COMMUNITY ACTION PROJECT OVERVIEW
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132 Scott Scholars I nvolved in Community Action Projects
18 Active Community Action Project Partners
$103,309 2023-2024 Economic I mpact
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ABOUTCOMMUNITYACTIONPROJECTS Scott Scholars Community Action Projects (CAP) connect the high-achieving STEM students from the Scott Scholars Program with organizations in the Omaha metropolitan area to develop innovative solutions to community challenges. CAPstrives to create products that have value for community partners by way of processes that are valuable to students. The Scott Scholars program is interested in partnering with organizations who: -
have an organizational culture that is committed to exploring disruptive, innovative, and groundbreaking design solutions. have a mission of creating a difference in the Omaha metropolitan area have access to senior level managers and executives for student teams want the opportunity to mentor and work side-by-side with high-achieving team of Scott Scholars are willing to explore innovative and unprecedented and design solutions value new perspectives and expertise are flexible to remote working environment seek to add value to their organization
Selected organizations will: -
Receive creative thinking and a testable solution that will make a difference on a challenge or opportunity they are currently facing Have access to high-achieving STEM-focused undergraduate students Receive a deliverable of an app, widget, documentation, research paper, or presentation Build awareness about the organization and its mission with student audiences
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DESIGNTHINKING Design thinking is a human-centered iterative problem-solving approach rooted in empathy and innovation. All Scott Scholars learn the design thinking process to better understand the needs of others and create solutions with the highest value. Design Thinking Phases There are 5 phases in design thinking which are non-linear and utilized throughout the innovation process. Students conduct multiple iterations over these phases to create the most valuable solutions for their partners.
Define Empathize
Protoype Ideate
Working with Arbor Bank has been a unique experience, particularly in the perspective of adapting our technical knowledge to problem sets that don't apply at first glance. Thinking about how a bank connects with its community and learning about how the senior management sees the world and our community is far beyond my usual zone of working in cybersecurity.
Test
LOGAN DUNLOP, SENIOR Arbor Bank
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WAYSTOGETINVOLVED There are multiple ways for your organization to be involved with the Scott Scholars Program based on the amount of time that
3.5 YEAR CAP PARTNER Year 1: Design thinking in the Classroom Beginning their first year, Scott Scholars learn design thinking curriculum through a Leadership Development course and a Software Development course. The students are split into groups of 8-10 and are introduced to their community action project partners their first year to have a real-world problem to put their recently acquired design thinking skills into practice.
Year 2-4: Design thinking in the Communit y The Scott Scholars continue through the rest of their time in the Scott Scholars program with the same group and partners to build their professional relationships and gain familiarity with their individual organizations. Each academic year, the Scott Scholars work with their partners to determine a challenge, learn more about the people impacted by that challenge and develop a list of potential solutions. These solutions are then evaluated and the team elects one solution to prototype, help deploy with the partners, and evaluate the impact of the prototype.
SUMMER INTERNSHIP PARTNER During the summer session, Scott Scholars from programs across the United States (Colorado State University, Creighton University, Hastings College, University of Nebraska at Omaha, University of Notre Dame) have the opportunity to participate in the Scott Scholars Design Studio Internship. Groups of 5-8 students work 20 hours a week to design a solution to a problem statement that their partner organization proposes.
INDEPENDENT INTERNSHIPS The Scott Scholars Program provides internships for students during the academic semester where they work together on a smaller semester-long project in partnership with their organization partner. Student interns typically spend 10-15 hours a week working on the project.
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ORGANIZATIONPARTNEROBLIGATIONS There are certain requirements that our organization partners are expected to meet in partnership with the Scott Scholars Program. 1. Problem statement: Partners are expected to meet with their Scott Scholars group at the beginning of any project with a problem to present to the students. This differs from a project idea in that the solution should be undefined at the start of the partnership. Students will use design thinking to be able to find the best solution for the problem that is presented. Examples of a good problem statement: a. "Our organization is trying to better serve our customers, but just don't seem to know what they need. This prevents us from giving the customer the best level of support from my team." b. "We believe that giving back to the community is important, but we have noticed that the younger generations do not volunteer with us as much as the older. We want to know why this is and what we can do to promote more giving from everyone." 2. Meeting times: Partners should to be flexible enough to find time in their schedules to meet with the Scott Scholars group every other week. This is time for the students to give updates on their projects and receive user feedback from the organization partners to improve their solutions. 3. Good communication: Partners are expected to respond to emails and meeting requests in a timely manner to help the project's progression.
Walter Scott, Jr. Scholarship Program Scott Residence Hall
6510 Pine St, Omaha, NE68106
unomaha.edu/scott-scholars/
402.554.2091
unoscottscholars@unomaha.edu
The University of Nebraska does not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and/ or political affiliation in its education programs or activities, including admissions and employment. The University prohibits any form of retaliation being taken against anyone for reporting discrimination, harassment, or retaliation for otherwise engaging in protected activity. MCTEMP2023