Student research zeroes in on motivations and obstacles for volunteers

Abigail Smith ’15 hopes her Summer Research project will help more young adults to spend time serving others in their communities.

She is researching the factors that influence the decisions of Randolph College students to volunteer—or not volunteer.

Abigail Smith ’15 interviews Pujan Shrestha ’15 about his thoughts on volunteering.

“It’s a part of their life that hasn't been explored,” Smith said.

When she took a class on research methods taught by sociology professor Danielle Currier, she had to design a research experiment. She took interest in volunteerism because of her own experiences with volunteering when she was growing up in Jamaica.

As she worked on that project, she learned that there was not much published research on the motivations behind volunteering. She asked Currier to advise her for the project during the Summer Research Program.

Currier was not planning to get involved in the Summer Research Program, but Smith’s request changed her mind. “One of the best ways to change things on a micro level is by volunteering,” she said. “I wanted to know how we could help more students here want to do it.”

In the spring, they prepared a survey about volunteerism and had 91 students complete the survey. This summer, they are conducting interviews with other students who are on campus.

To determine which factors are most influential in volunteering decisions, they will watch for correlations and patterns in the responses of both the survey and the interviews.

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n addition to asking about motivations for volunteering, they also are finding out about the barriers that stop some students from doing service. For example, last week they interviewed a student who pointed out that when he does have time that he could volunteer, he does not always have access to transportation to go somewhere.

This summer’s work will be a pilot study and the basis for further research in the fall. Smith plans to involve students from other colleges, too. The project might result in her senior paper, and she thinks she may continue the research in graduate school.

She enjoys getting to apply the concepts that she has explored in the classroom setting. “This has given me a chance to use all that I have done, putting what I've learned to the true test,” she said.

Student Center is strengthening community on campus, Summer Research study shows

Randolph’s new Student Center buzzed with activity late into the night after an opening ceremony earlier this year. Students enjoyed food from the Skeller; socialized in the new commons area; played ping pong, pool, and video games; tried out a new dance floor; and exercised on state-of-the art fitness equipment overlooking the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains.

Amidst all of this excitement, Tsubasa Watanabe ’14 looked around and saw a research opportunity.

Tsuabasa Watanabe ’14 focused her independent study and a Summer Research project on Randolph's Student Center.

Watanbe, a sociology major, frequently ponders questions about how society functions and how people integrate with each other, particularly in the Randolph College community. As the $6 million Student Center renovation drew to a close, she proposed an independent study and Summer Research project that would examine the way the center impacts campus life.

“I thought maybe this is a chance to learn the answers to daily life questions through a scientific approach. That’s research,” Watanabe said.

Watanabe spent part of the spring semester observing how people interacted in the Student Center. She took note of the demographics of those using the student center, the activities they participated in, and with whom they interacted. She followed this with a survey that asked students questions about how they use the Student Center.

While analyzing the data this summer, Watanabe has determined that the new facility has served to strengthen community interaction on campus.

“The Student Center is really encouraging a sense of community,” Watanabe said. “I think it’s doing this very well because many people, according to the survey data, come to the Student Center alone, but they find someone here. It’s a nice place to just drop by and chat with people.”

Some survey responses indicated that sharing such a nice facility inspires students to treat the center—and each other—with respect, Watanabe said. “Since this is new and everybody likes it, everyone wants to keep it clean and nice. That also is creating a sense of community by making something symbolic for everyone to share on this campus.”

Watanabe is still analyzing some of the data she collected to learn more about the interaction between different demographic groups. She hopes her research can result in suggestions that will help more people use the Student Center and create a stronger community among the diverse student body.

“Many people have already found that they can do so many different things in the Student Center: they can eat, talk, play games, and study,” she said. “Having that kind of place is really nice. As many people do that, there are more opportunities for different people to get to know each other and find something in common.”

New York internship gives Randolph student advertising experience

More than 10 years ago, Bobby Crosby ’14 went to work with his uncle at a cable TV network in New York City. The fast-paced work environment and the bustling city fascinated him. “I came back and told my mom, I love the big city, and I want to work there someday,” he said.

Crosby is already fulfilling that dream with an advertising sales internship for A+E Networks, the parent company for cable stations such as A&E, Lifetime, and History. For the next several weeks, he will work closely with account executives and support their advertising efforts.

“I really want the hands-on experience that the internship will give me with sales and a better grasp on the entertainment industry,” said Crosby, a business major minoring in sociology and communication studies. “I also want to apply all the information that I’ve learned at Randolph.”

Crosby, one of the captain’s on Randolph’s men’s lacrosse team, has completed internships every summer of his college career. Two years ago, he worked for a commercial real estate agent. Last summer, he interned with a consulting firm in Paris, France. He believes those experiences helped him when he applied for the internship with A+E Networks.

In the first couple of weeks of the internship, Crosby spent most of his time conducting research on new products, programs, and other developments with prospective advertisers. He then shares that research with account executives, which helps them make the case when they meet with the prospective advertisers. “It gives the account executive some more fire power,” Crosby said.

He also has been assigned to create commercial ideas for a new television show that has not been released. When he has time away from the advertising research, he watches the show and studies the demographics of its target audience. This will help him develop ideas for advertisers.

During the 10-week internship, Crosby travels daily from his hometown of Bethel, Connecticut, to New York City—a two-hour train ride. Then the day is full of assignments, but it is worth having the busy summer, he said. “The internship is definitely keeping me busy, but I've already gained an immense amount of knowledge in just this short period of time.”

Sociology student explores archaeology at Civil War site in Lynchburg

Paula Addai ’14 combed her fingers through a large pile of dirt. She pushed smaller pieces of sand and gravel through a mesh screen that was laid across the top of a wheelbarrow and carefully scanned the material for anything that might be interesting. The day before, she found a button and a piece of ceramic.

Another student worker on the archaeological dig shouted, “I found another one!” Everyone gathered to see him pull a minie ball—a Civil War bullet—from the grounds where a historic battle took placesite.

Paula Addai ’14 scrapes through dirt in search of 

These types of discoveries make the tedious excavation, scraping, and sifting worthwhile, Addai said. “I love digging and finding stuff. That satisfaction is really rewarding.”

Addai is participating in an archaeology field school led by Lori Lee, Randolph’s Ainsworth Visiting Professor of American Culture. They are digging to discover artifacts and buried walls at Sandusky, a plantation that Union forces took control of and used as their headquarters while attacking Lynchburg in 1864. Although the Union army had ravaged much of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, they were repulsed by Confederate forces in Lynchburg.

Lee, an anthropologist who specializes in antebellum Virginia plantations, is leading the excavation at Sandusky to help find the footprint of the Civil War-era kitchen that once stood on the property so an accurate reconstruction can take place. Also, the crew is searching for historical artifacts that would otherwise be lost or damaged if the kitchen is rebuilt. They have found minie balls, a pocket watch fob from the early 1900s, harmonica plates, and other items.

Lee is especially interested in finding connections between Sandusky and Poplar Forest, a home built by Thomas Jefferson, because the two plantations were owned by relatives during the Civil War period.

Lori Lee takes a picture of a minie ball uncovered at Sandusky, a house
that served as Union headquarters during the Battle of Lynchburg.

In the first few days of work, the group found a buried brick walkway and also discovered where they think the walls of the kitchen were. They are currently trying to find the foundation. “It was really nice to be able to start to make sense of what has happened out here,” Lee said.

Most of the students on the project are history students from Lynchburg College, which has a partnership with the Historic Sandusky Foundation. Addai, a sociology major at Randolph, also got involved because she wanted to work on an archaeological project and learn about research methods.

Lee said that this internship is a perfect educational opportunity for Addai. “By doing this project, we do historical research, archaeological research, anthropological interpretation, and we use theoretical frameworks,” she said. “Those are research skills that she can carry on through sociology, and you learn them really well when you apply them in a research setting.”

Addai hopes the experience continues to yield artifacts that will allow her to piece together more information and stories about the culture of the people who lived and worked at Sandusky. “Sociology is all about learning about people’s way of life and society,” she said. “I want to find out what society was like here many years ago, especially about the slaves and how they related to the plantation owners.”