FALL 2014 Volume 1: Issue 3

HDFS Study Abroad: Capetown, South Africa

HDFSA Community Service: RACES

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HDFS DEVELOPMENTS The latest updates in Human Development and Family Studies in The Department of Human and Community Development at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign brought to you by the HDFS Undergraduate Ambassadors

Editors: Molly Harmon and Jasmine Brown

HDFS teaching faculty, Jan Brooks, has been organizing the HDFS Study Abroad trip to Capetown, South Africa for several years. There are semester long study abroad trips, yet HDFS offers a three-week, service-learning focused study abroad trip where students engage in service that is geared towards their professional goals. This trip may be short in duration, yet whether working in an orphanage, hospital, day care center, or other site placement, students often describe this experience as “life altering” and one that “helps them to develop personally and professionally.” Daniel Goldfine, an HDFS junior, went on the service-learning trip to South Africa this summer and summarized the role this trip had on his career decisions: “My study abroad experience was an eye opening and life-changing trip. While in Cape Town, we were all placed in different locations for our work sites, based on our interests. I was placed in the township Khayelitsha at a day care center for children with disabilities called Sibongile. The majority of the children at Sibongile have cerebral palsy and needed their muscles to be stretched to avoid contractures. I spent about 30 hours a week at this site and was able to perform hands on physical therapy techniques, an experience that I would not have been able to have anywhere else. I was able to play such a large role in the physical rehab part of their lives, and this really helped to secure my decision to pursue graduate school for physical therapy. “

Kudos to Jan Brooks and all of the students who have spent hours making a difference in South Africa. To learn more about HDFS Study Abroad opportunities, go to http://hcd.illinois.edu/student_information/studyabroad.html

HDFS Ambassadors (HDFSA) elected to make sexual violence their community service focus this year. To work or volunteer in rape crisis, counseling, or advocacy, one must be properly trained. So, HDFSA Advisor, Dr. Jill Bowers, teamed up with staff from Rape, Advocacy, Counseling, and Education Services (RACES) of Champaign-Urbana to offer a 40-hour sexual violence and crises intervention training. About 25 students took the course this summer/fall, and they gained knowledge and insights about a variety of issues surrounding sexual assault, including history of antirape movements, laws and policies, childhood sexual assault, acquaintance assault, stranger assault, medical

policies and procedures, and crisis intervention techniques. Students who participated in the course and completed 4 volunteer hours with the rape crisis hotline, intervention at the hospital, or with school outreach received a 40 hour training certificate from the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault. HDFSA Advisor, Dr. Jill Bowers said, “Sexual assault is relevant to HDFS students going in to a variety of professional paths including law, medicine, counseling, education, or many others that will be working with children, youth, and families. And, the crisis intervention training can be applied across contexts. This was a great experience for all of us involved.” Students in the course echoed Bowers’ comments. HDFS Sophomore Sam Addante said, “The 40 hour sexual assault/crises intervention training was one of my favorite courses that I have taken. I learned communication and active listening skills that are transferrable to other work I am doing, and the content inspired me to continue to work and volunteer in the area of sexual violence prevention.”

Department of Human and Community

Development HCD was ranked 2nd out of 52

programs in Human Development and Family Studies throughout North

America. For a complete report visit:

http://u.osu.edu/adventuresinhdfs/the-hdfs

-report/

Dr. Robert Hughes

Dr. Hughes (HCD faculty member) received the 2014

Felix Berardo Award for Excellence in Mentoring from

the National Council on Family Relations

Dr. Ramona Oswald Dr. Oswald (HCD faculty

member) recently became Associate Editor of the Journal of Family Theory and Research

Elizabeth (Liz) Holman Liz Holman (HCD grad student)

received the 2014 Illinois Council on Family Relations (ILCFR) Outstanding Student

Research Award

Kale Monk Kale Monk (HCD grad Student)

was named the winner of the 2014 Best Research Paper Award

in the Student Category from the National Council on Family Relations for his paper entitled, “Trauma Disclosure as a Buffer

in Military Couples’ Relationships”

FALL 2014 Volume 1: Issue 3

Research Lab Highlight

Dr. Robin Jarrett’s Research Dr. Robin Jarrett’s ethnographic research lab is currently working on a qualitative study called School Readiness: Connecting Families and Schools. The purpose of this study is to explore how preschools, elementary schools, and families facilitate low-income, African American and Latino preschoolers’ transition to kindergarten. In addition to the School Readiness: Connecting Families and Schools study, Dr. Jarrett’s lab is working on a study called Building Strong Communities and Families through Community Gardens. The focus of this qualitative study is to explore how community gardens in an impoverished, inner-city neighborhood help promote community and family resilience. Her lab

also will be working on a health and nutrition curriculum, Healthy Today, Healthy Tomorrow, which is geared to families with children of different ages (preschoolers, adolescents).

Many wonderful graduate and undergraduate students work in Dr. Jarrett’s ethnographic research lab. The students in her lab come from a variety of departments. Her hard working ethnographic research lab consists of 3 graduate students (Sarai Coba-Rodriguez (HCD), Danielle Perry (SOCW), and Doug Williams (Landscape Architecture) and 5 undergraduate students -Jasmine Brown, Aymber Johnson, Brittany Neal (all HDFS), Victoria Cross (NEUR) and Calvin Ali (GEO).

There are opportunities for undergraduates to be involved in Dr. Jarrett’s ethnographic research lab and gain important research skills and skills working with a team. Contact Dr. Robin Jarrett (rjarrett@illinois.edu) if you are interested and would like to be involved.

Multicultural Community Center’s Holiday Gift Drive HDFSA members will be participating in the Multicultural Community Center’s Holiday Gift Drive (http://signupgenius.com/go/60b044baeaa2ea02-multicultural). They are volunteering on site on Friday, Dec 12th from 3:30pm-5:30pm and are adopting a family for this initiative. We are welcoming volunteers and donations for this initiative, if you are able to help, please contact Dr. Jill Bowers (bowers5@illinois.edu).

HDFS Developments is brought to you by the HDFS Ambassadors:

Pictured left to right, top to bottom: Kristen Herdegen, Ashley Tate Hollis, Daniel Goldfine, Jinwen Ye, Rachel Wurtzel, Molly Harmon, Caroline Stevens, Abby Murin, Devin Weiss, Jasmine Brown, Nettie DeWeese, and Erin LePoire. Not pictured: Samantha Addante, Adrianna T. Domanico, Jordan Magold, Stephanie Medina, Jazmyn Thomas, and Dr. Jill Bowers (HDFSA Advisor).

Visit the HCD department website for more information: http://www.hcd.illinois.edu/  �2

Graduate Student Spotlight

Cole Perry

My name is Cole Perry and I’m a 5th year doctoral student in the department. I’m from Kentucky, but I got my Bachelor’s in Linguistics and Psychology at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Currently, I work with Dr. Reed Larson studying positive youth development in out-of-school settings. I’ve been interested in youth programs because I spent an inordinate time at summer camp as a child, with a camp director father. Last year I spent my 24th summer in a row at the camp where I grew up and also collected my dissertation data there.

My dissertation project is about the process of how teenagers get better at teamwork at camp. The program that I studied is one where youth pay to come to camp for two weeks and do a lot of cleaning, serving, and generally working hard, but they love it. I asked the youth themselves to tell me about things they figured out about working together during their time at camp. They told me all about the ways they supported and learned from one another. So a theme of my dissertation is how peers contribute to each other’s learning. Right now I’m also working through my interview data for a conference presentation about where adults might fit into these peer processes. When I was 15, I did the same program (and made great friends) and later I ran the program for 3 years, so I’m excited to be able to study it and tell people how great it is.

I plan to graduate in the spring, so I’ve been pretty busy working on my doctoral dissertation in addition to preparing for the Adolescent Development course (HDFS 405) that I’ll be instructing with Sarah Curtiss. Sarah and I both have years of experience both studying and actually working with teenagers, so we’re very excited about the class and to teach it together. The other big thing on my mind is something I’m sure many seniors will relate to: what to do after graduation! I’m applying for jobs and looking for a good fit that matches my youth program experience and academic training.