One University professor is putting her grant money to good use by using it to help her students learn about insect ecology while giving back to the community.
Dr. Linda Hooper-Bui, assistant professor of entomology, will use the $1,000 award, which was presented to her by Youth Service America, to create a unique service-learning opportunity for her students in Entomology 4040.
This semester, the upper-level and graduate students in this class will be working at the Louisiana School for the Deaf, where they will create a butterfly and pollinator garden, label trees and work with seventh-grade students.
On April 16, National Youth Service Day, the class will host a celebration at the school and officially present the completed garden.
“I wanted my students to really have to think,” Bui said. “I didn’t want the project to be very easy.”
Students will budget the $1,000 grant as they see fit, purchasing whatever supplies they need.
“They’re going to go in and teach them a very simple lesson,” Bui said.
The students will be working in a large outdoor classroom area. Bui said they will use native plants from Louisiana to restore the ecosystem around LSD.
The material Bui’s students learn in the class will have to be communicated to the students at LSD. Bui said she thinks this will be part of the rewarding aspect of the service learning class.
“They’re going to have to think about how to communicate these concepts,” she said. “It’s going to be a difficult situation.”
LSD is the only school for hearing-impaired children in Louisiana. It accommodates deaf students from all over the state.
Mona Alkadi, a teacher at LSD, will be helping her class communicate with the students in Bui’s class.
“My students are enthusiastic about working with college students,” Alkadi said.
She said her students are excited to know that they will be making such a difference. Alkadi said they hope to create a “wonderful, natural wildlife observatory” for their students and visitors.
“This will truly be a thrilling experience,” Alkadi said.
She said she looks forward to watching all the students interact and work with Bui’s endless energy and enthusiasm.
Bui said she enjoys several aspects of service-learning. She said it is a great opportunity to get the students close to the real world.
“Some students don’t know they can actually make a difference,” she said.
Bui, who has taught another service-learning class, said students admit that the class is difficult, but they come out of the class with pride. They know the concepts better as a result of the real-life application.
Bui applied for the grant in November and received the award Jan. 15. She said she searches everywhere she can for financial aid.
“I saw the ad in Parade magazine,” Bui said. She said she always is looking for ways to fund her service-learning projects.
She said the grant places a focus on a “service project for youth” who typically are not asked to serve.