“The project provides a bonding experience for the students while meeting the needs of the service area,” Beal said. Even when the project is complete, Beal said they work to establish sustained contact between the students and the service population. Emily Riley was part of the pilot Year One class. Riley said her group conducted a two-part service project focused on improving the standard of life for children in Batesville. The group held a food drive to gather donations for a local learning center and helped with local playground improvements.
gram read New Orleans after the Deluge by Josh Neufeld, which tells the stories of New Orleans residents’ experiences during and after Hurricane Katrina. “It serves not only as an icebreaker, but it also introduces to them the kind of thinking we’re going to ask of them,” Daniels said. Lyon seniors participated in the program as student mentors providing information about student life on campus.
“They were sort of our eyes and ears on the ground. They helped bridge that gap. We didn’t feel like we should be telling students what it’s like to live on campus. That should come from students that live here,” “I was happy to be a part Daniels said. “They of something bigger than helped facilitate the exmyself and to work for ecution of the students’ such a great cause.” own projects and provided good examples all the Emily Riley, ’17 way around.”
“I was happy to be a part of something bigger than myself and to work for such a great cause. A bunch of us went around to stores asking for donations, and I loved how willing most of them were to help us out. My favorite activity was definitely when we dropped off the food we had collected at the learning center. I felt like we had done something worthwhile.
“Year One helped me to transition into college a bit in that it forced me to interact with a group of complete strangers, and I had to learn how to adapt pretty quickly. It prepared me for the rest of my classes and for college life in general,” Riley said. The students begin weaving a common thread among them before they ever set foot on campus. All freshmen were given a required reading assignment before classes began. The pilot class of the pro-
Where Lyon freshmen made a difference: Arkansas Sheriff’s Youth Ranch Batesville Area Arts Council Batesville Youth Sports Eagle Mountain Assisted Living and other assisted living and nursing homes Family Violence Prevention Habitat for Humanity Head Start
Beal said Dr. Virginia Wray, vice president for academic services and dean of the faculty, approached he and Daniels in the fall 2012 and requested they have a First Year Experience course in place by the following fall. Daniels and Beal visited Martin Methodist College in Tennessee to visit the First Year program there and also attended the First Year Experience conference in Orlando, Fla.
Independence County Library McPherson and Grimes Correctional Units
“Our biggest goal is to empower freshmen,” Daniels said. “They are starting to be in charge of their own lives. Service is a way to show them what they have to offer the world.”
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