Work Study Jobs For Fall 2014

The Community Work-Study Program

The Federal Community Work Study Program provides part-time jobs for undergraduate and graduate students with a financial aid award*.  

The program encourages community service work and work related to your course of study. Students are paid by the hour, and the rate is at least the federal minimum wage. The maximum number of hours you can work at Boise State during school sessions is 30 hours per week and you are paid every other week. Community Work Study hours are typically scheduled around your classes, depending on the employer.   

Our positions offer high-level and high-impact professional development so students can build their network and resume, as well as get the experience they need to secure professional work post graduation. Be a part of our program and start growing your professional career today. 

For more information contact cwscoordinator@boisestate.edu or apply for positions directly by visiting BroncoJobs.

Current Openings:

Volunteer Coordinator (SL2), Agency for New Americans, Boys & Girls Club, International Rescue Mission, and Boise Urban Garden School – NOW HIRING!

The SL2 Acts as a liaison between a community organization, Boise State faculty, the Service-Learning Program and service-learners. They support service-learners and traditional community volunteers.

Program Assistant, Foothills Learning Center – NOW HIRING!

The Program Assistant at Foothills Learning Center supports the Environmental Education Program staff in office operations, class scheduling, and preparation. Some additional duties of facilitating classes may be involved as well!

Visitor Services Specialist, Discovery Center of Idaho – NOW HIRING!

The Visitor Services Specialist provides on-the-job training for the education and floor volunteer staff. The also facilitate visitor-learning and enhance customer service, as well as support day-to-day operations of Discovery Center of Idaho.

Bronco Tutor, Garfield Elementary AND Jefferson Elementary – NOW HIRING

Work one-on-one and in small groups with elementary students in order to assess reading and writing skills using assessments given to them by teachers.

Filled Positions:

Food Drive Assistant, The Idaho Foodbank

The Food Drive Assistant assists in the management and coordination of The Idaho Foodbank food drives.  This is a high-level, demanding position that requires advanced project management and stakeholder management soft skills.

Recreation Leader, Boise Parks and Recreation

The Recreation Leader supervises elementary aged youth during an after-school recreation program. This position is also responsible for organizing and maintaining recreational and educational equipment and materials

Adaptive Recreation Leader, Boise Parks and Recreation

The Adaptive Recreation Leader supervises and supports individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities during recreation program activities. This position is also responsible for organizing and maintaining recreational and educational equipment and materials

Program Assistant, MK Nature Center

The Program Assistant assists with many aspects of the nature center’s operations and maintenance. This may include design and construction of exhibits and displays, as well as research for educational projects and tours.

Medical Case Manager, Agency for New Americans

The Medical Case Manager provides transitional services to newly arriving refugees that promotes early self-sufficiency and social adjustment, especially related to taking care of their medical issues on their own.

  

Youth Development Professional, Boys and Girls Club

The Youth Development Professional provides support to all program areas including Nutrition, Technology, Transportation and Clubhouse Operations.

*To qualify for Federal Work Study you must select the option on your FAFSA and be awarded it through the Financial Aid Department on Campus.

"Sync"ed Partnerships

I recently had the pleasure of meeting the ladies at the Assistance League of Boise. During my visit with them, I took a tour of their Operation School Bell sight. Operation School Bell is an incredible philanthropy that touches over 3,520 Ada County elementary school children per year. From September through November the goal of the Assistance League’s Operation School Bell philanthropy is to dress every elementary school child in need within Ada County. The money earned through the Assistance League’s thrift store is used to purchase new clothes. Some of the clothing products come from large scale distributors nationally, while others are purchased from local retailers, such as the Bronco Shop.

My role at the Assistance League was to help make their vision, of engaging students in an educational experience while they are waiting to "shop", a reality. The challenge in making their vision a reality was in getting an army of volunteers trained to implement the lessons.  The Assistance League contacted two other community organizations that work with Boise State Service-Learning to help make their vision a reality, Foothills Learning Center and Boise Watershed. Each of these community organizations designed a lesson that could be easily implemented by Boise State Service-Learning students.  Boise State Service-Learning students from Environmental Studies 121 signed-up to share their understanding of the environment while engaging students in thinking about the water cycle and recycling.

   

The challenge then became making this vision come to life with a unified understanding of the lessons.  To create this unified understanding, I filmed the delivery of each of the lesson plans, edited the film, and uploaded the videos to the Assistance Leagues' OrgSync portal. Students who missed the orientation could then view those videos, as well as students who just want a review the material.

The Assistance League can now decide if they are going to grow their library of activities, by adding more lessons each year, or continue to use the same lessons with training just one click away. This form of training may become a great alternative to getting service-learning students off and running quicker.

 -Jill K. Hettinger, Boise State University Service-Learning

Taking the Last Flight Challenge by Investigating Sustainable Development

BIOL/GEOSC/GENSCI/ENVSTD 297 - Investigations into Sustainable Development

Spring semester was a whirl wind of great service opportunities, thought provoking case studies, great guest speakers, and connections to the campus read, The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw.  Students took part in service-learning through a survey model allowing them to participate in a range of sustainability efforts throughout the Treasure Valley.

Guiding our investigations were the three pillars of sustainable development: society, economy, and the environment. Everything we learned, evaluated, or took part in was connected back to these three pillars through reflection and class discussion. Students’ reflections were poignant and thoughtful. One student reflected, 

“The Lake Lowell case study provides a great example as to why conservation is so complex. Just like in The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw, it's not as simple as having good guys who want to save the environment and bad guys who want to destroy it, which I feel is a common misconception. Social and economic issues are equally important environmental impacts when it comes to conservation issues. The Lake Lowell case represents the current messy style of many environmental issues where everyone talks about what they personally want or need, without taking the whole system into account. I noticed this in The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw, as well, the government wants one thing, the zoo lady wants something else so it's just all out war from there. In order to come up with effective solutions to environmental issues, people need to view the system as a whole and work on new answers to problems rather than just choosing a winner or a loser. Build the dam and kill the macaws or don't build it and no one can have power, neither of those are good options”.

As we looked at local and global issues we began to see more similarities than differences. The survey model of service-learning enhanced our learning and helped us to make these local to global connections, from a variety of perspectives. Our community partners included: Foothills Learning Center Community Education -KidWind Project on Wind Energy; Idaho Fish and Game Planting Native Plants and Monitoring Wood Duck Boxes; USDA Rangeland Resources Research on Microclimates; BLM Triangulation of Riparian Vegetation and Water Quality Data; and Idaho Bird Observatory.

The semesters service-learning was kicked off with wood duck box monitoring with Idaho Fish and Game. During this experience we learned that the wood duck, like the scarlet macaw, is a cavity nester whose nesting habitat has been disrupted by the dam building here in the United States. Students felt a large sense of accomplishment after helping the community partners with their various sustainable development efforts.  Students also felt a strong sense of value in working with K-12 students in the KidWind Project because they felt it important to excite the next generation about STEM fields and the importance of sustainable development.

Highlights of the semester ranged from our invitation to dinner with Bruce Barcott, to the many service learning opportunities in the field and participation in a mock US Fish and Wildlife Services committee to determine if the scarlet macaw should be listed as endangered.

Investigations into Sustainable Development will be offered again Fall 2013. 

 -Jill K. Hettinger, Boise State University Service-Learning