{"id":58339,"date":"2021-02-02T10:09:56","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T16:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=58339"},"modified":"2021-02-02T10:09:59","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T16:09:59","slug":"fort-hays-state-project-improves-next-chapter-in-peoples-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=58339","title":{"rendered":"Fort Hays State project improves next chapter in people\u2019s lives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A literacy project started by two Fort Hays State University professors last year proved so successful that they are continuing it this year, despite facing challenges because of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. April Terry in the criminal justice\ndepartment and Dr. Sarah Broman Miller (teacher education) wrote a research\ngrant in 2020 and launched a pilot project to serve the inmate population at\nthe Topeka Correctional Facility through a read-aloud program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last spring, students in Broman Miller\u2019s\nteacher education practicum class worked with 10 incarcerated mothers and two\ngrandmothers on a literacy project to improve the inmates\u2019 basic reading skills\nand help them connect with their loved ones through books recorded by the\ninmates.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elementary education majors had planned\nto read in person to the inmates, but because of COVID-19 protocols, the\nstudents video recorded their book readings, modeling for the inmates what good\nreading looks and sounds like. They sent their recordings to Broman Miller, who\nthen forwarded them to the correctional facility. Each inmate received a new\nyoung adult chapter book, as well as a recordable book to be passed on to their\nloved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Broman Miller also started a book drive\nin conjunction with the literacy project. The response was so overwhelming that\nshe was able to deliver boxes of books this month to the Stockton Correctional\nFacility and two more facilities in Norton \u2013 the correctional facility and\nValley Hope Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou would have thought it was Christmas\nall over again at those facilities,\u201d Broman Miller said. She added that \u201cthis\nis a really important project, being able to bridge that social connection for\nthe inmates, especially right now during the pandemic. It\u2019s a really good way\nto help people who already are experiencing a lot of trauma and give them some\nhope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyone wishing to donate to the ongoing\nbook drive can drop them off at the FHSU offices of Broman Miller (Rarick 239)\nor Terry (Rarick 233) or at Hays\u2019 First United Methodist Church, 305 W.\nSeventh. Broman Miller noted that in addition to the service portion of the\nproject, FHSU students benefit as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Numerous students are getting involved\nin making a difference in the lives of others. Some of Terry\u2019s criminal justice\nstudents collect data from surveys answered by the inmates before and after the\nproject to determine how the reading project has impacted them. Others in the\nDepartment of Art are creating coloring books specific to the grandmothers and\nmothers in the literacy project.\n\n\u201cThis is always important work,\u201d Terry said.\n\u201cBut it is especially important now. The inmates have gone almost a year without\nseeing their loved ones, and the books and coloring books are an extra tool to\nhelp them connect with them.\u201d \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS A literacy project started by two Fort Hays State University professors last year proved so successful that they are continuing it this&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58340,"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-58339","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\/2021\/02\/PrisonBookProject_Image20NEWS.jpg?fit=1800%2C1468&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\/58339","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=58339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58341,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58339\/revisions\/58341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}