John\nDewey once said that \u201cdemocracy has to be born anew every generation, and\neducation is its midwife.\u201d Fort Hays State University embraces this sentiment\nthrough its long-standing commitment to civic engagement in our local\ncommunity, region, state \u2013 and even across the globe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nfact, I will be bold and claim bragging rights on this \u2013 thanks to the\nfortitude of many too numerous to mention. This commitment shows up in an\nabundance of ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Accounting\nstudents offer free income tax preparation. Students studying communication\nsciences and disorders offer free hearing screening clinics. Leadership 310\nstudents design local community projects of their choice in conjunction with an\nexisting organization. Course activities include recognizing a community problem,\nworking with other concerned citizens to develop a plan of action and\nimplementing that plan. One such project is our beautiful downtown pavilion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our\nFoster Grandparent Program connects volunteers 55 and over with children with\nspecial or exceptional needs. Our Senior Companion Program connects volunteers\nof the same age with adults needing support to remain independent. These few\nexamples do not even scratch the surface of our commitment to doing good and\nserving others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As\nI reflect upon how proud I am of the deep impact made by our students, faculty,\nstaff and alumni, I think of one service project in particular that warms my\nheart every December. Teaming Up for Tots (TUFT) is the yearly construction and\nassembly project of wooden toys that are given to local children who otherwise\nmight not receive a Christmas gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr.\nDuane Renfrow, associate professor of applied technology, explained to me how\nthis all got started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMaking\nChristmas toys for the TUFT organization was the brainchild of former Applied\nTechnology chair, Dr. Fred Ruda, in 1990. For the past 31 years, in partnership\nwith the Ellis County community, the Department of Applied Technology has\ndesigned and built up to 250 wooden toys each year. These toys are given to\nlocal children \u2013 through TUFT,\u201d Renfrow said. \u201cA variety of toys have been\nbuilt through the years, including: jeeps, bug boxes, helicopters, cameras,\nexcavators, pickups, fire trucks, piggy banks, race cars and dump trucks, to\nname a few. With the untimely passing of Dr. Ruda in 2012, the department\ndecided to name the activity in his honor and call it the Dr. Fred P. Ruda TUFT\nDay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From\n1990 through 1997, Ruda was in charge of organizing this event with the help of\nthe department\u2019s Technology Education Collegiate Association (TECA) members. In\n1998, Renfrow was tasked with this activity and has been responsible for the\ndevelopment of 18 of the 31 toys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After\ntaking over the event, Renfrow procured the opportunity to engage students in\nthe fundamentals of TUFT. Weeks \u2013 and even months \u2013 before the public assembly\nday, Renfrow formulates the parameters of the toy to be built. Students from\nRenfrow\u2019s Materials, Processes and Production class research toy designs and\nbring their ideas to class for a brainstorming session. Several designs are\nchosen, and prototypes are made. Once the toy design is decided upon, the\nmanufacturing process is developed, jigs and fixtures are built, and materials\nare pre-processed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On\nassembly day, the university and community are invited to come help. In the\nearly years in Davis Hall, there were typically about 30 people involved on\nassembly day. Since the department moved to the Center for Applied Technology,\n125 to 130 people have attended. The variety of people who show up to help\ninclude alumni of the department, university staff and faculty and community\nfolks ranging in age from 5-year-old youngsters to men in their 80s \u2013 and all\nage groups in between. Eighty-three-year-old Don Barton, a retired FHSU\nemployee, has only missed one year of toy building. That\u2019s 30 years of\ndedication to Teaming Up For Tots!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jobs\non the assembly day include sanding, gluing, running parts from station to\nstation, attaching wheels, assembling parts and finishing. Some who have\nexperience even get to operate some of the machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This\nactivity is much bigger than just making toys. In addition to demonstrating\nsupport for local children, this activity unites the community, as businesses\nand individuals make donations and volunteer time to make a difference in the\nlives of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately,\nwith our current health concerns looming because of the pandemic, this year\nprevented the \u201copen-to-the-public event.\u201d But have no fear, like many other\nFHSU activities, the event, though reimagined, still resulted in 150 little\npickup trucks for the TUFT organization!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank\nyou, Applied Technology faculty and students for bringing joy to little\nchildren on Christmas morning \u2013 and for setting another example of how Fort\nHays State University consistently demonstrates the inspiring ways we enrich\nour communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tisa Mason is president of Fort Hays State University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" John Dewey once said that \u201cdemocracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife.\u201d Fort Hays State University embraces this sentiment… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37698,"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":[12323,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Mason-Tisa-040A6662.jpg?fit=750%2C1050&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\/57798","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=57798"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57799,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57798\/revisions\/57799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}