Creating Community Through Drama: Outreach at Muncie Civic Theatre

Muncie Civic Theatre is one of oldest civic theatres in the state and is located in one of the oldest buildings in the county. The mission of the Muncie Civic Theatre is to “enrich our whole community through theatre performance, education, and outreach.” (www.munciecivic.org) They do this on a very small budget, and an even smaller staff. The goal of this year-long immersive learning project is to help this Muncie jewel improve its outreach efforts, diversity, connection to Ball State University, volunteer program, and overall impact in the community.


Spring 2018

Faculty Mentor: Peggy Fisher
Department: Communications Studies
Community Partner: Muncie Civic Theatre
Students: Elizabeth Arnold, Cameron Cole, Hannah Cordes, Candice Gill, Brooke Gronning, Hannah Janowicz, F. Thomas Mian, Gina Strati, Devin Summan, Courtland Wood


Fall 2017

Faculty Mentor: Peggy Fisher
Department: Communication Studies
Community Partners: Muncie Civic Theatre
Students: Elizabeth Arnold, Cameron Cole, Hannah Cordes, Candice Gill, Brooke Gronning, Hannah Janowicz, F. Thomas Mian,
Gina Strati, Courtland Wood

Computer Science for Middle Schoolers (CS4MS)

Diversity is essential for the future success of Computer Science (CS). Further, there is simply a lack of student exposure to CS in elementary and high school.Via the regular school curriculum, students are exposed to the hard sciences and mathematics, but seldom CS. As a result, students are likely to have little idea of what it means to be a Computer Scientist or if they have any interest in being one. With the recent adoption of CS K-8 academic standards in Indiana, this is changing, but most teachers have little, or no experience teaching these new topics. The focus of this immersive learning class was to expose the partner’s students, particularly underrepresented minorities and females, to CS and Computational Thinking (CT)–a need expressed by our partner. Our project team accumulated instructional resources, and developed activity templates and modules that will better incorporate CS and CT experiences, with a focus on meeting the Indiana CS academic standards.The school administrators and teachers can utilize the compiled resources, and implement the completed modules during normal school classes, during the summer, after school, or during extended breaks, based on their needs.


Fall 2019

Faculty Mentor: David Largent
Department: Computer Science
Community Partners: Northside Middle School, Burris Laboratory School, Muncie Central High School
Students: Sara Bailey, Luke Betts, Ben Bishop, Chris Bucker, Corbin Creedon, Gwyn Hultquist, Dakota Savage, Joe Schmidt, Madison Turley, Brian Walker, Sean Wolfe


Fall 2018

Faculty Mentor: David Largent
Department: Computer Science
Community Partners: Northside Middle School, Daleville Junior/Senior High School, and Burris Labratory School
Students: Ryan Ahler, Luke Betts, Austin Bolles, Michael Bratton, Will English, Josh Passey, Alexander Perry, Sarah Phipps, Adam Wessel, Morgan Williams


Fall 2017

Faculty Mentor: David Largent
Department: Computer Science
Community Partners: Northside Middle School
Students: Monica Appel, Meghan Duffy, Rachel Harvey, Anna Hawkins, Benjamin Lawson, Ryan Magley, Joshua Pegg, Ian Pemberton, Jordan Reidy, Timothy Skinner, Cody York

Cardinal Weather Service

Weather and climate information is critical to the way we conduct our lives. This project focused on the creation of the Cardinal Weather Service (CWS), an organization that creates and communicates daily public forecasts for clients within the greater Delaware County area. The CWS tailors forecasts based on the needs of our community. Specifically, the overarching goal of this project was to establish the operational guidelines, procedures, and structure of the Cardinal Weather Service, including furnishing the space in which it will be located.


Faculty Mentor: Nathan Hitchens & Petra Zimmerman
Department: Geography
Community Partners: Cardinal Greenway, Delaware County Futbol Club
Students: Kyle Amonette, Molly Coates, Lauren Elston, Adam Grimes, Amanda Kedzierski, James Longwith, Derrick Marsee, Josh Maurice, Ethan Rosuck, Lauren Slaven, Joe Strus,
Balint Szalavari, Jessica Walsh

Brownfields to Brightfields: Analysis of Solar Potentials of Brownfields in Delaware County, Indiana

Fall 2019: In the Brownfields to Brightfields Project (BBP), 2nd-year urban planning students surveyed, inventoried and mapped 22 brownfields in East Central Indiana to assess their solar installation potentials. Students performed land use analysis and ownership studies, assessed potential solar generation capacity, and determined sites’ potential for economic development. Students created a detailed reproduction guideline for Indiana communities. These results will be shared through detailed web-based sitemaps, replication guide, webinar, and presentations to local officials and stakeholders, state and national conferences, and in print.

Fall 2018: This community based immersive learning course is built around a theme of promoting sustainable community through analyzing its solar energy potential for existing brownfields of Delaware County, Indiana, and is comprised of urban planning students who are interested in regional planning, brownfield redevelopment, application of computer-based planning techniques to regional scale, and sustainable community building. By definition, brownfield means a site or real property for which the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of ahazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant (US Congress, 1980). Due to its hazardous nature, the concentration of such sites in urban areas or industrial towns makes economic development more challenging. However, beginning in the early 2000s, brownfields in rust belt Midwest regions slowly started to gain an attention from developers and communities as an opportunity, and now they are starting to attract significant funding and subsidies from private investors, non-profits and government agencies. Against this backdrop, in this immersive learning course, partnering with Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter, students analyzed and evaluated solar potentials for brownfields in Delaware County, Indiana. Through the immersive learning course, students evaluated the solar potential for the community and assess the potential for economic development for existing brownfields.


Fall 2019

Faculty Mentor: Sanglim Yoo
Department: Urban Planning
Community Partners: Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter
Students: Alexis Adams, Batul Ather, Richard Bratton, Elizabeth Crane, Daniel Grinspan, Kenzie Hughes, Alexander Janke, Janee Johnson, Esteban Leguizamo, Madison Lindsay, Jacob McQueen, Alex Pope, Erick Portillo, Jefferson Reece, Carter Solivan, Madison Spangler, Casey Stamm


Fall 2018

Faculty Mentor: Sanglim Yoo
Department: Urban Planning
Community Partners: Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter
Students: Odessa Birtman, Javan Johnson, Colton Marvel, Hannah Moran, Sarah Murray, Patricia Salgado, Erin Salgat, Michael Terronez, Jackson Trebor

Book Arts Collaborative

Book Arts Collaborative is a community letterpress and book bindery located in the Madjax Building in downtown Muncie. We preserve and teach apprentice-taught skills and run a small business. We teach analog design skills, business skills, and professionalization of all majors.


Faculty Mentors: Rai Peterson, Colleen Steffen, Amy Trendler
Departments: English, Journalism, University Libraries
Community Partners: Tribune Showprint Posters, Inc.
Students: Lauren Hansen, Marisa Sloan, Holly Westerfield, Kaytlyn Bell, Natalie Rokosz, Tier Marrow, Hannah Bihn, Sophie Gordon

A Light in Space

Through experiential learning of the essentials of lighting technology and design, “A Light in the Space” has aimed to provide guidance and resources that advance the quality and opportunities for lighting design in Muncie Civic Theatre’s future productions. These resources are meant to enhance the overall experience and focus on the diverse art of theatre through lighting design. These resources are manifest in a repertory light plot as well as a plan for upgrading the lighting technology of Muncie Civic Theatre.


Faculty Mentor: Mickie Marie
Department: Theatre and Dance
Community Partner: Youth Opportunity Center
Students: Libby Amaya, Katrina Conte, Max Cseresznyes, Jessica Custer, Samatha Flannelly, Rachel Hemm, May Hickman, Casey Kalinke, Chris Marsh, Kalee Mccullar, Addy Monger,
Avery Unate, Austin Zimmerman