Senior assignments
Speech Communication majors disscuss their senior project, learning experiences, hardships
Matthew Schroyer
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: News
When the time came for Scott Dyer and his speech communication classmates to receive their senior assignments, he did not quite know what to expect.
"It's always unknown," Dyer said. "There was a lot of uncertainty."
Even after he and his four group members were handed their assignment, they still were unaware of the path ahead of them. Speech Communication Professor Sonia Zamanou-Erickson gave them the task of coaching troubled teenagers at Alorton High School, an alternative school for troubled East St. Louis teens.
For Dyer, it seemed a daunting task, and something he'd been completely removed from his entire life.
"I'm from a farm in St. Charles, and I went to a private school," Dyer said. "I was very nervous about it."
The assignment was straightforward: teach the teens at Alorton how to solve conflicts, how to set goals and how to listen. But the question still remained: would the students, some of whom were coming to grips with behavioral issues, come to respect and learn from the five college students? For Dyer, Kimberly Charlton, Neil Kohnen, Jennifer Mulholland and Chermaine Washington, that was the biggest question.
The group spent three days interviewing teachers and developing a plan for seminars. At first, it did not appear the teens would accept the group of college students, and Charlton said some students were even talking on cell phones as the group tried to teach.
"I was really discouraged because I hadn't worked with high school kids," Charlton said. "I thought we would come in and they would sit and listen and pay attention to us."
But the group of speech communication majors kept on reaching out to the students, asking questions about what they wanted to become as adults and trying to understand who the Alorton students really were.
"I don't want to go in there and talk like we're better than you," Charlton said.
Charlton said the answers ranged between careers in the armed services to professional athletes. No plans were discouraged, but all students were taught how to plan in small steps to reach their goals. Students were rewarded for participation with food and SIUE wallets the group personally bought, and eventually the students of Alorton became more active and came to accept the senior speech communication majors.
"It's always unknown," Dyer said. "There was a lot of uncertainty."
Even after he and his four group members were handed their assignment, they still were unaware of the path ahead of them. Speech Communication Professor Sonia Zamanou-Erickson gave them the task of coaching troubled teenagers at Alorton High School, an alternative school for troubled East St. Louis teens.
For Dyer, it seemed a daunting task, and something he'd been completely removed from his entire life.
"I'm from a farm in St. Charles, and I went to a private school," Dyer said. "I was very nervous about it."
The assignment was straightforward: teach the teens at Alorton how to solve conflicts, how to set goals and how to listen. But the question still remained: would the students, some of whom were coming to grips with behavioral issues, come to respect and learn from the five college students? For Dyer, Kimberly Charlton, Neil Kohnen, Jennifer Mulholland and Chermaine Washington, that was the biggest question.
The group spent three days interviewing teachers and developing a plan for seminars. At first, it did not appear the teens would accept the group of college students, and Charlton said some students were even talking on cell phones as the group tried to teach.
"I was really discouraged because I hadn't worked with high school kids," Charlton said. "I thought we would come in and they would sit and listen and pay attention to us."
But the group of speech communication majors kept on reaching out to the students, asking questions about what they wanted to become as adults and trying to understand who the Alorton students really were.
"I don't want to go in there and talk like we're better than you," Charlton said.
Charlton said the answers ranged between careers in the armed services to professional athletes. No plans were discouraged, but all students were taught how to plan in small steps to reach their goals. Students were rewarded for participation with food and SIUE wallets the group personally bought, and eventually the students of Alorton became more active and came to accept the senior speech communication majors.
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