What was once a 90-foot steel frame structure that housed new trees, shrubs and the occasional pile of brush at the University of Science and Arts, is now teaming with new life and activity as the location of the Community Garden. The garden is part of the Service Learning/Civic Engagement program at the college.

USAO students and faculty members have completed the majority of the work in the garden. Chelsea Davis, a psychology major from Norman, came up with the idea for a garden while she was taking the Community Development course at USAO.

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Eric Feuerborn

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Students in the Social Responsibility class work in the Community Garden at USAO. The garden is a project of the Service Learning/Civic Engagement program at the college. Although in the development stage, the garden has multiple goals including growing luffas and providing produce for the USAO cafeteria.

Forget the assumption that people go to college to keep from getting their hands dirty. Helping the community – and getting dirty if necessary – is the aim of the Service Learning/Civic Engagement program at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.

The mission of the Service Learning/Civic Engagement (SLCE) program at the college is "to inspire the next generation of Oklahomans to become social entrepreneurs, leaders who apply creative problem solving skills to address the needs of underserved populations in our communities.

"By enhancing interdisciplinary classroom instruction with innovative service-oriented projects and collaborative undergraduate research, the SLCE program facilitates durable learning and encourages a life-long commitment to civic engagement."

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Eric Feuerborn

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GETTING THEIR HANDS DIRTY -- Students enrolled in the Social Responsibility class spend Monday and Wednesday mornings working in the Community Garden at USAO. The garden is a project of the Service Learning/Civic Engagement program at the college. Dr. Craig Elder, assistant professor of management, teaches the Social Responsibility class and has been instrumental in the development of the garden.

Dealing with progressive hearing loss since she was 27, USAO graduate Shanna (Bartlett) Groves did what any good writer would do -- she wrote a novel. Groves' experiences inspired her novel, Lip Reader. She returns to Chickasha in July for a book signing and reading.

A book signing featuring Lip Reader is scheduled July 20 from 6-9 p.m. at Java Dave's Coffee House, 1724 South Fourth Street. Groves will sign and sale copies of the novel, as well as read from the book. Groves is a 1996 graduate of USAO and a 1992 graduate of Prague High School.

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Freelance writer and USAO graduate Shanna Bartlett Groves will discuss her first novel Lip Reader during a book signing scheduled July 20 from 6-9 p.m. at Java Dave's Coffee House, 1724 South Fourth Street, in Chickasha. Groves will sign and sale copies of the novel, as well as read from the book. Groves based the novel on her own experiences with hearing loss. “I wrote Lip Reader to tell a story of a family dealing with hearing loss. This is a story that not only tells about their experiences with being hard of hearing in a hearing world, but also some of the reactions that other people have had with their deafness.”