Final Seminar Presentations
Here is the description for all the final presentations and their order.
Thursday May 5th, JC Cinema, 9:30-3:30 pm
9:45 – 10:30 – Seminar D – Volunteer Fairfax (VF)
Volunteer Fairfax is a volunteer center that responds to the various needs within Fairfax and surrounding areas. Students are researching the specific needs of the region’s nonprofit organizations that Volunteer Fairfax can address, and the extent to which these organizations are aware of the services already provided by VF.
10:30 – 11:15 – Seminar C – Facets
Seminar C is working to analyze the effects of FACETS’ Hot Meals Program. This program provides a nutritious evening meal and Sunday morning breakfast to families and individuals who are homeless, living in and around three sites along Lee Highway in Fairfax, 365 days per year (over 42,000 meals per year). Students are assessing the importance of the Hot Meals Program for the clients who receive meals, the quality/quantity/and frequency of the meals provided, the demographics of recipients, and the motivation of the volunteers who sustain the Hot Meals Program.
11:15 – 12:00 – Seminar B – Fairfax County Public Library
Woodrow Wilson Library serves a very diverse Falls Church community where, at the last count, 71 languages are spoken. It also attracts one of the highest proportions of in-library use in the Fairfax County Public Library system. But no one knows exactly what those library customers are doing during their library visits Seminar B is researching how patrons spend their time in the library, with the aim of helping the forthcoming renovation of Woodrow Wilson Library meet as precisely as possible the emerging needs of its local community.
12:00 – 12:30 – Break (a pizza lunch will be served in the Cinema Foyer)
12:30 – 1:15 – Seminar E – Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources (OAR)
OAR is an organization that seeks to help ex-offenders and their families with programs that reduce the chances for recidivism. Considering that access to quality employment is the number one factor affecting recidivism, our students are researching employer attitudes about ex-offenders and re-entry programs and which programs offered by OAR are most effective in accomplishing these goals.
1:15 – 2:00 – Seminar A – Centreville Immigration Forum (CIF)
CIF is an Interfaith organization that works to enhance the lives of the immigrant population in Centreville, VA through ESL training and various cultural exchanges. Currently the CIF is in the process of developing a Worker Center where day laborers can meet prospective employers and also find various resources. Students are collecting information to help CIF develop and sustain this worker center. Through direct contact with the day laborers and observational work, research centers on building relationships with the community in order to understand more clearly just what the workers and volunteers need to make this plan a success.
2:00 – 2:45 – Seminar F – Mason’s Office of Alcohol, Drug, and Health Education
Each semester, this office distributes tens of thousands of condoms on campus. Students are researching whether these condoms are used as they should be, and are more condoms (or different kinds of condoms) needed.
2:45 – 3:30 – Wrap up and debriefing