{"id":504,"date":"2022-10-12T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/a-beautiful-day-in-the-neighborhood-joint-educational-project-celebrates-50-years-of-service-to-the-community\/"},"modified":"2023-09-15T16:37:21","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T23:37:21","slug":"joint-educational-project-celebrates-50-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/joint-educational-project-celebrates-50-years\/","title":{"rendered":"A beautiful day in the neighborhood: Joint Educational Project celebrates 50 years of service to the community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                          \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3773-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3773-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"A beautiful day in the neighborhood: Joint Educational Project celebrates 50 years of service to the community\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  USC Dornsife alumna Jasmin Sanchez, one of thousands who benefited from the Joint Educational Project over the past five decades, reads to students at an Oct. 6 launch event for a series of children\u2019s books co-produced by JEP and showcasing diverse scientists. (Photo: Kole Greene.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=student\">Student<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>A beautiful day in the neighborhood: Joint Educational Project celebrates 50 years of service to the community<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Since 1972, some 100,000 USC students have taught in classrooms and provided more than a million service-hours to the neighborhoods around USC campuses.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Margaret Crable<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">October 12, 2022<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 1.5167124.60096154 2.9475732 1.68841575 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\n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Highlights:\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n      <ul>\n              <li><p>JEP matches USC students with elementary school classrooms as well as hospitals and nonprofits to provide volunteer hours.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n              <li><p>These innovative programs were a main reason the university was named \u201cCollege of the Year\u201d by\u00a0Time magazine in 2000.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n              <li><p>JEP announces the Tammara Seabrook Anderson Spirit of Service Award Fund, created to help more students participate in the program.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n          <\/ul>\n  <\/div>\n  \n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>Jasmin Sanchez may not have chosen a science major in college if not for the work of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\">Joint Education Project (JEP)<\/a> at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n<p>In elementary school, most of her science lessons came from books or lectures, with little hands-on learning. Her teacher grappling with a class size of nearly 30 students, didn\u2019t have the time or resources to conduct hands-on demonstrations and answer every student\u2019s in-depth STEM questions. For a visual learner like Sanchez, staying interested under these circumstances proved challenging.<\/p>\n<p>JEP pairs USC students with local schools to enhance lessons, and when they showed up in Sanchez\u2019s classroom one day, it changed everything.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey provided all the materials for the students to have hands-on experiments. We got to use our hands and feel it, really figure out what we\u2019re doing,\u201d she says. \u201cOne of the reasons I got into science was because I had these students coming in and teaching me, bit by bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sanchez graduated from USC Dornsife last spring with a degree in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/soci\/health-and-the-human-sciences\/\">health and human sciences<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/3178\/first-gen-student-jasmin-sanchez-aims-to-stand-up-for-others\/\">plans to become an occupational therapist<\/a>. During her time at USC, she\u2019s also come full-circle, teaching science to third graders through JEP, just as she was instructed a decade earlier.<\/p>\n<p>This was the exact sort of outcome that the early organizers of JEP, which is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/50th-anniversary\/\">celebrating its 50th anniversary<\/a>\u00a0this year, hoped for when the organization began in 1972.<\/p>\n<h2>A million hours of community connections<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/JEP_50_InStoryA-3773.jpg\" alt=\"A black and white photo of a man and woman holding up a booklet\" width=\"630\" height=\"406\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbara Seaver Gardner (left) founded JEP in 1972, and Richard Cone succeeded her as director, adding tutoring programs to JEP\u2019s offerings. (Photo: Courtesy of USC University Archives\/Irene Fertik.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the early 1970s, tension marred USC\u2019s relationship with its surrounding neighbors. <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/story-num36-barbara-seaver-gardner\/\">Barbara Seaver Gardner<\/a>, a research associate at USC\u2019s Center for Urban Affairs, had the vision to make a change by bringing USC and its surrounding neighbors together around a common goal: helping children.<\/p>\n<p>She brought together principals of local elementary schools and USC faculty members to propose her idea:\u00a0placing university students in the schools as mentors or teaching assistants, where they could assist in providing children with a quality education while learning about the community they would call home for the next four years.<\/p>\n<p>She arranged for USC students to teach in elementary school classrooms near campus, providing valuable support to schools that were often underfunded and short-staffed, in effect founding JEP as its inaugural director.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/3201\/in-memoriam-richard-dick-cone\/\">Richard Cone<\/a>\u00a0succeeded Gardner, serving as JEP director from 1980 to 2002 and founding the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/readersplus\/\">USC ReadersPlus<\/a> program, which provides reading and writing tutors for kids. Cone believed that the organization\u2019s strength lay in making use of our human potential.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the resources our society has not tapped very well is the human resource,\u201d said Cone, who died in 2020. \u201cNot since the Roosevelt days have we thought about how to use human resources instead of trying to buy our way out of problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During his tenure at JEP,\u00a0<em>Time<\/em> magazine and the\u00a0<em>Princeton Review<\/em>\u00a0featured USC as \u201cCollege of the Year,\u201d citing JEP\u2019s service-learning as one of its primary reasons for the honor.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 315px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/JEP_50_InStoryB-3773.jpg\" alt=\"A black and white photo of a building with a sign that says JEP House with balloons being launched in the air, a vertical banner and a podium and mics setup in front with a speaker standing in front of it.\" width=\"315\" height=\"490\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The JEP house opened on campus in 1976. (Photo: Courtesy of USC Digital Library.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIn the early days, folks on campus saw JEP almost as a charity arm of the university . &#8230;\u00a0They didn\u2019t think about the program as mutually beneficial, with our students and our neighbors learning with and from each other,\u201d says\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/story-num21-tammy-anderson\/\">Tammy Anderson<\/a>, associate dean for experiential learning and former JEP executive director. \u201cNot only did we help to make USC a better university, we became an international model of service-learning as representatives from other higher ed institutions around the world came to learn from and observe our programs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>JEP honored Anderson, who was involved with the program for nearly 40 years, by announcing an award fund in her name at their 50th anniversary gala on Nov. 3. Designed to help more students participate with JEP, the Tammara Seabrook Anderson Spirit of Service Award Fund provides stipends for low-income students who can\u2019t afford to contribute unpaid service hours.<\/p>\n<p>Around 2,000 USC students now participate in JEP programs each year. While they gain valuable experience in the classroom, younger students like Sanchez benefit from hands-on learning time, and teachers get a little help with their workload.<\/p>\n<p>Since its founding, some 100,000 JEP students have provided over a million hours of service to schools.<\/p>\n<p>JEP offers more than just classic educational support focused on math, literacy or STEM subjects.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/the-peace-project\/\">The Peace Project<\/a> trains USC students in a peace education curriculum that they then bring into classrooms.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/after-school-enrichment\/\">Little Yoginis<\/a>\u00a0provides elementary school children with yoga instruction.<\/p>\n<p>Students also go beyond the classroom in their mission to connect with the surrounding community. The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/jep-uhs-chrysalis\/\">Understanding Homelessness Through Service<\/a>\u00a0program\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/2777\/usc-students-help-homeless-get-job-ready-through-volunteer-initi\/\">pairs students with organizations like Chrysalis<\/a>, which prepares people to reenter the workforce.<\/p>\n<p>USC students can also work with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/trojan-health-volunteers\/\">Trojan Health Volunteers<\/a>, which places them in local clinics and hospitals to gain experience in health care settings. The program was founded by student\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/story-num18-daniel-potter\/\">Daniel Porter<\/a>, who went on to become a physician after graduating from USC Dornsife in 1987.<\/p>\n<h2>Students serving students \u2014 it works both ways<\/h2>\n<p>Alumni of JEP are as impacted by the program as the young students they teach.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/story-num22-tom-chan\/\">Tom Chan<\/a>\u00a0\u201996 originally majored in business, but participating in JEP ignited a new enthusiasm for social service and teaching. He switched to a liberal arts major, served in the Peace Corps in Thailand, then received a master\u2019s degree in educational administration.<\/p>\n<p>He is now\u00a0director of special projects and student services in the Fillmore Unified School District in Fillmore, California, where his office assists students with disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I had never served in JEP, I don\u2019t think I would have been brave enough to change my major to liberal arts as a junior,\u201d says Chan. \u201cI never would have become a professional journalist, certainly never would have joined the Peace Corps, and never would have chosen education as a career path.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also would not have met his wife. The two bumped into each other while hanging out at the JEP House on campus.<\/p>\n<h2>New books help kids build up a head full of STEAM<\/h2>\n<p>Fifty years of success doesn\u2019t mean the JEP crew is content to rest on their laurels. On Oct. 6, in partnership with the global educational organization Room to Read, they released a series of 10 children\u2019s books themed around science, technology, engineering, arts and math \u2014 or \u201cSTEAM\u201d \u2014 subjects.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/JEP_50_InStoryC-3773.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"143\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at the launch of JEP\u2019s new book series got into the USC spirit. (Photo: Mike Glier.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The brainchild of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/story-num16-dr-dieuwertje-kast\/\">Dieuwertje \u201cDJ\u201d Kast<\/a>, JEP\u2019s director of STEM education programs, the books are designed for elementary school-age children and cover a range of topics, from marine biology to virtual reality, and showcase diverse scientists and their work.<\/p>\n<p>Scientist\u00a0Stacey Finley, Gordon S. Marshall Early Career Chair and associate professor of biomedical engineering, chemical engineering and materials science, and biological sciences at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/viterbischool.usc.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USC Viterbi School of Engineering<\/a>, helped write the volume on data science.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wrote the book with my own children in mind. They need to see more books featuring people of color, to inspire them and broaden their perspective,\u201d Finley wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>Some 9,000 sets of the books will be distributed to children and schools through USC neighbor educational programs such as the Viterbi K-12 STEM Center and the USC Leslie and William McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative. Educational videos and lesson plans for teachers are also available.<\/p>\n<p><strong>An expanding legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a continuation of JEP\u2019s five decades of work within the community that surrounds campus, helping to uplift the children who will be the scientists, artists, educators and leaders of tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m just so incredibly proud of what we\u2019ve been able to accomplish in these 50 years,\u201d says Susan Harris, JEP\u2019s executive director. \u201cSo many students have come through JEP\u2019s doors and been able to make a meaningful change in communities and then go on to do amazing things in their own lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CVRFZZAHdfk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n    \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Related Articles\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/the-trojan-trio\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >The Trojan Trio<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since 1972, some 100,000 USC students have taught in classrooms and provided more than a million service-hours to the neighborhoods around USC campuses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,17],"tags":[63,134],"class_list":["post-504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-impact","category-student","tag-community-engagement","tag-joint-educational-project"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A beautiful day in the neighborhood: Joint Educational Project celebrates 50 years of service to the community<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/joint-educational-project-celebrates-50-years\/\" \/>\n<meta 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