Newfoundland & Labrador Projects
Memorial University of Newfoundland Initiatives
Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering - Community Service Learning Work Terms
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Memorial University has found a unique opportunity to not only supply students with an experience that will enable them to grow their skills and expertise as engineers, but also use their skill set to work with underfunded and not-for-profit organizations throughout the community, through an initiative called Community Service Learning (CSL) Work. Rather than take a traditional engineering work term, students now have the opportunity to be paired with a local school, church, community centre, etc. and spend the semester working on various initiatives, helping to improve efficiency and infrastructure and becoming more involved with the community. Commencing in 2019, the Fry Family Foundation has made a 4-year commitment to fund approximately 40 CSL Work Terms for MUN Engineering students. Learn more about some of these amazing Work Term projects here.
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Centre for Social Enterprise – Graduate Student Internships
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The Centre for Social Enterprise (CSE) is a strategic initiative of MUN, capitalizing on the strong community focus in NL and the commitment of its citizens to social innovation. Whereas traditional entrepreneurship and enterprise development emphasizes the development of technology focused, high-profit potential businesses, the CSE seeks to incubate and strengthen organizations with strong social mandates, and help to ensure their sustainability in a challenging economic environment. A collaboration initially between the Faculty of Business Administration and the School of Social Work, the CSE acts as a catalyst to nurture social entrepreneurs and strengthen social enterprises in the province. FFF has made a 4-year commitment, commencing in 2019 to fund 20 Social Enterprise Internships for MUN graduate students. Through these placements, the goal is to develop leadership capacity in students to engage in social entrepreneurship, and create opportunities for students to learn about social enterprises. While developing students as “community leaders and agents of social change”, there is also the potential for significant benefit to the not for profits and social enterprises in which these students will serve. Learn more about some of these Internship Placements here.
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Spotlight on a past project with the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
Together By Design
When disaster strikes, Darlene Spracklin-Reid brings together a community to rebuild, all while giving students hands-on learning experience and inspiring the next generation of volunteers. Ms. Spracklin-Reid, is the co-founder and director of Together by Design (TBD), a not-for-profit that brings together engineering students and apprentices to work on community service projects. Ms. Spracklin-Reid co-founded the TBD project with John Oates, from the College of the North Atlantic. Their aim was to encourage volunteerism in Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as help the people New Orleans. Starting in 2009, she has led a team of volunteers to New Orleans to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. The team also works on projects in Newfoundland and Labrador, improving teaching and learning facilities as well as accessible housing.
Ms. Spracklin-Reid says, "I'm an engineer and a volunteer. I also have a professional background in construction management. I thought it was important to install in students an awareness of how they can use their skills to give back to their communities. I feel it helps them further develop their skills and make them better professionals. I also feel it is incumbent on engineers to be leaders in community service. After all, our mandate is to make the world a better place. Having come from a construction background, I know that respect for the trades and the skills of tradespeople is essential. As a result, TBD was founded to bring students studying the trades and engineering together in community service. I became interested in New Orleans in particular from watching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on television. As each day passed, I couldn't believe how the situation for the people of New Orleans was worsened instead of improving. I was deeply impacted because it was truly an engineering failure. The city survived the hurricane, but it was the failure of the under-designed levees that caused so much death and destruction. As a professional engineer, I felt I owed something to the city, although I'd never been there. I felt drawn to use my engineering skills to try to help ameliorate the damage."
In 2016, volunteers spent more than 2 weeks working on housing projects. This trip included a mix of carpentry and engineering students, working on one housing project in the city's Lower Ninth Ward - one of the neighbourhoods hardest hit by the hurricane - and another on New Orleans east side. Ms. Spracklin-Reid said the trip not only helps the people of New Orleans, it lets the student volunteers take their academic study out of the classroom. "We find that it deepens their learning, and it provides extra motivation for really producing your best quality work."
Watch a video about this project: "Together by Design: A decade of students helping to rebuild New Orleans".
Read more about the Together by Design project in these articles:
"People feel forgotten: MUN, CMC students help New Orleans build back"
"From Newfoundland to New Orleans"
"Community Builder: Q&A with Tribute Award recipient Darlene Spracklin-Reid"
"New Orleans to Newfoundland: Darlene Spracklin-Reid honoured for improving lives at home and abroad".
When disaster strikes, Darlene Spracklin-Reid brings together a community to rebuild, all while giving students hands-on learning experience and inspiring the next generation of volunteers. Ms. Spracklin-Reid, is the co-founder and director of Together by Design (TBD), a not-for-profit that brings together engineering students and apprentices to work on community service projects. Ms. Spracklin-Reid co-founded the TBD project with John Oates, from the College of the North Atlantic. Their aim was to encourage volunteerism in Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as help the people New Orleans. Starting in 2009, she has led a team of volunteers to New Orleans to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. The team also works on projects in Newfoundland and Labrador, improving teaching and learning facilities as well as accessible housing.
Ms. Spracklin-Reid says, "I'm an engineer and a volunteer. I also have a professional background in construction management. I thought it was important to install in students an awareness of how they can use their skills to give back to their communities. I feel it helps them further develop their skills and make them better professionals. I also feel it is incumbent on engineers to be leaders in community service. After all, our mandate is to make the world a better place. Having come from a construction background, I know that respect for the trades and the skills of tradespeople is essential. As a result, TBD was founded to bring students studying the trades and engineering together in community service. I became interested in New Orleans in particular from watching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on television. As each day passed, I couldn't believe how the situation for the people of New Orleans was worsened instead of improving. I was deeply impacted because it was truly an engineering failure. The city survived the hurricane, but it was the failure of the under-designed levees that caused so much death and destruction. As a professional engineer, I felt I owed something to the city, although I'd never been there. I felt drawn to use my engineering skills to try to help ameliorate the damage."
In 2016, volunteers spent more than 2 weeks working on housing projects. This trip included a mix of carpentry and engineering students, working on one housing project in the city's Lower Ninth Ward - one of the neighbourhoods hardest hit by the hurricane - and another on New Orleans east side. Ms. Spracklin-Reid said the trip not only helps the people of New Orleans, it lets the student volunteers take their academic study out of the classroom. "We find that it deepens their learning, and it provides extra motivation for really producing your best quality work."
Watch a video about this project: "Together by Design: A decade of students helping to rebuild New Orleans".
Read more about the Together by Design project in these articles:
"People feel forgotten: MUN, CMC students help New Orleans build back"
"From Newfoundland to New Orleans"
"Community Builder: Q&A with Tribute Award recipient Darlene Spracklin-Reid"
"New Orleans to Newfoundland: Darlene Spracklin-Reid honoured for improving lives at home and abroad".