Service Learning Commons^™

Mental Health Stigma, Myna H. Krueck

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Mental health stigma refers to societal disapproval, or when society places shame on people who live with a mental illness or seek help for emotional distress, such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, or PTSD. I made a poll with students attending Boise State about stigma and mental illness and posted it on Instagram for those people to take it. I took the results that were found from that poll and created an awareness newsletter. I posted this newsletter to the same Instagram account where I made the poll for. The newsletter was able to spread awareness through social media, and …

Eating Through Trauma, Thea R. Jordan

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Ever skipped a meal because you didn't feel hungry? This is likely because the body was not in a state of rest and digest. When our bodies are overloaded with cortisol (stress hormones), and adrenaline we are not able to effectively digest food, leaving us in a heightened state that is deeply disruptive to the nervous system.

Avoiding situations where you will be eating or skipping meals altogether is a simple protection mechanism that the body uses in the event it needs to fight or flight. When the body has been conditioned to be hypervigilant in the event of a …

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 …