The Griffon News

There are many evident signs that Missouri Western State University is a flagship amongst Missouri schools in the area of applied learning, and the students themselves are the best examples.

Two examples of applied learning practices that worked out better than anyone could anticipate are the foster parent marketing and recruitment plan, which started in the business department, and the pancake project spawned by the biology department.

Senior Brad Ogden was a member of the pancake project team which was created out of Western’s applied learning principle.

“Summer Research Institute could be considered a branch of what the applied learning experience is all about,” Ogden said. “Through SRI, students have the opportunity to work with faculty over the summer on projects they may have started or in our case, a research project we, the students, mostly orchestrated ourselves with the aid of Dr. Todd Eckdahl and Dr. Jeff Poet.”

SRI has gained Western an extra shine of credibility with its applied learning success.

“Last November, we brought our research to the International Genetically Engineered Machines competition in Boston at MIT and came home with several awards for Missouri Western: first place for best presentation, just to mention one,” Ogden said. “We brought home top awards against bigger schools and ivy leagues, which is somewhat of a feat, considering the amount of resources we have compared to them.”

All the students that were involved with the foster parent marketing and recruitment plan have graduated, which left only Todd Mick, business professor at Western, to fill in the blanks of what went on in the practicum last year.

“The coolest thing about it is, well, the social services were having trouble recruiting foster parents in the north part of St. Joseph, and they came to us with a very specific need and a very specific area,” Mick said. “We thought, ‘We can do this.’ It is a well-defined region and a well-defined population. Those four students said we can do this, and I said you can do it. The big thing was to create an awareness campaign through churches, mall displays, room displays, anything to create awareness for the need for foster parents in the north end.”

Once the Western students got busy, the quality of their work became apparent.

“When it came time for their presentation, social services used not just their boardroom but the entire classroom,” Mick said. “It was packed. People came all the way from Jeff City. When I walked in, I was a little bit in awe. This was either going to be a complete and total train wreck or they were going to hit it out of the ball park.”

Despite any apprehensions Mick may have had, his students continued to shine.

“The students got up front in their matching gold Western shirts and they looked sharp,” Mick said. “They presented their marketing plan in a very professional and child-caring manner, and everyone was left saying ‘wow, they get it.’ This is a result of the applied learning initiative at Missouri Western.”