On December 9 from 10:30 to 12 Noon organizers and participants in the fifth UNH Manchester Warmth from the Millyard (WFMY) project will gather to celebrate their accomplishments and their successful partnership with the PASS Program at the Manchester School of Technology. The collaborative project combines subject-area learning and leadership development for UNH Manchester and high school students. The program will include student presentations and will be held at the Manchester School of Technology 530 South Porter Street, Manchester.

“We are honored to once again be working with dozens of businesses and groups who have come together to respond to the growing need for warm clothing experienced by many of our community members,” says Kate Hanson, professor of Community Leadership at UNH. “As a result of the hard work of students in the Community Leadership class at UNH Manchester and the dedication of the high school students in the PASS Program at MST, we have received, sorted, and redistributed over 3,000 items of donated items warm clothing to more than a dozen local and regional organizations.”

While the WFMY effort focuses on sharing warm clothing, it is primarily an academic venture, providing students with opportunities to learn more about community organizing, teamwork, social policy, media relations, civic engagement and leadership through this specific service project.

“Students in my introduction to community leadership class have been developing this project for the past five years, says Hanson. “ Each year, their goals are larger and more sophisticated as they learn from each other and build on success. Because we’ve seen how powerful this project-based approach to learning can be, we decided this year to invite other age groups and schools to join us. One of the results of this outreach has been our tremendously successful partnership with the PASS Program at MST.”

UNH Manchester students have been working with students from the PASS program, an alternative high school, since early fall. “When I heard about the Warmth from the Millyard project,” says PASS Coordinator Kevin McDonnell, “I knew that this would be an ideal opportunity for us to pilot a project-based approach to learning with our students. We are delighted with the results so far. Approximately forty of our students have been working with our teachers and with UNH students and faculty to design their own warm clothing drive, coordinate partnerships with business and recipient organizations, create advertising and media outreach to encourage donors, and connecting their work directly to academic subjects in social science, English, math, computer literacy, and business.”

Both the teachers and students are thrilled with the success of the partnership. Joe Bowe, who teaches social science, has used the collection of clothes as an opportunity to teach both world geography and global economics. “We log-in each donated piece of clothing by the country where it was made, the fiber composition, and the company that manufactured it. This data allows us to connect many important social issues with the project itself. For example, my students have identified more than ninety countries where clothes are made. We’re plotting them all on a world map and analyzing how much is made where. We’ll continue to use this data in many different ways next semester.”

Steve Prisby, who teaches math and English, also hopes to use some of this data to teach statistics and math concepts. MST English teacher Pat Seward has been working with her students on their public speaking skills as they present the project to different groups and on their writing skills as they reflect weekly on what they’re learning. Nancy Cooperider, who teaches business and computer science, has helped the students design a website for the project as well as a blog and a wiki that they use to communicate with the UNH Manchester partners.

For more information on the WFMY project and collaborative opportunities, contact Kate Hanson, program director, kate.hanson@unh.edu.