UNC Charlotte faculty and staff members and students recently volunteered their time to the schools at Governor’s Village for a beautification project to visually enhance the four campuses.
Approximately 55 UNC Charlotte volunteers, including 37 students, joined workers from the financial services provider TIAA-CREF to pick up trash, spread pine needles, prune bushes, paint games on the blacktop and to break ground on the community garden on Vance High School’s campus.
“Governor’s Village is an important part of UNC Charlotte’s community engagement priorities,” said Jeanette Sims, director of community affairs at UNC Charlotte. “Pride in the physical campus plays a key role in how a student feels as he or she arrives at school. I am pleased that UNC Charlotte and our partners at TIAA-CREF were able to help these four schools enhance their ‘curb appeal’ for everyone that visits each campus.”
The Community Affairs Department in the Division for University Advancement coordinated the University’s involvement. with the project as part an ongoing relationship with the Governor’s Village in partnership with TIAA-CREF
The Governor’s Village is home to four Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools - John M. Morehead STEM Academy, Nathaniel Alexander Elementary, James Martin Middle and Zebulon B. Vance High.
Established in 2011 as a biannual initiative, the beautification project traditionally has been manned by volunteers from UNC Charlotte and TIAA-CREF as part of a joint initiative. This year, the administration at Vance High wanted to allow their students to help with the projects.
“This year, we wanted to provide an opportunity for our students to actively participate in the beautification of their school,” said William Robinson, academic facilitator and men’s basketball coach at Vance High School. “Over 400 students signed up to help work alongside our community partners to show that they also care about their school and the community.”
Teachers at Vance High signed their classes up for one-hour blocks in which students helped with the various projects around the campus.
One of the primary and more labor-intensive projects was the community garden. Many of the UNC Charlotte students helped with this project.
“The UNC Charlotte student volunteers were a tremendous help. Many of them had previous volunteer experience, so they jumped right in and really made such a difference,” said Kelly Merkl, the Green Community School coordinator and Environmental Club director at Vance. “Their guidance along with the added manpower allowed us to get so much more done than we ever could have with just our students.”
The idea for a community garden came from students in Vance’s Environmental Club; they wanted to have an outdoor classroom that provided the opportunity for hands-on learning. Merkl, whose position is designed to help bring students’ ideas to reality, saw the beautification project as a perfect opportunity to start the community garden.
“Our students gained great perspective working with professionals and students from TIAA-CREF and UNC Charlotte,” said Merkl. “Outreach programs like this show our students that the community truly cares and hopefully helps them to set their goals higher as a result.”
TIAA-CREF and UNC Charlotte have partnered to provide in-kind donations and services beyond the two beautification projects.
”Throughout the year, our faculty, staff and students volunteer to provide educational support to the four school comprising the Governor’s Village, including tutoring, reading, student teaching and mentoring,” said Sims. “These relationships are valued by everyone involved.”
In conjunction with the College of Education, UNC Charlotte offers volunteers through the America Reads tutoring program, interns with Urban Youth in Schools, campus tours, job shadowing experiences, test proctors and financial education.
Photo of students courtesy of Patrick Schneider