In the Spotlight

FSU Service Learning Student Stars

Submitted by: Demetria Harvell, Middle and Secondary Education

Shannon Cox, Tiffany Jones, and Casey Diaz performed exceptional community service by tutoring students each week in grades Pre-K through 12 during the Spring 2008 semester. These students volunteered for the Homework Club at Life Deliverance Ministries. This after-school program is a faith-based community development corporation project.

Submitted by: Zenia Schlenoff, Arabic Studies

Aneseh Haeiahwazi and Brain Van Asten have made great contributions this year with the Middle Eastern Outreach Program. The ME Outreach program introduces elementary and middle school students to the region through a series of multi-national presentations. At each visit, the students learn about the cultural aspects of the Middle East such as language, music, and traditions and customs. They are also exposed to basic geography of each Middle Eastern country and its history. The program's aim is to eliminate the stereotypes that remain in our society about the Middle East and its people(s), beginning at a young age.

Aneseh is a Junior pursuing a degree in Middle Eastern Studies. She has been involved with FSU's Middle East Outreach for two years. Brian Van Asten is a double major in Criminology and Middle Eastern Studies and plans to graduate next spring. Now in his third semester participating in the program, Brian had this to say about the program:

“It’s incredibly rewarding to see how interested the young students are in the Middle East. One of the most rewarding experiences was the lasting impression left on a third grade girl named Jordan. Through some of our presentations Jordan would talk and generally not pay attention, but when we started our presentation on Jordan (the country) she piped up from the back, ‘My name is Jordan!’ She never took her eyes off the presentation and I’m sure knows everything we presented about Jordan. That, I think, is the very goal of the Middle East Outreach Program: to be able to get these children to identify with the culture of the Middle East and compensate for the lack of education on the Middle East in the Florida school system. I plan on continuing with the outreach program until I graduate helping it to become better and better.”