For my Barrett the Honors College senior thesis project, I decided to utilize my knowledge of curriculum design to create a set of learning Modules. I was influenced by my involvement in the Next Generation Service Corps to create these Modules around college student community impact. In the end I developed 6 Modules, each with 4-5 lessons and activities that focused on topics such as volunteerism, civic engagement, and meaningful careers. With interviews rolling through during the design process, I was able to iterate my design as I built it. The design was tested with 14 college students with positive feedback and engagement during the week-long period that it was available. Through this research and design, I found that such a collection of Modules could be beneficial to students to excite them about their potential and educate them about the opportunities that exist for them to take advantage of. This research could serve as a useful tool within the ASU community as an opportunity for the students to build up meaningful skills to create impact. ASU is passionate about education translating into real world applications and creating “changemakers”, and this collection has the opportunity to do just that.

FCU4Health is an adaption of an evidence-based program to address the pediatric obesity epidemic in the United States. Qualitative interviews were conducted with nine program providers to understand possible cultural variation in family engagement with the program. Interviews were coded to develop a scheme that identifies themes among the coordinators’ experiences through a grounded theory approach, narrowing the scope of topics discussed to create a specific theoretical framework that integrates categories of coordinator experiences. Results showed that the prioritization of what families’ needs are and what resources/parenting modules coordinators utilize followed Maslow's hierarchy of needs, putting child health and safety at the forefront. Barriers to family engagement with the program and with coordinator recommendations are largely cross-cultural and socioeconomic in nature due to not having enough time to follow-through with work/family obligations. However, there were some specific cultural groups such as Latino multigenerational families and immigration status that did pose similar barriers across multiple families that allowed for more generalized themes for those particular cultural groups. Other individualized case studies presented by coordinators showed nuances in barriers to resource utilization between cultural groups at the familial level. In addition, multiple coordinators stated that their most successful resources in engaging families have come with resources that have collaborations with other organizations. In order to address the barriers to accessing health-related services for low-income families that are disproportionately individuals of minority cultural groups, it is vital to have cross-sector collaboration as a mindset towards finding effective and all-encompassing resources for these vulnerable individuals. The non-profit, public, and private sector each have unique strengths that can contribute to reducing health disparities for those suffering with pediatric obesity.

The Centralia Council, representative of a small Pennsylvania borough, arranged for an illegal controlled burn of the Centralia landfill in late May 1962. It happened the same way every year. As Memorial Day drew closer, the Council contracted volunteer firefighters to burn the top layer of refuse in the landfill in preparation for the day’s festivities, but intentionally burning landfills violated state law. A tangle of events over the years saw the “controlled” burn develop into an underground mine fire and then into a coal seam fire. Excavation costs lie far beyond the state’s budget, and Pennsylvania plans to let the fire burn until its natural end--anticipated at another 240 years. The tangled mess of poor decisions over 21 years begs one question: did the people or the fire kill Centralia?

This paper’s field of study falls into the cross section of geology and fire science, history, social conflict, public service ethics, and collaborative failures. I explore how a series of small choices snowballed into a full, government funded relocation effort after attempts at controlling the anthracite coal seam fire failed. Geology and fire science worked in tandem during the mine fire, influencing each other and complicating the firefighting efforts. The fire itself was a unique challenge. The history of Centralia played a large role in the government and community response efforts. I use the borough and regional history to contextualize the social conflict that divided Centralia. Social conflict impaired the community’s ability to unify and form a therapeutic community, and in turn, it damaged community-government relationships. The government agencies involved in the mine fire response did their own damage to community relationships by pursuing their own interests. Agencies worried about their brand image, and politicians worried about re-election. I study how these ethical failures impacted the situation. Finally, I look at a few examples of collaborative failures on behalf of the government and the community. Over the course of my research, it became apparent the people killed Centralia, not the fire.