University promoting community engagement

Each year, millions of dollars are donated to universities across the country to help fund campus causes and scholarships, and students are working to return the favor right here in Eunice.
“Civic engagement is going on at universities everywhere,” said Madelaine Landry Executive Director of the LSUE Foundation and coordinator of the LSUE Alumni Association and LSUE Institutional Development. “People are donating to LSUE, and we want students to be visible in the community. (Donors are asking) What do your students do for the community?”
“I am looking around at what other universities are doing and customizing it to fit our small community.”
This fall was the first semester of the college’s Community Engagement Project program, and the program is funded by donations.
“Several years ago, Jerry Shea, a former member of the LSUE Board of Advisors, and his wife Beverly gave the university money and said that we could use it for whatever we pleased,” Landry said. “In the last few years, Jeff Davis Bank reached out and offered us money to fund a community service project.”
For the first semester of the project, eight students, mainly business and elementary education majors, and four faculty mentors were selected for involvement, and each received a stipend for participating in the program. Three of the four community projects have been completed, and they include the Eunice Community Garden’s Fall Harvest Festival, a tour of the campus’s modular math lab for several St. Landry parish political candidates and candidate representatives and a visit to a meeting of the Board of Directors for St. Landry Parish Economic Development.
“Bill (Rodier, Executive Director of SLED) instructed the students to return after the (first)meeting with at least one good question concerning what they had experienced,” Landry said. “Our students did just that. They were articulate, engaged and very impressive -- and impressed -- with the topics that were discussed.”
The students first attended a SLED meeting hosted by Rodier and his staff, Judy Meche and Brandy Ledet, where Rodier briefed students on economic development and what it does for the region. Tony Hulsey of Jeff Davis Bank was also at the meeting. The students also saw a 3-D printing startup that is part of the Business Incubator at SLED.
“They are seeing what is possible in their future if they learn to network effectively, advocate for policy and issues that are important to their personal lives and careers, as well as seeing how various public entities work ‘behind the scenes,’” Landry said. “We already have three students signed up for Spring 2015!”
“I hope that getting a spot with the project will become more competitive, and that students involved this semester will be program ambassadors next semester.”
This month, the students completed their final project by touring the Eunice Community Art House.
“The LSUE Foundation believes it has a mission to support the LSUE campus as a place of access and opportunity for its students, staff and faculty,” Landry said. “Therefore, we want to assist them in being engaged within the communities and regions where we serve, helping to advance the causes of higher education, economic development and quality of life. As the non-profit organization for LSUE, we believe the promise of democracy extends not only to those who attend college here, but to our neighbors as well. For that reason, we are proud to host this project and are grateful for the funding we have received from our donors, Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Shea and JD Bank.”