI (computer-assisted telephone interviewing), CASI (computer-assisted self-administered interview), CAPI (computer-assisted personal interviewing), and MCAPI (mobile computer-assisted personal interviewing). As time went on Internet based surveys became more popular, which was simply where fully automated interviews take place on the internet. It was taught through this course that there is no “perfect” data collection. There is no evidence that one method of administering questionnaires is better overall than the others, because each method has its advantages and disadvantages. As mentioned before the students of the Environmental Directed Research course chose to use the “Face-to-Face” method, which is where the interviewers take the initiative to go out into their area of interest and take first-hand assessments. Students were also taught that in order to have a successful outcome you must create surveys in which the questions are very clear or unambiguous, to use a vocabulary that is relatable by the majority of the people being interviewed, use a clear scale (good-bad, agree-disagree, better-worse etc…), avoid loaded questions (or a question that automatically puts the interviewee on the defensive side without their opinion given initially), and most importantly do not take an emotional stand through the wording of your questions (do not come of stating a particular side). By learning these various methods and strategies students were able to create an unbiased (or fair) survey to administer to the residents of the Humes Height Community.
Aside from the various survey methods and techniques, Participatory Action Research, was also taught to the students to give them another way to go about creating and administering surveys to the community. Participatory Action Research could be defined as a way to gather and use information used to build and strengthen communities. Participatory Action Research is basically a way to view a problem in a community, take information from various people throughout the community, and create proposals to create change. There a steps taken in Participatory Action Research, but the main objective of P.A.R. is for the interviewer to obtain information from various people throughout the community in order to create a biased proposal for change in that particular community. Next the researcher/interviewer considers multiple ways to take action against whatever it the community is pushing towards or against, but it must be in a manner that causes everyone in the community to want to be involved, and not just a small portion of the community, because the more input you have, the better results or average of results you will have. As you can see the students of the Environmental Directed Research were given ample techniques and methods to use for constructing and also conducting their surveys throughout the Humes Height Community to create a anthology of data for the Shelby Farms Greenline, which would help them to decide if adding a an access trail in that neighborhood would be favorable among the community or unfavorable.
Throughout the duration of this course students involved with Environmental Directed Research, anthropology students, and faculty members conducted surveys throughout the Humes Height community. Sixty-six percent of the houses were involved with the survey research throughout the semester. After the individuals that were involved with the community survey research finished their particular part they analyzed the results of each answer that was given to the neighbors. Some of the main results that they configured were the first three words that come to mind when they think of the Shelby Farms Greenline, the first three words that come to mind when they think of the access point, the impact of other variables in the community, family safety affected, and finally the security measures.
This graph represents the first three words that each neighbor of the community thought about when they think about the Shelby Farms Greenline. As one can see most surveyors had positive remarks when it came to this question resulting in two hundred forty six responses. A few individuals mentioned that they had a neutral outlook on the Shelby Farms Greenline coming resulting in one hundred remarks. Finally, twenty two people said they had negative first three words towards the Shelby Farms Greenline.
Along with the first three words that come to mind when one thinks of the Shelby Farms Greenline there also was a question that mentioned the first three words when the community of Humes Height thinks about the access point. This graph shows most individuals leaning towards positive remarks just as it did in the previous question. There were one hundred eighty six people that had positive feedback surrounding the access point. Between neutral and negative response they were both close in results however there were more neutral responses. There were seventy one surveyors who had a neutral opinion and sixty three who had a negative viewpoint on their first three words of the access point.
This graph represents the impact of other variables that could affect the Humes Height area. Some of these variables included foot traffic, animals, and liability. There were not that many results for this particular question but of the results that the students and faculty did receive all of the variables were equivalent at one each.
This graph represents the family safety that could be affected if the Greenline would be placed throughout their neighborhood. Unlike the previous questions this is the first result that most surveyors had a neutral opinion on. Eighty nine people throughout the Humes Height community thought that the family safety affected would result in no effect. Next left negative and positive answers and they were both at the same amount of individuals. There were thirty two individuals who felt negatively about their family being affected by the Greenline and thirty surveyors who thought safe about their family safety.
Finally this bar graph shows the security measures that could be affected if the Greenline would be placed throughout their neighborhood. There were several variables that were considered for this question and they included nothing will help, wildlife/dogs, call boxes, cameras/surveillance, cleaning, fence, police presence, and lighting. Most individuals had the most results surrounding police presence with eighty seven surveyors. Next would have to be lighting which came out to be thirty five. Also many people of the Humes Height area mentioned they would like cameras and surveillance around their neighborhood and thirty two people agreed on that particular factor. Finally there were other variables that many neighbors did not think would be a big threat which included nothing will help (22), fence (15), cleaning (5), call boxes (2), and wildlife dogs (2) which the students of Environmental Directed Research 4000 eventually decided to drop.
The students of Environmental Directed Research carried out research surveys in the Humes Height community. They analyzed the information received from the surveys and that is where the statistics from the results (the students’ results) stemmed from. Although there was a variety of statistics that collaborated to make up the survey results, the main focus as far as results are concerned were the things that could potentially harm the community and the things that could impact the community in a positive manner as well. Examples of these things could be found in the charts shown previously in this abstract of the Environmental Directed Research class. The graphs labeled Impact: Other, Family Safety Affected, and Security Measures are great displays of results that will and if not taken care of could possibly impact the community.
The graph titled “Impact: Other” shows the impact foot traffic, animals, and liabilities that the community feels could become a problem throughout the neighborhood (Humes Height Neighborhood) if Shelby Farms were to create an access path in the neighborhood. The community’s viewpoint on each of these factors did not vary from each other. This graph shows that the community did not feel toward any of these variables as they did about the other numerous variables that went into the results portion of the ENVR 4000 class that was found throughout conducted research.
The graph titled “Family Safety” illustrates the results obtained from the Humes Height Community concerning whether the new access point would cause a positive (safer), negative (less safe), or no affect at all. According to the results a majority of the community felt that the new access point to the Memphis Greenline would have no affect on the safety of the community at all, which were those who chose the option of neutral. Less than half of the community believed that the safety of their community would be threatened by the addition of the access point to their community. Very few people thought that the new access point would make the community safer.
The graph on “Security Measures” was probably one of the best displays of results that show how strongly the community felt about having the Greenline access point placed in their neighborhood. 22 people believed that no matter what security measures were taken, none would help if the access point was placed in their neighborhood, which means that they do not really feel comfortable with the idea of having the access point positioned in their community. Very few residents were concerned about wildlife/dogs coming in contact with the neighborhood, so you can say that this was one of the lesser concerns. The same goes for those who felt like having call boxes located near or on the trail would be a great source of security; very few cared for this idea. 35 residents believed that by having cameras or some type of surveillance, would cut down on crime in the area. Cleaning the area was again one of the least popular ideas for a type of security measure near or along the Greenline path. There were 15 residents of the Humes Heights community that believed fencing would be an excellent way to secure the area. The most popular idea towards a security measure was the Presence of Policeman, 87 residents chose this an excellent way to secure the area near the Greenline trail, but their neighborhood as well. Lastly, the second most popular choice of security measures to be taken if the Shelby Farms trail is placed in the Humes Height Community was “Lighting.” 35 residents believed that lighting would be a great advancement towards security measures.
In my opinion the Shelby Farms (Greenline) trail being placed in the Humes Height Community does not seem like a bad idea in regards to the results obtained from the survey research. The residents did not feel like it would cause unusual or dangerous foot traffic in their neighborhood, nor would it cause problems in their community. Through the results it was shown that a majority of the residents believed that by having the access point placed in their neighborhood that it would not make the neighborhood any safer or be a threat to the safety of the community. From there it is sort of obvious that the residents do not seem to have a negative disposition toward the access point in the neighborhood, or they do not view it as big deal, or they simply feel it is not a hazardous decision in relation to their community. I agree with those (of the Humes Height Community) who say that by have Policeman on watch near and along the trail would be a wonderful idea as far as security measures are concerned. I believe by taking the communities insight on what security measures would make them feel safer, and actually taking the time to carry out their requests, that the placement of the access point in their neighborhood would be a great source for the community to utilize.
References
Boyer. (1990). reconsidered: The priorities of the professoriate. Princeton, NJ: Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Sandmann, L. (2003). Personal communication.