COVINGTON, Ga. — Representatives from more than a dozen community nonprofits and organizations will visit Georgia State University’s Newton Campus on Thursday, Sept. 1 to connect Perimeter College students with volunteer needs.
The meet and greet engagement event is part of the campus’s ongoing Academic Community Engagement (ACE) program.
“ACE pairs student and faculty with community members to collaboratively address community-identified needs and enhance student understanding of how that connects to what they’re learning in class,” said Hosanna Fletcher, who is one of Perimeter’s lead ACE instructors.
Fletcher teaches sociology and is among several Perimeter College professors who regularly incorporate community-facing projects into their curriculums on the Newton Campus.
Other disciplines engaged in ACE projects include communications, criminal justice and biology.
“Last year our students worked as afterschool tutors and readers to preschoolers at the Covington Housing Authority, hosted a successful book drive for Newton County School System and grew fresh produce in our community garden, which was donated to Covington’s First United Methodist Food Pantry,” Fletcher said.
In addition to volunteering on projects, students research community concerns and interview key stakeholders to understand more deeply the issues facing the communities where they live, which inspires more civic responsibility, Fletcher said.
Georgia State University will host the Community Engagement event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on its Newton Campus, 239 Cedar Lane, Covington.
Participating organizations include:
• Newton County Family Connection
• Newton County Schools Special Education Program
• Newton County Drug Free Community Coalition
• NAMI Rockdale Newton
• Miracle League of Newton County
• Adventure Bags
• Keep Newton Beautiful
• Willing Helpers Medical Clinic
• ViewPoint Health/Newton Rockdale Suicide Prevention Coalition
• Family Promise of NewRock
• Covington Housing Authority
• The Food Pantry at First United Methodist Church-Covington
• A Child’s Voice
For more information, contact Fletcher at hfletcher@gsu.edu.
