LEXINGTON, Ky. (December 22, 2023) — For nearly a decade, students in the University of Kentucky’s Sports Leadership Course have discovered that class assignments are more than just an opportunity to learn new skills. It could also be a way of giving back.
Graduate students from the UK College of Education’s Kinesiology and Health Promotion course KHP 685 ‘Supervision of Sport and Fitness Personnel’ are taking part in the ‘Good Deeds Project’. Annual assignments are designed to connect community engagement elements to supervisor functions.
Students create community service initiatives that include project planning, staffing, supervision/mentoring, evaluation, and more. This coursework will prepare you for a career in fields such as sports administration, sports management, coaching, community and youth sports, and recreation.
This course is taught by Edited by Justin Nichols, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion.
“The scenarios that students encounter when organizing donation drives often reflect the issues they will be in charge of in their future careers. You can practice creating plans, responding to unexpected situations, supervising employees, and many other skills needed for effective leadership. Participate in experiential learning opportunities while doing good deeds. has been heartwarming every year I have taught this course,” Nichols said.
Students often collect donations at UK Athletics offices as well as at UK sporting events. This semester, the students donated 120 stuffed animals for patients at Kentucky Children’s Hospital, 168 pairs of shoes for the Soles for Souls organization, and 300 pounds for God’s Food Pantry of Fayette County. I gathered food. For the military mission, 70 handwritten greeting cards were created by event participants to be sent to active duty military personnel overseas.
Last year, students worked with Kentucky First Lady Britteny Beshear to collect new toys and books for children in eastern Kentucky affected by flooding. Over the years, the course has generated hundreds of coats, thousands of books, hundreds of toys, hundreds of hygiene products, and hundreds of pounds of food for local and community organizations.
By using assignments from the class curriculum to make a difference in their communities, students also learn the value of seeking mutually beneficial opportunities to collaborate with community organizations.
“I continue to be impressed by how successful our students were in raising money and how much they benefited in the process. It’s great to see the community come together for a project like this. ,” Nichols said.