Service Learning Commons^™

Employee Recognition Program, Michael E. Brady

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This semester, I focused on developing an employee recognition program for my organization as a capstone project. This initiative aims to bring substantial value by acknowledging and appreciating the hard work, dedication, and outstanding performance of our employees. The program is designed to enhance morale, satisfaction, and motivation, fostering a culture of appreciation and loyalty. Its implementation is expected to result in increased productivity, improved job performance, and higher employee retention rates, thereby maintaining a stable workforce.

To ensure the effectiveness of the program, I considered key elements such as defining clear criteria for recognition aligned with organizational goals, timely …

Nonprofit Website Design For Mission And Stakeholder Impact, Amy Elizabeth Mcintyre

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Idaho Giving Garden was founded in 2020, and official recognition as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization is set to be granted in January 2024. Idaho Giving Garden’s mission is to combat food insecurity in its community by growing and distributing fresh and nutritious produce to the Meridian Food Bank, fostering a healthier and more equitable food system for all. For my service-learning capstone project, I developed a website for Idaho Giving Garden to raise awareness of its mission and goals and engage volunteers, funders, and donors to support its cause. With greater community engagement through the website, Idaho Giving Garden hopes …

Community Car Care Workshop, Zachary Davis Hunsuck

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This project aims to fill a notable deficiency in fundamental automobile maintenance knowledge within the local community, a deficiency that has resulted in increased repair expenses and potential hazards to safety. The proposed approach entails the creation and execution of an interactive workshop that specifically targets fundamental car maintenance activities such as oil changes, tire rotations, and brake inspections. This workshop utilizes a service-learning approach, actively involving the community and partnering with local auto repair shops and other relevant parties. The program seeks to equip community members with essential skills in basic car maintenance through interactive learning and practical demonstrations. …

Aircraft Forms 101, Ryan Donivan-Laydon Meili

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

The premise of this project is to inform pilots how to correctly fill out aircraft forms. The data and slides show the noticeable errors and how to correct those. By doing this we are eliminating extra work that is required to fix these entries.

Hunter's Vegan Cooking, Hunter L. Wahl

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This is a project that provides recipes for foods that are nationally loved, but in a plant-based way. I have been vegan for two and a half years now and I have an extensive background in cooking, as I worked in some very fast-paced kitchens throughout Boise as a young adult. These recipes are designed to not only provide recipes for those who already follow a plant-based lifestyle, but also maybe urge others who have no dietary restrictions to give vegan meals a shot. These recipes could also be a saving grace for those who have food allergens and just …

Improving The Work Quality In The Kitchen Using A Cook Checklist, Tim S. Anderson

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This paper represents the work of putting together a checklist and implementing it in a kitchen workplace in order to ensure all items are done and all cooks are able to rely on each other to relieve any additional stress from the job.

Fundraising For Local Nonprofits: Raising Money To Grow Our Roots-Chrysalis Women's Transitional Living, Brent Steven Beckwith

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This project was a partnership between myself and Chrysalis Women's Transitional Living in Boise, ID. The goal of this project was to raise awareness of the organization in the Boise, Meridian, and Nampa communities as well as the rest of the Treasure Valley. In addition to raising awareness, other goals included raising a financial donation amount of $5,000, item and furniture donations.

Empowering Voices: Designing An Employee Feedback System At Like Media, Jackson A. Russo

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This paper outlines the design and implementation of an innovative employee feedback system at Like Media. The project integrates principles from organizational psychology, web development, and user experience design to create a user-friendly, anonymous feedback platform. Key findings indicate the system's success in promoting transparency, enhancing internal communication, and fostering a positive work culture. This paper explores the methodology, development process, results, and potential future implications of the project.

Book Club For Communication: Bringing The Four Agreements To A Trauma Recovery Group, Taylor Renee Dobson

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This service learning project started a book club within the Idaho Community Outreach Behavior Services (COBS) program; a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, that aims to help victims of sex-trafficking get the trauma care they need and helps them with a safer lifestyle and living situation, if necessary. The book The Four Agreements was provided for each woman to read the assigned weekly section, and come to the group each week prepared to discuss what they read and how it relates to them personally. Participation in an open discussion would allow each person to share while also following the theme of the …

Cda And Continuing Dental Education On Company Time, Christopher Arnold Ponte

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

As a Certified Dental Assistant (CDA), the obligation to obtain Continuing Dental Education (CDE) credits to maintain one’s certification is an annual occurrence. Through the Dental Assisting National Board (DANB), annual renewals for CDAs consist of a fee, CPR certification, and one’s CDE acquisition. Working for a nonprofit community health center, Terry Reilly Health Services, I find it crucial to be able to share with my colleagues resources on finding CDE opportunities. Thus this led to the creation of my CDA quickstart guidebook to ensure staff have the correct resources for pursuing or maintaining a CDA certification. It is a …

From D1 Athlete To… What’S Next?, Makayla Hansen

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

After going through a career ending injury as a D1 volleyball player I am finding my new identity. I share my experiences as a collegiate athlete, hard times I have gone through, and a passion for learning something new. The focus of this blog is trying new activities and potential hobbies to fill my time.

Supporting A Community Of Pets, Noah C. Madden

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This capstone project highlights a community's efforts to support in-need pets, particularly dogs and cats, as well as their owners. For this project, I organized and executed a multiple-week food drive focused specifically on collecting pet food. The objective of this project was to help diminish the rate of food insecurity found in pets within the Boise community, as well as bring a fresh sense of hope to pet owners who may be facing financial hardship or other personal challenges. Over nearly a month’s time, my pet food drive was able to raise over 750 pounds of food for those …

Helping Hoodies Clothing Drive, Nicole Hawkinson

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This service learning project recognized the needs for warmer clothing for disadvantaged children that they genuinely wanted and would wear. Oftentimes, children who are in the care of the state for any purpose are children that have suffered trauma and loss. Not only loss of their possessions, but their families, friends and stability. I partnered with a non-profit organization, The Closet, that gives these children back their ability to choose clothing items that fit their style and helps them to gain back a piece of their identity. I created the Helping Hoodies clothing drive that ran for a week in …

Missionary Of Faith: Uniting And Educating Catholic Youth Under God, Joshua Ryan Mcgarvie

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Religion, as discussed further in the following research, is clearly not the focus of many people’s lives in our society today. In my opinion, younger generations should be taught Catholicism to develop a solid moral foundation at a young age. For my capstone project, I volunteered to teach a Religious Education (RE) class to 6th-8th graders in my local parish. Through the development of a more robust and engaging curriculum, specifically designed to teach the most profound concepts of the Church, I was able to further the cause of bringing Catholicism to these younger members of society. As a leader …

Bridging The Gapp, Betty Trandem

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

The German American Partnership Program (GAPP) is a short-term high school student exchange program that provides students from both countries to gain perspectives from alternative culture exchanges. The GAPP program is not a school sponsored club or organization. This service-learning project involves assisting coordinators by creating resources to educate individuals regarding cultural and language opportunities and provides support to an already overburdened education staff. Communicating expectations and cultural information allows students to travel safely and remain open to new perspectives.

Creating Homes For Ethiopia's Future, Roxanna M. Dempsay

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Creating Homes for Ethiopia’s Future is a fundraiser project inspired by my travels to Ethiopia and opportunities to work with Maji’s Miracle, a nonprofit organization in Meridian, Idaho, advocating for vulnerable youth who have aged out of orphanages in Ethiopia. This capstone project was narrowly focused on one specific portion of the Maji’s Miracle intake process identified as a point where having a restricted reserve fund would allow the organization to act more efficiently to get youth into safe, secure housing, reduce delays and pressure on the organization and youth leaving orphanages, and eliminate concerns for potential homelessness while awaiting …

Clothing My Community, Megan Anderson-Way

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

My Capstone project is doing a clothing drive and swap for my community. I was inspired when I was back to school shopping for clothes for my daughter and realizing how expensive it is. I asked myself how do families afford it with multiple children afford clothing in this economy.

Para Educator And Classified Staff Study: Hacker Middle School, Cierra Hunter Donlee Webb

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

The following research and data collection was conducted over the course of 7 weeks during the capstone period of the authors final course for their Interdisciplinary Professional Studies degree. The following content is the interviews, data collection, and experiences of the author on their journey of this project. It establishes the wants and needs of the staff at a local middle school in Mountain Home Idaho. The author’s goal was to establish a foundational path for improvement and communication when it pertains to the classified and para educator staff at the local middle school and how this establishment could be …

A Social Media Marketing Plan For Premiere Property Group, Emma Claire Pittman

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This project took the current stats of Premiere Property Group, LLC’s (PPG) current social media presence and curated a plan to increase both engagement and brand awareness for the company. The social media marketing plan was created to set specific goals for the marketing department and to utilize the techniques and tools of current social media platforms to market the company without a large budget. The current social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, were assessed for followers, likes and views, as well as overall engagement. A social media marketing plan was then created specific to PPG’s target audiences and …

Calling All Students? Enrollment In Community-Engaged Learning Courses At A Marianist University, Molly Malany Sayre, Castel V. Sweet, Kelly Bohrer

Research and Reflection on Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

‘Community’ is a pervasive concept at the University of Dayton, a Catholic, Marianist institution in Dayton, Ohio. As such, it was unknown how students who enrolled in community engaged learning (CEL) courses were different from their peers in demographic characteristics, previous experiential learning, and views of community engagement. Findings can inform CEL recruitment as well as evaluation of CEL outcomes, especially at institutions with a similar values orientation. This mixed-methods study indicates that among four semesters of students in three selected CEL courses, few differences were found with students in non-CEL control groups. One significant difference found was in racial …