Integrated Service-Learning Project

The Integrated Service-Learning Project is an expansion of the Interior Design Relief Project which was founded in 2013 to serve the families in Long Beach, NY, devastated by Superstorm Sandy.

The project started with a conversation at the end of Fall 2012 in the Materials & Methods for Interior Construction class. The conversation was between student Natalie Zepeda and professor Carmita Sanchez-Fong about the devastation created by Superstorm Sandy in Long Beach, NY, where Natalie lived.

Natalie equated the view of Long Beach after Superstorm Sandy with that which had been portrayed in the movie, The Book of Eli, a 2010 American post-apocalyptic action film starring Denzel Washington. Natalie, professor Joan Melnick, and professor Carmita Sanchez-Fong met with Bryan Murphy of Sandy Help LB on January 4, 2013. By the Spring of 2014, 14 students and 3 faculty from the interior design department and 4 students and 1 faculty from the photography department had teamed up to serve 17 families in Long Beach. In the summer of 2014, five members of the group and professor Sanchez-Fong traveled to Guatemala to build a bottle school for the children of Chidonjuan. During 2014-2015, students continued to volunteer, serving The Bowery Mission Women's Center and Living Waters Community Center.

» View the ID Relief Project on Facebook

After the group presented their projects at The Center for Architecture in NYC on November 4, 2015, the Integrated-Service Learning Project was created. The first meeting of the group was held at the Fashion Institute of Technology on January 4, 2016.

Projects

 

Restore NYC

Field Survey and Schematic Design Teams

Team 1: Ernesto Fong, Mohcen Haouara, Joanna Kraszewska, Abigael Marcelo

Team 2: Helaina Judge-Calow, Lauren Gorgano, Nicole Migeon

Team 3: Nelson Aw, Susan Lee, Lisbeth Jimenez, Emily Villa

Design Development & Production Team

Ernesto Fong, Lisbeth Jimenez, Joanna Kraszewska, Nicole Migeon, Carmita Sanchez-Fong

Bowery Mission Men's Center

Field Survey Team

Ernesto Fong, Lisbeth Jimenez, Joanna Kraszewska, Nicole Migeon, Carmita Sanchez-Fong

Schematic Design & Design Development Team

Ernesto Fong, Lisbeth Jimenez, Joanna Kraszewska, Yuko Nagasue, Nicole Migeon, Carmita Sanchez-Fong

St. Paul's House

Field Survey Team

Ernesto Fong, Habiba Koroma, Susan Lee, Martin Nolan, Carmita Sanchez-Fong, Rosalind Tsang

Further Reading

Conference Papers by Interior Design Professor Carmita Sanchez-Fong

• Integrated Service-Learning as a Bridge for Social Change and Innovation
• Integrating Software in the Core Curriculum

Connect

If you are interested in participating or sponsoring us, please tell us how you would like to contribute to this project.