My World Polio Day Observation as a Mid-Term Examination

World Polio Day was observed as a mid-term examination for students enrolled in the Sustainable Mountain Development class at Utah Valley University (UVU) on October 29th, 2024.

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Group Photo of the class prepared for the World Polio Day Observation

My enrollment in the Fall 2024 Semester Utah Valley University class POLS3630 on Sustainable Mountain Development provided an opportunity to learn about one of the important agendas of the United Nations focusing on improving the livelihoods of the rural and mountain communities and contribute to this agenda through a Student-Engaged Learning (SEL) which is similar to Service Learning. SEL encourages students to work together on a practical issue with their teacher mentoring them when they need help. Outclass integrated SEL activities through special assignments such as reading news articles on selected state policies in the SMD and discussing them every week. In addition, students participated in service projects hosted by the Orem-Lindon Rotary Club, a local branch of Rotary International, a famous global non-governmental organization, or by the UVU Sustainability Committee. I had an opportunity to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s and Provo River Clean-up.

As a class-scheduled SEL activity, each student was also assigned to a member of the Orem-Lindon Rotary Club to build personal ties and have an interview about their involvement and contribution through its activities to the SMD implementation in the State of Utah. This was an assignment to be assessed as our mid-term examination. It also commemorated World Polio Day on October 29th, 2024, and was dedicated to the coming 50th anniversary of the Orem-Lindon Rotary Club.

Ismael Cabadas Speaks during the Event by presenting a personal Story of Jim Lauret

During the latter half of September, I had to contact an Orem-Lindon Rotarian named Debby Lauret, and the goal was to establish a meeting between Debby and me. While preparing for the interview, I was able to create suitable questions with the help of the material provided by the professor. However, a problem did occur with the first interview, the first interview between Debby and me occurred in-person, and we could not record the first interview due to being in-person. Hence, we had to set up a second interview, and due to the experience from conducting the first interview, I improved the discussion of the second interview by adding more questions and increasing the complexity of the previous questions. The second interview occurred on Zoom, which helped establish a flexible time to conduct the interview, unlike trying to schedule an in-person interview. Using Zoom allowed for the recording and creation of a transcript, which would be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of connecting students with Rotarians, and the tapes could be used to enhance the experience of the future students who would meet with the Rotarians. For example, any questions we used and any mistakes that occurred will be notified to future students to ensure that any future interviews can achieve more and with fewer mistakes.

Also, during the reach-out stage of the interview, Rotarian Debby was cooperative with her communication, which allowed for a quick plan for an interview date. This cooperation extends to the other Rotarians as well, since many of the students during class and the class presentation during World Polio Day mentioned the ease of communication with their Rotarians. Hence, this level of cooperation demonstrates the eagerness of both the students and the Rotarians to get to know each other, especially the Rotarians, since they agreed to help our class spread the message of supporting the local community and demonstrating that commitment during the interviews and the social service projects. Also, the leader of the Orem-Lindon Rotary Club, Mike Rich, and the District Rotaract Representative, Savannah Bristol, were present during the presentation of the Rotary interviews conducted during the Sustainable Mountain Development Class.

Janessa-Michelle Purcell Presents Rotarian Roger Lewis Story to the Class

For the Celebration of World Polio Day, established by Rotary International, the Sustainable Mountain Development class hosted presentations about the interviews between the students and their respective rotary members.

Cade Bloomer spoke about Rotarian Mike Rich

Christ Louyoko Nianza spoke about Rotarian Jim Evans

Ismael Cabadas spoke about Rotarian Debby Lauret

Ana Caballero Ferreyro spoke about Rotarian Cathy Ambrose

Glory Ellison spoke about Rotarian Derek Marshall

Audrey Forsgren spoke about Rotarian Lynn Hillstead

McKay Jones spoke about RotarianJim Lauret

Parker Miller spoke about Rotarian Dean Robinson

Thomas Mogensen spoke about Rotarian Glen Ricks

Payne, Kaleb (Keb) spoke about Rotarian Armstrong Cherise

Janessa-Michelle Purcell spoke about Rotarian Roger Lewis

Caleb Ream spoke about Rotarian Bruce Earl

Nicholas Robinson spoke about Rotarian Clark Merkley

Christ Louyoko Nianza spoke about Rotarian Spencer Mack

Christ Louyoko Nianza spoke about Rotarian D. J. Smith

Rotarians

Rotarians Mike Rich (in a blue shirt) and Cathy Ambrose (behind him) with students during the World Polio Day Observation

This opportunity introduces students to other members of the Orem-Lindon Rotary Club and demonstrates the effectiveness of the collaboration between the Sustainable Mountain Development class and the Orem-Lindon Rotary Club. Also, the presentations are an opportunity for students to learn more about the other members of the Rotary Club, potentially for future contact and interactions post-graduation. Hence, this method for a mid-term examination is worthwhile, since it exposes students to professionals to better understand the local community and network with those professionals in the Rotary Club as well, compared to a traditional exam that would not be as applicable to the real world compared to real interactions and experience.

Ismael Cabadas, UVU Student

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ROTARIANS BIOS AND POWERPOINTS

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Roger Lewis Bio Presentation About Roger Lewis

Mike Rich Bio Presentation About Mike Rich

Cathy Ambrose Bio Presentation About Cathy Ambrose

Clark Merkley Bio Presentation About Clark Merkley

D.J. Smith Bio Presentation About D.J. Smith

Dean Robinson Bio Presentation About Dean Robinson

Lynn Hillstead Bio Presentation About Lynn Hillstead

Bruce Earl Bio Presentation About Bruce Earl