Salvation Army Learning Spaces Created by Medaille Students Officially Open

A ribbon-cutting party was recently held to officially open new learning spaces at the Salvation Army Buffalo created by Medaille College students and faculty. Using a grant from the Center for Community-Based Learning, the sophomores, juniors and seniors in Dr. Alice Villaseñor’s ENG 375 Children’s Literature service-learning class revamped two classrooms, a technology room and a community center reading space. They also researched age-appropriate, multicultural children’s books to add to the Salvation Army’s collection. Under the guidance of Library Director Andy Yeager, the students completely reorganized the book collection and created a system that can be easily used for years to come. In addition, the Medaille students cleaned, painted, created chalkboard walls, and rearranged learning materials to make every aspect of the spaces more user-friendly.

The ribbon-cutting introduced the children to the revamped spaces. Attendees included Medaille President Dr. Ken Macur; Center for Community-Based Learning Director Bridget Brace-MacDonald; Dr. Villaseñor; Director of Academic Development and Special Projects Kari Costelloe; associate professor Claudia Conway; associate professor Dr. Elaine Correa; assistant professor Kyle Shrader; assistant professor Dr. Bridgette Slavin; instructor Erika Hamann; and a number of Medaille students.