{"id":502,"date":"2020-03-04T23:02:48","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T23:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/ttcg\/?p=502"},"modified":"2023-01-22T20:20:58","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T20:20:58","slug":"the-story-of-ttcg-chapter-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/ttcg\/2020\/03\/04\/the-story-of-ttcg-chapter-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of TTCG, Chapter 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Because the SSCC<\/a> model is designed to connect multiple courses and disciplines to community-identified projects, Connie initially reached out to two colleagues \u2013 Prof.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Image\u00a0Sandra Weissinger<\/a> in Sociology and Prof. Anne Werner<\/a> in Construction Management \u2013 to see if they might be interested in incorporating the project into their senior capstone courses. Both agreed.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prof. Weissinger teaches and does research on African American communities in the College of Arts and Sciences. Prof. Werner teaches and does research on construction and structural materials, construction methods, and engineering education for k-12 students.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

On Thursday, July 18, 2019, Derissa, Sandra, and Connie met at a local restaurant\u00a0<\/span>for lunch to get acquainted and to learn about Derissa\u2019s vision for WP. Derissa shared that she owned o<\/a><\/span>ne-third of an acre lot in WP<\/a> just a few blocks from\u00a0<\/span>James Avant Elementar<\/span>y School<\/span>, where the community garden would eventually be located. Because Derissa is a proud resident and passionate teacher in WP, she was clear in her desire that the children of WP have access to the <\/span>same resources that children in more affluent communities have. Derissa\u00a0<\/span>noted that her students and their families struggle with food insecurity and l<\/span>ack safe places to play. Derissa, furthermore, is deeply concerned about the lack of educational enrichment opportunities for WP children. As children from more affluent communities<\/span>\u00a0continue to gain access to resources such as STEM centers and cutting-edge technology, the class and racial equity gaps will continue to grow between her students and others. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Washington Park\u00a0<\/span>is located in<\/span>\u00a0St. Clair County<\/span><\/span>, is less than 3 square miles of land, and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>borders East St. Louis to the west. WP\u00a0<\/span><\/span>currently\u00a0<\/span><\/span>has a population of around four thousand residents<\/span><\/span>, down from approximately 7,500 residents in 1990.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Just over 18 percent of the population is 14 years old or younger.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0WP is home to James Avant Elementary School<\/span><\/span>\u00a0(JAES)<\/span><\/span>, where Derissa teaches. JAES serves approximately 500 children enrolled in grades kindergarten through fifth grade.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The partnership between Derissa and SSCC kicked off in <\/span><\/span>the fall semester<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>with\u00a0<\/span><\/span>three sociology courses and one construction management course engaged with The Tiny Children\u2019s Garden<\/span><\/span>\u00a0(<\/span><\/span>TTCG<\/span><\/span>)<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>On August\u00a0<\/span>22<\/span> 2019, the first week of the semester, <\/span>Derissa<\/span><\/span>\u00a0came to SIUE to meet the students in SOC 515 and to share her vision and goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In our next chapter, you’ll meet the first cohort of students. Stay tuned!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because the SSCC model is designed to connect multiple courses and disciplines to community-identified projects, Connie initially reached out to two colleagues \u2013 Prof. \u00a0Sandra Weissinger in Sociology and Prof. Anne Werner in Construction Management \u2013 to see if they might be interested in incorporating the project into their senior capstone courses. Both agreed.\u00a0\u00a0 Prof. Weissinger teaches and does research<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sb_is_suggestion_mode":false,"_sb_show_suggestion_boards":false,"_sb_show_comment_boards":false,"_sb_suggestion_history":"","_sb_update_block_changes":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/ttcg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/ttcg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/ttcg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/ttcg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/ttcg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/ttcg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":512,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/ttcg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/ttcg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/ttcg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/ttcg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}