{"id":54414,"date":"2020-03-11T14:09:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T19:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=54414"},"modified":"2020-03-11T14:09:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T19:09:04","slug":"%ef%bb%bfservice-learning-plays-a-big-role-in-fort-hays-states-social-snack-shack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=54414","title":{"rendered":"\ufeffService learning plays a big role in Fort Hays State\u2019s Social Snack Shack"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Diane Gasper-O\u2019Brien
<\/strong> University Relations and Marketing
<\/em> Three Fort Hays State University students are having a rewarding experience with a hands-on project, and they want the campus community and local and area residents to participate as well.

Every Thursday afternoon, Ashley Luna, Emma Harmon and Jessie Graves join five individuals with communication challenges in working at the Social Snack Shack from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. in the north lobby of Albertson Hall.

Under the direction of the FHSU students \u2013 all majoring in communication sciences and disorders \u2013 the clients fill baggies with their assigned snacks. Visitors are given a menu of five categories from which they can choose from items such as popcorn, cereal, chips, nuts or dried fruit. A container for a free-will offering sits at the end of the line, with proceeds going toward the cost of the snack bags.

There is a lot more going on than filling baggies with munchies. Some of the clients don\u2019t speak at all; others are reluctant at first to speak to those they don\u2019t know.

However, by the time a few customers have made their way through the snack list, one client \u2013 described as shy and introverted \u2013 can be seen waving and smiling at those standing in line.

The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders started the project as another way to help clients who visit FHSU\u2019S Herndon Clinic for speech and language services.

\u201cWe wanted to expand the clients\u2019 abilities to visit with others in the community rather than just our little group,\u201d said Andrea Carmichael, a clinical instructor in the CSD Department.

The Social Snack Shack kicked off last year and is in full swing this semester.

\u201cThese individuals all communicate, just in a different way,\u201d Carmichael said. \u201cThey love sharing conversation, and this is a way for them to really open up and feel comfortable communicating with others in whatever way that might be.\u201d

Watching the interaction among the students and clients in the north hallway of Albertson appears more like a classroom party than a class project.

\u201cI\u2019m more of a hands-on learner myself,\u201d said Luna, a senior from Victoria. \u201cSo I love this. It\u2019s a great learning experience.\u201d

Dr. Valerie Zelenka, professor in the Department of Teacher Education, was filling in for the instructor of the Educating Exceptional Students class last week and brought those students to the Social Snack Shack.

Zelenka was so impressed with the project that she is going to suggest that students in all teacher education classes take part.

\u201cOur future teachers, in their general education classes, are going to be working with students who have challenges,\u201d she said. \u201cThis project is wonderful.\u201d

Working with the Social Snack Shack not only teaches the clients how to read a menu and listen while taking the customers\u2019 orders but also how to socialize with people.

The real-life learning experience is beneficial to the FHSU students as well.

\u201cIt\u2019s so awesome to see every week how the clients are advancing, smiling and working with other people,\u201d said Harmon, a senior from Hoisington. \u201cThe experience is just amazing for all of us, getting to work with these clients. I can\u2019t thank Fort Hays State and the CSD Department enough for all the opportunities they offer us.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Diane Gasper-O\u2019Brien University Relations and Marketing Three Fort Hays State University students are having a rewarding experience with a hands-on project, and they want… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11722],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/CSC-Social-Snack-Shack.jpg?fit=342%2C228&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54416,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54414\/revisions\/54416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/54415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}