Meredith Shepherd
Equinox Staff
About a dozen Keene State College students have been working diligently to improve the town of Troy, N.H. Architect, geography, and health and science majors have been working on data collecting, designing, and statistics of the town to better its community.
The projects these students are working on are called Vision 2020 and Community Service Projects, according to the counselor with the Center for Engagement, Learning and Teaching at KSC, Becca Hickam. Hickam is involved within the project as an overseer of the event.
Hickam said Vision 2020 is on par with Cheshire Medical Center and it is planning to make Keene the healthiest place in the nation and bring community members together.
On Friday, April 22 in the Madison Street Lounge of the L.P. Young Student Center, the students involved within the project presented their data and designs to faculty and other colleagues.
“The main purpose is for students to have a venue to talk about their projects to members of the community,” Hickam said.
Hickam said she hopes during the event the students get the word out to other students so more can get involved.
Senior and geography major Catie Stack worked on a project called Creating Community. She said she worked to better a park in Troy and performed a survey.
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“The survey was given to residents about what they wanted at the park,” Stack said.
Stack’s poster had lists of data and graphs as well as photographs. She said the purpose of her project was to get residents to use the park to encourage the park to offer more recreation.
“The results will be sent to Troy Recreation Commission,” Stack said.
Two architecture students redesigned Memorial Park and want Troy to accept their design.
“People were not using the park as much as they wanted,” KSC junior Nick Limon said.
Sophomore Derek Small said they started the project in the winter.
“We had to dig through the snow to get the contour lines,” Small said.
Small said he hopes people will see the interest they put into redesigning the park.
There was a PowerPoint presentation explaining what the students were doing to improve Troy. Complimentary beverages and food were available as well.
Sophomore and health science major with a concentration in nutrition, Katelyn Parmenter said, “I hope Troy uses our results and makes the improvement.”
Parmenter’s project focuses on the health and wellness assessment of Troy.
“Troy came to KSC to ask about the problems,” Parmenter said.
Parmenter said she learned a lot from the project and smiled about the completion of this first part. She will be working on it for two more years.
“I learned how to interact with the Troy community,” Parmenter said. “Gathering and analyzing data, and promoting health.”
Parmenter hopes more students recruit for the “hands-on experience.”
Madison Street Lounge showed what KSC students have to offer to the community. The students all seemed enthusiastic about helping and bettering the Troy community, and their projects proved it to be true.
“My vision is to think about how these opportunities can become more available to other faculty,” Hickam said. “I hope other students get involved after seeing this.”
Meredith Shepherd can be contacted at mshepherd@keeneequinox.com
