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A List
2/5/07
ALCOA FOUNDATION GRANT SUPPORTS SLU'S AKWESASNE SEMESTER
CANTON - Alcoa Foundation has awarded St. Lawrence University a $10,000 grant in
support of the University's Akwesasne Semester program.
The program, which began in the fall of 2006, allows students to take their
courses on-site at the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation, while participating in
internships with tribal agencies and working with youth at the Akwesasne Boys
and Girls Club. Eight students participated in the pilot program, six from
St. Lawrence and two from SUNY Potsdam.
Courses in the Akwesasne Semester include Native American History; Native American
Oral Traditions; Families, Children and Poverty; and The Ethnography of Schooling:
Specific Focus on Native People.
The internship component of the program requires four hours per week of service
work at tribal agencies, including the Department of Social Services; Early
Childhood Development Program; Historic Preservation Office; Mohawk Indian
Housing Corporation: Sweet Flags, the Akwesasne Museum and Cultural Center;
and the People's Voice newspaper.
In addition to their work with these agencies, students in the program also spent
at least 12 hours per week working with children at the Boys and Girls Club.
St. Lawrence University's community-based learning programs, which include the
Akwesasne Semester, offer students a variety of academic opportunities to combine
community engagement and service with course-based activities and assignments in ways
that are designed to promote student learning and personal development.
"The students have made very strong connections with both the members and staff at
the Boys and Girls Club," says St. Lawrence Associate Professor of Sociology Ronald
Flores, director of the community-based learning program and Center for Civic
Engagement and Leadership. "The students have been involved in a variety of
programs that have greatly benefited the children and youth of the club. It
is very clear that the development of a powerful understanding and appreciation
of Mohawk culture and society is emerging among the students."
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More information: Corporate and Foundation Relations
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