The 2023-24 Wisconsin Idea Fellowships have been awarded to five outstanding undergraduate projects at home and across the globe.
The projects, which are all rooted in the concept of addressing needs identified by community partners, range in topics from food insecurity, sustainable systems, civic responsibility and more. A total of nine UW–Madison undergraduate students are part of this year’s projects, sponsored by the Morgridge Center for Public Service.
Now in its 25th year, Wisconsin Idea Fellowships (WIF) are awarded annually to UW–Madison undergraduate projects working to address issues identified by local or global communities. Fellowships are awarded to semester- or year-long projects designed by an undergraduate student or group of students in collaboration with a community organization and a UW faculty or staff member.
Projects receive both logistical support as well as financial support — up to $7,000 in total depending on project scope and duration. A portion of each project’s funding is awarded to students as a personal stipend, allowing them to pursue a WIF project using time they might have otherwise worked a job. Some projects will begin this summer, and some will last through next May.
WISCONSIN IDEA FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENTS
1. The Neighborhood Cookbook: Reimagining Food Pantry Distribution with Neighborhood House Community Center
Student: Ndemazea Fonkem
Academic Advisor: Nathan Larson, Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture
Community Partner: Neighborhood House Community Center
The goal of the Neighborhood Cookbook project is to create a model for food distribution that centers community interdependence by creating a method that facilitates connection. Through interviews with pantry users and members of the community, the project would interview and photograph users of the food pantry to identify both their food and cooking preferences while gaining insight into their personal history and how food factors into their life story, gathering recipes from their kitchen to share. The recipes shared would be added into meal kits containing all the produce necessary to cook the meal. With a unique utilization of pantry ingredients that center story and community, the Neighborhood House food pantry will be able to highlight a variety of cuisines and culturally significant foods, as well as humanize the food pantry experience.
This project has received the “Michael Thornton and Nora Medina Social Innovation Award,” a special honor made possible by a generous endowment fund for WIF projects that support ethnically diverse communities with affordable housing or issues to help close the academic resource gap.
2. Wisconsin Destination Imagination Mentorship Project: Improving Accessibility of Out-of-School Programming
Student: Poojha Prabaharasundar
Academic Advisor: Dr. Allyson Bennett, Department of Psychology
Community Partner: Wisconsin Destination Imagination, Inc.
Wisconsin Destination Imagination (WIDI) is an affiliate of the global organization Destination Imagination (DI) that provides out-of-school programming for students teaching skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, and critical thinking through open-ended challenges. However, involvement in DI can be blocked by a multitude of barriers such as cost and need for adult volunteers leading to a lack of diversity and accessibility within the organization. This project will assess the current practices of WIDI to create and test a mentorship program that addresses the barrier of needing adult volunteers, by pairing experienced DI participants to teams needing extra support.
This project has been awarded an American Family Insurance Social Entrepreneurship Award made possible by a generous donation from American Family Insurance.
3. MyScholarsLab Outreach Project
Students: Nur Hidayah Binti Rostam and Muhammad Nazrie Bin Hasan
Academic Advisor: Prof. Nancy Kendall, Department of Educational Policy Studies
Community Partner: Malaysia Future Leaders School Youth Force (ABM)
MyScholarsLab Outreach Project aims to empower students in rural areas of Malaysia by educating them about tertiary education pathways and scholarships after completing the Malaysian Education Certificate (SPM). Their modules cover pre-university pathways, local and global scholarship applications, resume building, interview skills, and character development activities. Since 2020, they’ve taught over 5,000 secondary school students, with many successfully becoming proud scholarship recipients. To extend this support to students in rural areas, they are planning to visit schools across Malaysia and expand their scholarship exposure workshops. Their goal is to provide equal opportunities for these students to access scholarships, just as they themselves have benefited from scholarships for their own undergraduate studies. The impact of the MyScholarsLab Outreach Project cannot be overstated, as it serves as a beacon of hope and empowerment for young people in Malaysia who may have once felt excluded from accessing tertiary education and the opportunities that come with it.
4. Raising awareness about Teenage pregnancies through sexual health education and entrepreneurship
Student: Christine Lekishon
Academic Advisor: Kate McLeary, Educational Policy Studies
Community Partner: Kakenya’s Dream
Although COVID-19 heightened the surge of teenage pregnancies in Kenya, this has always been a persistent issue in Kilgoris, located in the southwestern part of Kenya. Christine’s project aims to address this issue in a sustainable and holistic manner by advancing the efforts of Kakenya’s Dream organization through 1). Developing and distributing a comprehensive sexual health guide to girls to ensure their continuous learning beyond Kakenya’s Dream health and leadership workshops, and to encourage open discussions with family and friends. 2). Equipping girls with entrepreneurial skills such as handcrafting and bead making, to help them combat period poverty.
5. SHPonics
Students: Jace Addy, Aubrey Barthel, Elizabeth Lettner, and Cassie Mangiulli
Academic Advisor: Lesley Sager, UW–Madison School of Human Ecology
Community Partner: Dave Ropa, Spring Harbor Middle School
SHPonics aims to educate middle school students about the importance of sustainability in unconventional food production, as well as applying principles of engineering and innovation to aquaponics. Aquaponics provides a multidisciplinary introduction to sustainable farming practices including the understanding of nutrient cycling, water chemistry, fluid mechanics and dynamics, and collaboration. Spring Harbor Middle School currently has an interdisciplinary curriculum revolving around gardening and food production but is seeking unique options that incorporate engineering principles. As climate change continues to accelerate, achieving a decent crop yield through traditional farming is becoming increasingly challenging. Exposing middle school students to solutions that are enjoyable instead of daunting is extremely important because heavy topics such as global warming can be hard to process. The aquaponics system has great potential in creating an integral educational opportunity for Spring Harbor students.