Honors College students used their knitting and crocheting skills to make hats for teen parents and their children. The hats were presented to parents recently at Conway Cradle Care, which provides daycare and skills training for teenagers.
Service learning projects such as this is key to the strategic mission of the Honors College’s motto, said Donna Bowman, associate dean of the Honors College.
“We have a motto in the honors for our pedagogy. We say we like to make it real. We like to explode the walls of the classroom and do things that not only have an impact on the community but are going to be judged and evaluated to some extent by how successful we are in the real world and not just classroom assignments,” Bowman said. “…To see students go beyond an assigned community activity and make a personal connection was really exciting to me.”
Ariel Moore, a senior and vice president of Knit Wise, said service learning is one way to become involved in the community.
“It is great to see our work go to someone who is really going to appreciate it,” she said.
Honors students and other volunteers recently held a Craft-In to make hats. Colorful handmade crafts were placed on a clothesline in the Student Center court yard. Information about teen pregnancy rates and the high cost associated with teen pregnancies were attached to the hats and scarves.
“When we were thinking about a way to make this effort public and really invite the community to participate in some way in supporting this organization and its mission, we immediately thought about raising awareness about teen pregnancy,” said Donna Bowman, associate dean of the Honors College. “We were able to draw people in with colorful crafted items with tags about national and state teen pregnancy issues and statistics.”
Visit UCA’s YouTube Page to learn more about the Honors College’s Craft Wisely.
