Bittersweet Farm in Heuvelton, NY

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Early Childhood Education in the North Country

Submitted by Keegan Bowman on May 08, 2017

Quality education for children from the ages of birth to five years old is one of the most influential factors that impacts the rest of their life. Most children in the North Country do not have an opportunity to receive a quality education until they are at least four or five years old, the universal age requirement to attend Kindergarten.  This is because the North County has a lacking number of quality opportunities for early childhood education, this is a problem that is adding to the current poverty standings in St. Lawrence County.

Creating a hunger-free America

Submitted by Helen Cox on May 08, 2017

When most Americans think of the issue of hunger, the first image that comes to mind may be sick children in third-world countries. Hunger is undeniably a worldwide issue, but what many people don’t realize is how present the problem is in our own country. Specifically, food insecurity, a federal measure that describes a household’s ability to provide enough food, exists in every county across the United States (Aviv).  Hunger in America exists and is a multifaceted issue with social, political and environmental consequences.

Budget Cuts Are Putting Our Future At Risk

Submitted by Michael LaRusso on May 09, 2017

The Donald Trump Administration is working to instate major budget cuts to the Department of Education. These cuts plan to put an end to valuable after school and summer programs. The termination of these programs put students, the future of this country, at risk. This issue shows me that there is a major disconnect between the priorities of the government and the public.

Let's Bring Funding to After-School

Submitted by Tyler Sands on May 09, 2017

The week’s almost over.  It’s a Thursday.  My CBL partners and I scattered across the room, waiting for the students to arrive.  One by one, they started to come in, smiles on their faces.  At this point in the program, different students gravitated to each of us.  A rambunctious boy named Jackson always sat next to Ashley, a spunky girl named Teagan always sat next to Alex.  Cameron and Breiden would sit next to me; Breiden was an extrovert who talked my ear off about the Call of Duty video game series, while Cameron was more of an introvert, eager to talk about cartoons.  At the

Food Insecurity; A Local and National Epidemic

Submitted by Haley Bolton on May 07, 2017

At St. Lawrence University students are offered six different dining locations, which are all accessible with a swipe of your campus ID card.  A portion of our tuition guarantees hundreds of meal options any time of the day.  Looking past the SLU bubble however, the community surrounding our bountiful campus is far from blessed with the same opportunities.  St.

Integrating Local Food into St. Lawrence University Dining Services

Submitted by Gretchen Brooker on May 08, 2017
Cows at Bittersweet Farm

Strawberries from California. Avocados from Mexico. Pineapples from Hawaii. At St. Lawrence University, students, like myself, have access to all of this distantly-sourced produce during the majority of the school year. We often take it for granted that these fruits and vegetables are readily available to us, but we don’t often think about the various external environmental, economic, and social costs that come along with sourcing the majority of St. Lawrence’s food from the global industrial food system, instead of local farms. These negative impacts are why I believe it is vital that St.

Marine Wildlife Conservation

Submitted by Justin Swits on May 07, 2017

“There’s enough on this planet for everyone’s needs, but not for everyone’s greed.” – Mahatma Ghandi

The oceans and their fisheries are in danger, and it is up to us to ensure the prosperity of such a vital resource that we humans take for granted. According to WWF Global, the global fishing fleet is 2/3 times larger than what the oceans can sustainably support. Meaning that, commercial fishing vessels are taking 2/3 times more fish out of the ocean than can be replaced by those remaining (WWF Global News). If we continue down this egregious path, then we will not only cause the marine life to despair, but we will also be causing the human race to falter. According to a study that was published in the Journal of Science in 2006, “if fishing rates continue apace, all the worlds fisheries will have collapsed by the year 2048.” Furthermore, in 2003 a scientific report stated that commercial fishing had reduced the number of large ocean fish to about 10% of their pre-industrial population (National Geographic).  

Bridging the Gap Between Inmates and Their Children

Submitted by Kristin Heidt on May 09, 2017

According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there are an estimated 2.3 million children living with a parent in some sort of correctional supervision. They also estimate 58% of these children are under the age of 10 years old, therefore the stakes of this issue are high considering the developmental factors of not having one of your parents around could have.

Rural Education in America Deserves MORE Attention

Submitted by Paige Gannon on May 09, 2017

Education, more specifically access to education in rural parts of the United States has become a major issue in today’s society. It is a well-known fact that education is closely linked with economic outcomes and success later in life. Within rural communities across America, the gains in educational attainment have become unevenly divided across demographic groups. After the most recent presidential election, Donald Trump selected Betsy DeVos to be the new Secretary of Education.

Preparing Students for College and a Career

Submitted by Ina Maloney on May 09, 2017
The path to college and a career

What do you think of when you hear that a student is college and career ready? You probably think that they did really well on their SAT’s, have a GPA at or above a 3.8, or that they are involved in many diverse extracurricular activities that make their college applications look amazing. However, even with these attributes, a student still might not be ready for college or a career. In fact, many statistics show that most students in the United States are not prepared for life after high school (Kamenetz).

Enhancing the Humanities through Community Based Learning

This project team is currently conducting a semester-long workshop to engage more faculty in Community Based Learning (CBL) pedagogies in order to produce an even more sustainable CBL program with a broader curriculum. Its aim is to use the workshop to bring together faculty new to CBL, students who work in CBL (current Community Mentors), and current CBL faculty and staff with the end result of new, linked CBL courses and a commitment on the part of workshop attendees to teach them regularly.

Courses created in the workshop will be linked through their collective use of a new Community Engagement website “Engaging the North Country,” to be constructed in partnership with the Digital Initiatives group.

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