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College places priority on community service

By Pete Rosenbery

Community service is a priority in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts.

Efforts range from the annual “Give Kids A Smile Day” that involves students from the Dental Hygiene Program, to a hillside amphitheater overlooking Little Grassy Lake designed and built by architecture and design students.

On Feb. 20, about 160 children from infant to 14 years old received free dental care with the assistance of approximately 100 students and 16 faculty from the Dental Hygiene Program, along with volunteer dentists and hygienists. Over the course of 13 years, the program has served more than 2,600 children from throughout the region.

For many, this was their first visit to a dentist, so helping the child feel comfortable in what can be a scary environment is a priority, Jennifer M. Meyer, assistant instructor and project coordinator, said. This year included intercollegiate athletics participating with Brown Dawg and cheerleaders meeting the kids. There was also a game room to keep children who are waiting occupied.

“The part that I always enjoy is the children who are experiencing their first dental visit with us,” Meyer said. “It’s always exciting to see them come in; see the excitement of the day and what a pleasant experience they can have instead of being nervous and scared. Our students just have this way of working with kids that they can calm them down and really form a bond with them during their appointment. Seeing them leave happy and excited makes me happy.”

Meyer and several students said the community service component is an important element of their studies.

“I feel like especially with Southern Illinois being more of a rural area of the state it’s perfect,” Madison Futrell, a senior from Pocahontas, Ark., said. “It’s an underserved area and so many kids don’t have dental insurance or their families cannot afford dental work without insurance.”

Futrell and Ariel Edmonson, a senior from Centralia, said getting children comfortable in what can be busy and unfamiliar surroundings is key.

“You want to show them everything you have first,” Edmonson said. “Let them touch the air and water syringe and show them that it’s not a needle and it’s not going to hurt. We want them to be comfortable. Some have never been to a dentist so you want to warm them up so they won’t be scared.”

For Kayla Doiron, a sophomore from New Athens, the event was the first time she had a child as a patient. She said it was her mother, a registered nurse, who suggested Doiron pursue a career in dental hygiene. Doiron said after visiting the campus while still a senior in high school she knew this is what she wanted.

All three students mentioned the attraction of enrolling in the state’s only four-year baccalaureate dental hygiene program.

“Everyone I talked to who is a hygienist that I shadowed said this was a wonderful program and will give a lot of opportunities” after graduation, Doiron said.

Dentist Robert Wetherell, a 1979 SIU Carbondale physiology graduate who earned his dental degree from the University of Louisville Dental School, said the early experience with children as patients is valuable for students. Wetherell, of Vienna, is a trustee with the Illinois State Dental Society, a past president of the Southern Illinois Dental Society, and has participated in about eight “Give Kids a Smile” days.

“It’s not something that you acquire or learn by reading it out of a textbook or attending a lecture. It’s acquired through hands-on training,” he said.

Another student-related project is the hillside amphitheater that overlooks Little Grassy Lake. The 1,500-square-foot facility was built entirely by second-year architecture and interior design students from the School of Architecture in the spring of 2014. It was the first large-scale design/build project attempted in Building Technology I. The amphitheater, which seats about 120 people, serves Touch of Nature’s camps and various private events. The project’s stage is about three times larger than its predecessor, said Chad Schwartz, an assistant professor in the School of Architecture.

 The project emphasized translation from ideas to drawings to built construction. The class, comprised of 45 students and three graduate assistants, worked through issues of site analysis, conceptual design, client review, cost analysis, construction documentation, mockups, demolition and, finally, construction.

The hope is that by bringing the build projects in the school out into the community, the course and the students can be active through service learning and community engagement, Schwartz said.

“Regardless of the final products created, the real critique of design/build needs to focus on the working, thinking, and making that the students do throughout the journey,” Schwartz said. “As they move on in their academic and professional careers, design/build has the potential to have a critical impact on the students’ outlook on their profession. This impact will be felt due to the process they have endured, however, and not the seductive image of the built work.”

This semester, the current group of students in Building Technology I is again working at Touch of Nature, helping to complete a series of six environmentally friendly restroom facilities as part of one of the university’s Green Fund Grants.

In addition to the students, the Illinois Laborers and Contractors Joint Apprentice and Training Program assisted with the concrete and asphalt installation, and Martha Clarke and Touch of Nature physical plant staff assisted in the construction. 

“Almost immediately after it was complete, the amphitheater was in full use by the campers who flood Touch of Nature during the summer months,” Schwartz said. “The facility has also been used for multiple weddings -- one happened a couple days after we finished -- and other gatherings, including multiple events through the School of Architecture.”