Service Learning Commons^™

Action: Asap, Inc., Employee Handbook, Timothy J. Riley

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

A project focused on the employee/employer relationship within a septic and excavation company located in the Treasure Valley. My mission was to create an administrative document defining the expectations of new and current employees, paired with their expectations from the company. This is an entirely new document to ASAP, Inc. as the company has grown and is seeking a better approach to defining the employee/employer relationship.

Striving Towards Efficient Curriculum Implementation, Melissa J. Hernandez

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

As an Early Learning Mentor Coach for a non-profit organization, my job is to ensure proper implementation of our curriculum within the classroom in order to be in compliance with our grant agreements. Through this process, I had to think of a way to support teaching staff and help them be successful without adding extra stress or hours to their workdays. Whether this was to be done through a binder, a reflection checklist, or a website, I needed to come up with something that was efficient, effective, and convenient for the teachers.

Connecting Members Of The Treasure Valley Down Syndrome Association With Each Other, Kristie Oakes

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Implementation of a physical membership directory for the Treasure Valley Down Syndrome Association to allow for a more effective means of exchanging contact information amongst its members during a time of no-contact.

Brain Trauma, Chase Hatada

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

The present research project centers on the issue of concussions. Concussions largely go unreported in football, across all levels of play. Concussions can vary in their impact, but generally they can cause a myriad of cognitive, physical and emotional problems. The risk of concussions and the impacts on the health of the individual, is largely affected by self reporting of concussions, which is extremely low. The culture of sports is a large part of this issue, a culture of hypermasculinity which supports self sacrifice is dominant in sports. Addressing this problem, the present project surveys individuals on their knowledge of …

How Is Your Mental Health At Walgreens, Kelly Kukla

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

How Is Your Mental Health is based on the mental health of Pharmacy Technicians at a Walgreens near me. Recently there was an incident with the Pharmacy, that tested our staff. What was observed was that these employees were given only a phone number for support and a few days off. Off this observation it was believed this wasn't enough. By conducting a survey for each employee to fill out about their mental health anonymously to tell us how they actually feel while working for Walgreens. With information about how horrible the mental health has been, thee stress they feel, …

Service-Learning: A Homeless Outreach Initiative, Eduardo A. De La Torre

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

A capstone project focused at providing resources and assistance to a growing homeless community living at Sunset Park and surrounding areas. Our mission was aimed at providing the homeless immediate access to a pop-up event that hosts numerous onsite resources from a wide range of services. Which included, but not limited to physical and mental health services, information on how to enter substance abuse rehabilitation programs, assistance with both temporary and permanent housing options. Created by joint partnerships between the Nevada Homeless Alliance, affiliated organizations and volunteers who are all committed and dedicated to advocating for the elimination of homelessness …

Modus Operandi, Sommer Cartwright

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

There is a lack of information available on Idaho Cold Cases, especially in a modern format. I have created a project to fill this void in awareness in the community. Starting with two cases, and posting them on YouTube I am hoping to continue to keep these cases alive and get them in front of new eyes in hope of solving them. During these videos I told the stories of the victims, while creating a painting.

Ride The Wave (The Wave Of Recovery): Leisure Time Activities, Donald R. Martin Sr.

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Ride the Wave (The Wave of Recovery) Leisure Time Activities is the title of a leisure time activities booklet that was created by Donnie Martin in partnership with Recovery in Motion (RIM, non-profit organization), as a resource to help reduce occurrences of addiction relapses in the Twin Falls community. The hope is that more recovering addicts will be successful in their recovery and transition into a recovery lifestyle becoming productive members of the Twin Falls community. The leisure time activities booklet is being distributed and edified to recovering addicts in recovery support groups by RIM support group facilitators and by …

The Youth Closet: Connecting Those In Need To Those Who Care, Anastasia Webster

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

In order to ensure disadvantaged youth who come through the Juvenile Justice System have access to the common items needed by all individuals, a Youth Closet was created. This closet consists of donated items from staff and community members. Further, to effectively connect youth with these resources, I created a website that lists the available items. In addition, this website serves as a method to request specific items and find ways to contribute to the closet.

Fundraising For Idaho Foster Kids, Jodi M. Campbell

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Idaho has an increasing number of children in the foster care system that are not able to be assigned to homes. The system is struggling for resources to provide basic necessities to these children. During my capstone project I created a fundraising event to raise funds to help support the children in the Treasure Valley. I created an online platform as well as an in person event selling my chocolate covered items from my personal business to raise these funds. My efforts were a success in raising $250 to help give these children some items that they need.

Gardening Blog, Ashley Pierce

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

For this project I chose to create a blog as a resource for new gardeners in the Southern Idaho area. I wanted to offer a free resource for people to be able to learn about something I enjoy, and share my knowledge and perspective with my readers. I found that many people do not know how to begin, and I wanted to offer an accessible resource for them to feel less intimidated and be successful in starting plants from seeds.

Recruiting In Law Enforcement, Kyle R. Scott

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Recruiting in 2022 is difficult to say the least, for many professions. I have worked or volunteered in public service for almost two decades. The last five years I have worked for my two of the largest law enforcement agencies in the state of Oregon and have personally seen the struggles to hire and retain employees. There are variety of reasons law enforcement is struggling to recruit, finances, politics, liability and wages are just a few things that hinder recruiting efforts for many law enforcement organizations. My goal is to shed light on what my organization offer and how we …

Ymca Just For Kids Campaign, James C. Valerio

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

YMCA as commonly known is the acronym for Young Men Christian Association. This nonprofit organization is a worldwide organization with more than 57 million beneficiaries all over the world. As a captain of one of the teams of the Just for Kids campaign, the purpose of this service based project was to see the internal and external fundraising activities of the organization, this will give us a broader perspective into the success of the organization and the next level of growth for the organization. Although this is a nonprofit organization, there are different fundraising factors and strategies such as the …

Improving Employee Performance And Job Satisfaction Using Comprehensive Job Descriptions And Performance Evaluations, Jeffrey A. Bishop

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Employees who are provided clear expectations—including goals and objectives—with ongoing performance feedback, can realize improved performance and job satisfaction. Performance feedback should be specific and include actions the employee excels at, in addition to areas he or she needs to improve on (United States Office of Personnel Management, 2022). Research has shown that regular feedback can help provide direction, motivate, encourage engagement, and improve the performance of employees. Research has also shown that the absence of job descriptions can lead to employee dissatisfaction and an inability of management to adequately appraise the performance of their employees (Raju & Banerjee, 2017).

Encouraging Healthier Habits In Children, Krysta Hughes

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Childhood obesity rates in America are the highest they've ever been. In this research we are focused on encouraging healthier habits in children. The method used was an observational, cross-sectional online survey of 5 children and 4 parents. All of the children and parents wanted to pick healthier behaviors after reading my book. A Qualtrics survey was used to record each surveyor's response. Further research on this topic should include researching how many children have began to implement healthier habits and measure if the rate of obesity in children has been affected through yearly health visits.

Technology In The High School Classroom, Jim Rife

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

With the increase of technology being used in the classroom, rural school districts can struggle with finding a platform that is easy to use and cost effective for the school district. Ease of use and availability are two of the main factors in choosing a platform.

Capstone: Burn Surgery Education Module, Sophie J. Weber

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

I chose to solve a training and continuing education problem in my workplace, by creating a manual on burn surgery. This manual will later be turned into a computer education module, but will always be available in a hard copy as a reference material. I had to find an approach that reflected how my peers wanted to be educated and on what education points they felt were the most important to their success in surgery.

Empty Nester Website/Blog Project, Lessa J. Tuffield

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

The basis of my capstone project is to build a website for Empty Nesters – Findin Me Again that includes blog stories that capture my journey. My major focus for the website is to provide support and encouragement to others who will become or are currently empty nesters. Empty nesters are parents whose children have grown up and left home. The project involves research on empty nest syndrome, website construction, blog writing, brands, and design. Research shows us that by taking care of ourselves by reconnecting with others, staying in touch with our children, and seeking support from others, we …

Capstone Project: The Spirit Of Play, Brooke W. Spencer

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Play is a powerful tool for self-care for people of all ages, yet most adults don’t use it enough. To help others cultivate more play in their lives, I created a blog called The Spirit of Play Blog. In the blog I discuss the importance of play and ways it can be incorporated into life. The blog also provided readers with a chance to reflect on play in their own lives and challenged them to play more and in new ways.

Peer Support In Online Programs, Mary P. James

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

The question of how to get online students to engage outside of the course curriculum is not a new problem, but it is one that became a higher priority after Covid-19 caused universities to change their learning models in Spring 2020. Peer-to-peer support programs can foster online student engagement and enable connections that benefit both the university department and the students. This paper overviews a service-learning project that sought to start building a framework for peer support based on perspectives from Boise State University Multidisciplinary students and the Multidisciplinary Department (also known as the Interdisciplinary Professional Studies Department). I used …

Extremism And Its Effects On Idaho Legislation, Steve D. Sutherland

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

The Capstone Project covers, through documented interviews and insights, practitioners, journalists, and researchers that have endeavored to recognize and reconcile the effects of extremism in Idaho legislation. The referenced articles and academic journals also shed light on how this is not unique to the Gem State and how it is manifesting and evolving within the United States. This paper describes my approaches to researching this topic and the challenges of its polarization and political realities. I cover how creating an innovative approach can bring together different perspectives. Emotional intelligence is vital in exploring a hot-button issue such as this. Awareness …

Reinventing Training At Lamb Weston, Clint G. Irvin

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

My Capstone project was about building a new training book for the operators in my facility to aid them in operating the equipment more efficiently. I did this by using the integrative thinking process and applying it to the choices I made during the process of this project.

Physical Therapist Assistant Training: Documentation Guidelines, Megan A. Mcchristy

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This essay details the development of a training document for physical therapist assistants to improve their documentation and clearly lay out the legal requirements and company expectations of their documentation. The final draft has been finished and is planned to be distributed in Quarter 2 of 2022.

How To Improve An Existing Training Program, Joseph Morgan

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Increasing the effectiveness of any training program is an ongoing undertaking that may require refinement year after year. The purpose of this MDS Capstone Project is to increase the effectiveness of our agent community, as well as our internal staff, when it comes to identifying missing information during the implementation process of a new group that is being on-boarded for health insurance. Missing information, errors, and inaccurate information can lead to delays when on-boarding a new group. These delays may also lead to increase workloads, increased cost through employee’s having to work overtime, and upset customers. Restructuring this training program, …

Support For Pets Searching For Their Forever Home, Karin S. Shriver

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

For my capstone, I chose to align with the Idaho Humane Society. I wanted to select a community service project so that years from now, I could look back on this capstone and be proud of the difference I could make. The goal was to bring awareness to our communities’ needs for pets that are still looking for a forever home and assist with some of their immediate needs such as food, toys, and blankets.

I networked in my personal, professional, and social groups to collect donations in the form of cash, pet food, pet treats, pet toys, blankets, and …

Owyhee Canyon Trail Clean-Up And Restoration, Douglas A. Simpson

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

• This was a project that was done to help keep the BLM from shutting down an amazing trail due to lack of maintenance and riders leaving trash behind.
• A group of volunteers, myself and my family performed maintenance on the trail and we cleaned up all of the loose trash that had been left behind.

Building Healthy Habits: A Wellness Program For Juvenile Detention Officers, Janaan R. Van Zante

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This paper focuses on the creation of a wellness program for the Snake River Juvenile Detention Center in Twin Falls Idaho and how it has started to make a positive impact on the juvenile detention officers at the facility. Wellness is something that detention officers take for granted. Most of the officers eat a lot of junk food and believe that lack of sleep and low energy levels are a normal part of being a juvenile detention officer. Juvenile detention officers work in an environment where they need to have empathy for the youth in their custody. Constant empathy for …

Life Skills And Economics: Mrs. Shelley's Special Education Jr. High Student Experience, Shelley Douglas

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

The problem starts with students having a lack of skill and understanding when stepping out on their own. Teaching students skills now will help them become successful members of society. Students who learn life skills early and this will not only build self-confidence but their long term success in life.

Students in my current Jr. high do not have an understanding of basic life skills including economic skills like personal finance. I built a program to teach the lacking skills to my Jr. high students. I use Google sites, Google Classroom and other resources to support my plan. Some of …

Lasting Memories Of Veterans, Skylar Taylor

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Throughout this project I interviewed veterans who reside in nursing homes. The purpose of the interview was to gather their individual stories and publish them on a website. As well as help offset the negative impacts of COVID-19 within nursing homes. Publishing the stories within a website was our way of ensuring that they will not be forgotten when they pass away. Leaving a lasting memory on the world.

4h Small Animal Brochure Capstone Project, Chiara Green

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

The 4H Small Animal Orientation Brochure strives to answer the questions a prospective 4H member might have about completing a small animal project from where to begin to the final presentation of showing your project at the County Fair. This way they can make an informed decision about joining 4H to complete a small animal project. This brochure was reviewed by 4H leaders in Gooding County.