Service-Learning Courses
2006 Student Project Grants Recipients

Anna volunteered with an eight year old girl named Marveli from El Salvador as apart of Spanish 4, Spanish for Health Professions. For 3-4 hours each week, Anna spent one-on-one time with her, helping her to read books both in English and Spanish, to prepare writing assignments, to learn basic multiplication and division, and to give an original oral presentation (in English) on Frida Khalo.  The grant purchased Spanish-English materials to assist with Marveli’s readingcomprehension. Together, Anna and Marveli would read a story in Spanish together, and then after Marveli had gained a good understanding of what happened in the story, they would read the story in English.  Anna shared “With a foundation built by first reading the story in Spanish, it was clear that she could better understand the plots and even better correctly identify English vocabulary words.”

Shegufta Shefa Sikder, Spanish 4 Honors student
School Reading Partners

Shegufta was enrolled in Spanish 4 Honors, Intermediate Spanish this past spring semester. The course had a service-learning component which encouraged direct service in the local Hispanic community in order to increase cultural awareness of the Hispanic population. She volunteered with School Reading Partners in Carr Court Pre-Kindergarten, a school in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro City School System. The school served 3-5 year-olds, and the majority (over 60%) of the students were of Latino background. Although the school encouraged bilingualism, there was a noticeable lack of books in Spanish. Pulling from her own immigrant experience, Shegufta felt that having a book in which the characters had similar appearancesand lives to mine was an essential part of feeling comfortable in a society. Shegufta’s professor encouraged her to apply for an APPLES grant to buy more books in Spanish and bilingual books. After receiving the grant, she read these books to the children increasing their engagement level. The teachers at the school shared that the children check out some of the books to read at home, and that the books are constantly being read this semester

Helen Legrand, SPAN 4 student
Frank Porter Graham Elementary School

Helen used student project grant funds to purchase children's books in Spanish for students in Frank Porter Graham Elementary's Spanish School Reading Partners and ESL programs.  The books were used to supplement the library of "bonus books" read for fun once the student has finished the day's activities.  This library had many bonus books geared towards younger children, but only a few books intended for kids in the higher grades.  The books purchased included classic children's fairy tales in Spanish and in English, several translations of traditional American children's novels, and several books by Hispanic authors emphasizing Latin American culture.  The books were included in the library once received and now provide some better reading choices for more advanced students who need a greater challenge.  The coordinator of the ESL programs reported her students were very excited on seeing some new books in the Spanish library.

Kaili Mumme, PHCY 40 student
Orange County Animal Services

A student in PHCY 40, Topical Issues in Health Science, Kaili volunteered with the Community Action Project at Orange County Animal Services. She contributed to the community by making informational bookmarks about Orange County Animal Services. Kaili distributed these bookmarks to Hillsborough Elementary School Fourth Graders and also presented on the Orange County Animal Services and their responsibilities in the community. 

To obtain contact information for the current Courses Chair, please refer to the APPLES' Organizers directory.