#community service-learning

[facesofcsl]

Robin Cahtarevic (she/her)- Account Representative for the Electronic Recycling Association (ERA).

Can you trace your involvement with the CSL Program?

Last summer, the CSL Partnership Coordinators emailed me about the program, and we were happy to join. We have been working with the students for two semesters now.

Why did you choose to incorporate CSL students into your organization?

We believe it's a great opportunity to gain a different perspective on how clients see us and simultaneously support students in their education.

What do CSL students learn in their placements?

With the ERA, they learn more about the three Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and e-waste disposal. They also learn a bit more about how a business of this kind works and what it takes to attract more clients.

What have you learned by being involved with CSL?

Being involved with the CSL has taught ERA several valuable lessons. First, I've learned the importance of community engagement and collaboration. Working with CSL has shown me the power of bringing people together to work towards a common goal, such as promoting electronic recycling or advocating for environmental sustainability.

The Electronic Recycling Association is committed to reducing electronic waste by reusing and recycling unwanted computers, laptops, and related electronic equipment. How have students added to the organization’s initiatives?

The students have crafted marketing campaigns to raise awareness about the electronic recycling association's mission and underscore its significance.

Throughout the organization’s involvement with CSL, is there a particular student project, interaction, or moment that piqued your interest, and why?

The moment that piqued my interest was at an orientation meeting last year for the Fall term, where I met Webb Dussome, the instructor for MARK 455/655, and the other community partners in the course. It was lovely seeing all the other environmentally friendly projects and the people behind them. Also, hearing their experience with the CSL really solidified our decision to join for any term that we can.

With the support of CSL’s BHER Partnership, what projects and initiatives are your organization working towards, and how has this partnership benefitted your organization?

With the invaluable support of CSL's BHER Partnership, the Electronic Recycling Association (ERA) is actively engaged in several impactful projects and initiatives to promote environmental sustainability and community empowerment. Through our collaboration with BHER, we focus on initiatives such as:

• Electronic Waste Recycling Programs: We're expanding our electronic waste recycling programs to collect and responsibly dispose of electronic devices, diverting harmful materials from landfills, and promoting a circular economy.

• Digital Inclusion Initiatives: We're working to bridge the digital divide by refurbishing and redistributing computers and electronic devices to underserved communities, schools, and non-profit organizations, thereby increasing access to technology and educational resources.

• Environmental Education and Awareness Campaigns: We're developing educational materials and organizing outreach events to raise awareness about the importance of electronic waste management, sustainable consumption, and environmental stewardship.

• Job Training and Skill Development: We're partnering with BHER to provide training and skill development opportunities in electronic recycling, refurbishment, and repair, empowering individuals with valuable skills for employment in the growing field of e-waste management. Overall, with the support of CSL's BHER Partnership, ERA is committed to advancing these projects and initiatives to create a more sustainable future for communities across Canada.

How would you sum up your experience with CSL in one sentence?

A great opportunity!

In partnership with the Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER), and with support from the Government of Canada, CSL provides financial support to environmentally-focused community partners for their educational and mentoring roles with CSL students. 

[ruyakasunshine]

"no swearing, it's gonna affect the kids!"

my dear brother this sport has people going over 300 km/h and crashing into each other every other weekend, i'm not sure swearing is the biggest issue here

[westywallowing]

it has always baffled me that ASL isn't taught as a second language in American schooling. or as a requirement for certain jobs that work with, well, people. the HLAA says that around 48 million Americans have hearing loss!! 1 in 5 teenagers!! 1 in 3 people over the age of 60!!! it's crazy to me that sign isn't more widely taught and used considering that you probably DO or WILL know someone who has hearing loss at some point in their life

[mlp-natural-2]

Junior starring Arnold Shwarzeneggar jokes will ALWAYS be funny to me

anyway this is how sam would tell eileen lmao

[moregraceful]

max and i are closing in on launching [redacted sports rpf charity fest] and i am once again pondering how do i write "experience with writing form emails and manipulating google forms in ways no one has dreamed of" in a cover letter without saying "i did it for the rpf grind"...like there's no way unless everyone in this microsoft teams meeting gets really cool about a bunch of stuff really quickly. you know

[mwolf0epsilon]

Community Service

Rex, during the commute back to Coruscant: It's so quiet without the 105th troopers around... Jesse: You're saying that like it's a bad thing? Rex: Hm? Oh, no not at all. I just... Got used to expecting even more trouble than usual is all... Jesse: Well, once we get to Coruscant we'll know how they've been getting along with their 'community service' assignment. Rex: Yeah... Fox is keeping tabs on that while also keeping tabs on when we'll finally be able to pick up a massiff for them. I'm a little nervous to find out what the boys have been up to.

-Several Hours after Touch Down on Triple Zero-

Fox, via holocall: Still no word on the massiff pup, Rex. Rex: Oh, yeah I know. You'd leave a message if you had anything new on that front. I just uh, wanted to check on how the 105th veterans were dealing with their current assignment. Fox: ...Well they haven't set the Madam's brothel on fire, if that is what you're worried about. Rex: Fox: They're doing ok Rex. I have some of my boys keeping tabs on the 105th men, and they're excellent as security detail. Seem to be receptive to the Madam's crew, since they're the least threatening people on Coruscant. Rex: And they haven't been... Instigating fights? Fox: Negative. All is well... Although I do hope the 'breeder' comes through soon, because while they seem to be more comfortable with the Madam's crew, I've been informed that they still seem to have issues trusting each other. A pet project like training their own therapy animal should help them bond more readily. Rex: I hope so too... Vode that can't trust other vode are a risk to themselves and others. And after everything they've been through, they deserve to at least be able to trust that they have each other's backs. Fox, somewhat melancholic: Yeah...

[roseapprentice]

It's so uncomfortable that grocery delivery is both a Rich Person Thing and a Disabled Person Thing.

Like please stop groveling so hard I'm not gonna cut your star rating because my vinegar's out of stock, but also PLEASE don't drop the groceries at my neighbor's door, if I could carry them that far I would not use a personal shopper.

[canary-prince]

Any post that contains the phrase "you" in a big, general, plural sense that automatically accuses the reader of being part of the "you" that op is rhetorically berating are deeply, deeply unhelpful in regard to compassion fatigue. It's also just manipulative; the clear intention is to pressure anyone reading it into reblogging it in order to prove they are not part of the "you" being accused.

These posts bother me and I understand that the authors of these posts are feeling powerless and have learned that screaming and yelling and shaming is an effective tactic because they weren't given enough attention to meet their needs through other methods. But again, it's going to increase compassion fatigue and increase the use of shame as a method of social control, which is not ideal.

[calamitys-child]

Local knowledge will always beat advertising for actual useful outcomes my colleague recommended a cobbler that's a tiny wee place down an alley across town but by god if they won't fix my boots just as well as the big brand name shoe repair place in the town centre faster and for half the price

[facesofcsl]

Jule Asterisk-Project Manager for the Society of High Prarie Regional Environmental Action Committee (REAC)

Jule Asterisk (she/her) is the Project Manager for the Society of High Prarie Regional Environmental Action Committee (REAC). She also contributes to community outreach by giving presentations to the communities and schools all around Northern Alberta. 

Can you trace your involvement with the CSL Program?

When I started working with CSL in 2015, I was with a different organization, Keepers of the Water. We were involved in many projects and had lots of opportunities for interviews with community members who wanted to give their input, but we didn’t have the capacity to perform the interviews. So, we put together a couple of projects for CSL, which was so awesome! It was not only great for our organization, but we realized that the students were very appreciative of having this opportunity and having direct communication with community members in the Fort Chipewyan vicinity regarding their health concerns. A CSL student with a Mennonite background interviewed Traditional Knowledge holders in the High-Level vicinity. That was a real eye-opener for the student, who was so amazed. It was a great collaboration because it was cross-cultural and cross-generational. Because many charitable organizations generally consist of older people, it’s been great to have full perspectives of youth and gain insight by looking at ourselves through their eyes. 

Why did you choose to incorporate CSL students into your organization?

It was partly due to capacity. There were things we wanted to do that we just couldn’t. When we were introduced to CSL, which had people available to do such things, it was a natural fit. Once we started with CSL, we formulated projects every semester. Since 2015, I’ve worked with at least two groups per year, so many students! 

What do CSL students learn in their placements?

Students learn how non-profits or charities work. We once participated in the Non-Profit Board Internship Program, which was super interesting. Students benefitted from many insightful discussions and conversations. Students also had the chance to come to Calgary with us for a special meeting. Students will learn many different things, such as how the organization works. From there, they learn all kinds of things about the interaction between Indigenous cultures and environmental work. So far, with every single student we have worked with, we feel that we’ve made a good impression on them and is highly relevant to their studies and lives. It also increases our capacity as an organization. 

What have you learned by being involved with CSL?

I’ve learned that every student we've worked with has been dedicated to the work we’ve put before them. I’ve also gained an understanding that the youth we work with sense the environmental impacts on the projects we work on and sometimes feel very deeply about it. I have to say that such urgent feelings from the youth have pushed our organization forward. We’ve been pushed quite far into places we were unwilling to go. For instance, we now have a website, which a student initiated! The student said, “You just can’t do this without a website,” and spoke to our board and convinced them to make it. 

Interestingly, sometime in the late 90s or early 2000s, we won a website through CKUA Radio and were excited about it. One of our members was placed to be the liaison and work with the company providing it. It was all set and ready to go until the board declined to make it live because we didn’t have anyone capable of updating it. We’re also in Northern Alberta, where some areas have internet-free zones or no cell phone services. So, we’re still in a place where half of our board members don’t have internet. However, the young student was passionate about convincing our board that we must have a website! I was the only board member who voted to have the website go live, and now we’ve had it up and running for a year and a half. It’s been very useful, and we just had our first successful website update. This was a critical moment when a very passionate CSL student highly influenced us. 

What have CSL and CSL students added to your organization?

We ended up hiring a CSL student who was on my team a year ago. She did a fantastic job with her editing skills, and we hired her to work on our social media. She created an Instagram account and a couple of other accounts. We’re waiting for TikTok to run right before our big fundraising event. This is another example of a skillset we don’t have but need, so it’s been a great opportunity for us and the students in the CSL program. So, we were super glad to hire the student we now have working with us, which will make a huge difference in our upcoming major fundraiser campaign later this year. We wouldn’t have gotten to this point if it weren’t for CSL. 

Throughout the organization’s involvement with CSL, is there a particular student project, interaction, or moment that piqued your interest, and why?

There have been quite a few of them! One moment of interest was the student with a Mennonite background who interviewed Traditional Knowledge holders. When we filled out his evaluation form, I was pretty amazed at how profound of an experience it was for him. That was a yes moment!

Another exciting moment was with a student who addressed our board about making the website live. He was so passionate about the need to have our organization widely known, along with the work we’ve done to promote selective logging. People often don’t know about the very real solutions that exist, so there needs to be a broader scope. So, that student made a huge impression on our board. This has happened over and over again because of the collaboration of youth. We’ve been working on so many important things. For instance, we’ve been working on our files, such as the Swan Hill Hazardous Waste Treatment Centre’s file, for decades. Nobody knew about it for a while, so a page about it is coming soon on our website! The passion of students has uplifted us and made us do more. 

With the support of CSL’s BHER Partnership, what projects and initiatives is your organization working towards, and how has this partnership benefitted your organization?

This is a new era for us with CSL. It’s been a huge support. I no longer have to convince my board that my extensive work with students is worthwhile because they see we’re getting funding from BHER. Our project has gotten a lot bigger because of the focus on climate change and preparing for tomorrow. We are having a fundraiser to purchase precious plastic equipment, which is small-scale recycling equipment. We will provide it for free to the rural, remote, and Indigenous communities with the best business plan. The fundraiser starts this year, and for preparation, we did many video interviews with experts in the field, including scientists, plastic recyclers, waste management professionals, and Indigenous communities. 

The word plastic means malleable so you can make anything out of it. Once communities have information about the risks, downsides, and opportunities, they can decide whether to partake in Precious Plastic projects, re-manufacture their community’s waste plastic, or make new things. So, that’s what we’re working on, the Plastic Re-manufacture Project. Last semester, we had a group of students working to update our marketing manual for communities, which BHER also funded. One of our students was from Germany, which was great since they had information regarding Germany's extended producer responsibility and Europe as a whole. I got our student to look into European stats regarding what occurred with EPR in the last 25 years. It was so interesting because it gave us a real heads-up on what to watch for. Recycling has gone up, and landfilling has gone down, which is great. However, incineration has tripled, putting pollution into the air in the form of highly toxic particulate emissions. 

We’re human beings. The systems we make are not perfect either. So, we feel that incinerators are not a great waste management tool! They are dangerous and emit a lot of pollution in the air, which is what we learned about with our student from Germany last year. This was a crucial piece for us, so now we can submit comments to the United Nations on their current plastic pollution document. It’s a great opportunity to have outreach in places we would have never imagined, and we are very grateful. 

How would you sum up your experience with CSL in one sentence?

Our collaboration with CSL has hugely benefitted our organization and, based on their comments, had a major impact on the students we work with. 

In partnership with the Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER), and with support from the Government of Canada, CSL provides financial support to environmentally-focused community partners for their educational and mentoring roles with CSL students.

[lightblueminecraftorchid]

I love learning ASL it’s so good. Makes me happy to learn it. I’m so glad my university has classes for it with professors actually steeped in Deaf culture.

[bread-tab]

anyone have reading recommendations on how to Git Gud at relationships?

(mainly romantic in this case, but i'm definitely down for platonic and queerplatonic advice too)

i've got this longstanding polycule situation that I've been neglecting (with a lot of patience but sadness also from my partners) and I realized I'm ready to put the work in now. Feels simpler than it used to. But I'm from a background of parents-who-did-not-communicate, and also pretty high up on the demisexual/greyromantic spectrums, and am just not well-practiced in thinking about relationships. or vibing with intimacy in general. I think it's time to go back to basics and relearn how all this "human connection" stuff works

[thecomfywriter]

Community Moodboard Submissions

remember when i said sundays are for resting and reblogging?

i’m considering instead making it a day where i post moodboards of wips and ocs from people in the community. essentially, if you request a wip and give me details about the character or the book, maybe an excerpt, i’ll make a custom moodboard for you and post it on sunday.

let me know if you guys would be interested in that. for reference, these are the moodboards i made for my own ocs.

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Evan:

ToV OCs:

Inkarnyus Series (👀):

I have not mentioned this series yet oop-

┗━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━┛

Interact with this post with details about your wip/ocs if you want a customized moodboard!

[whilomm]

language barriers are already frustrating enough but personally its even worse when im trying to make someone understand that i have hearing problems and they need to Speak Louder bc thats already enough of an issue with english first language people when i can literally tell them "listen i have hearing issues youre gonna need to speak loudly and clearly" (bc they always fucking forget by the next sentence and theyre back to their teensy lil inside voice) like no the problem might not be that youre saying the wrong words and im not trying to be a dick but you are literally WHISPERING right now and i barely heard two syllables. i know the classic "speaking loudly and slowly" doesnt erase language barriers and it comes off as annoying but literally if you speak spanish LOUDLY AND SLOWLY to me i can probably help you T-T i dont wanna be a dick and ask you to repeat yourself 200 times but i literally Cannot Hear You Please Stop Whispering Please Shout At Me PLEASE

[monmuses]

just gonna keep this pretty short and simple for the most part with this past week, but y'all are doin' great. i've been slowly figuring out my schedule with school this last week or so, but things have been getting a bit smooth as of late. i'm figuring out a couple of things and still learning that i got a lot of shit to work on.

i will say there's some things that i think i have figured out but don't, at the same time. even with going to school and figuring out what's best in my case, there's just so many things that i'd need to figure out, both emotionally, financially, shit like that.

but other than that, i do wanna say that those still peeking around? y'all are doing great. i don't say it enough nor do i express this to those i know. but you guys are awesome. keep working and find something to make you happy!

[frozen-pyjak]

Bro can u imagine waking up 50 thousand yrs in the future surving and beating the threat that completely wiped out your people, culture, and everything you knew and then having to worry about getting a job afterwards bc the future ppl have basically galaxy wide late stage capitalism 💀