Communication skills
highlight workshop
Lee Ashton
Capital Times Staff
Body language and attitude play a
bigger role in getting messages across
than speaking and listening skills,
students learned at a communication
workshop Feb 18.
Steve Backels, director of personal
counseling at Penn State Harrisburg, said
empathy or caring is important when
listening to someone else. This quality
can be shown, he said, by mentally
following a message and then
communicating what was heard.
"Good listeners show they value and
care about the other person," Backels said.
Offered as a segment of the PSH
leadership development series, the
workshop covered speaking, listening and
nonverbal behavior.
Backels emphasized that actions send a
stronger message than words, and said
speakers and listeners must be conscious
of their body language.
"Maintaining eye contact is important,
but don't stare because that is
intimidating," Backels said. He said
posture is also important and said people
should avoid slouching when sitting.
When speaking, he recommended that
Grant money aids
PSH community
Karen Kean
Special to the Capital Times
For those of you unfamiliar with the
Campus Compact program, it is part of a
statewide effort promoting volunteerism in
Pennsylvania's colleges and universities.
Through this program, grant money is
awarded to clubs and organizations
planning to participate in community
service-related activities or projects.
Among the clubs and organizations
that applied for mini-grants this year were
Penn State Professional Engineers and
Contractors (PSPEC), Chi Gamma lota
(XGI), Kappa Delta Pi and a project headed
by Deborah Salem, behavioral science
professor.
PSPEC applied for a grant to help with
their activity book project. Over the past
several years the club has applied for mini
grants to help defray the cost of printing
these books. The activity book the club
designed consists of cut-out buildings and
various games.
The club members distribute these
activity books to area third graders and
give presentations to the children.
This year, the XGI club plans to use
its grant money to visit two local area
organizations.
They are in the process of planning a
trip to both a local area children’s hospital
and to the veteran's hospital in Lebanon.
The club members will visit and bring
gifts to the patients.
Kappa Delta Pi is involved in an
both people be open, honest, specific and
spontaneous.
"'l' messages are most effective," he
said. An example: "I feel put upon when
you ask me to do this," rather than saying,
"You make me angry when you do this."
'l' messages aren't accusatory, and the
other person doesn't feel a need to become
defensive, he said.
Participants got a chance to try out
their skills. Backels paired each with a
stranger and told them to casually converse
with one another. He then asked the
partners to evaluate criteria like eye
contact and posture.
Comments like "he seemed nervous,"
or "she didn't have good eye contact"
underscored the point that acquiring good
communication skills takes a bit of
practice.
All things considered, Backels said he
was satisfied with the hour-long
workshop. Students learned by "watching
each other and participating," he said.
"I found it to be very interesting,"
Mike Hershey, a behavioral science junior
said.
What most impressed him, Hershey
said, was that "body language actually
means more than spoken language."
Adopt-A-School project. Assisting Kappa
Delta Pi members with their project is
their advisor, Karen Nicholson, assistant
professor of education.
The club members will buy materials,
such as pens, pencils and math aids, for
elementary school classes. This project
will benefit the Penn State Students by
teaching them about lesson plans and
selection of classroom materials, as well
as showing them the needs of urban
classrooms.
Deborah Salem's project consists of a
community anti-drug and alcohol program
targeted at elementary school children.
The main purpose of this project is to
teach children the dangers of substance
abuse. This program is currently in the
planning stages, giving Penn State
Harrisburg students a chance to participate
in the initial development of this program.
In addition to the mini-grant projects,
Campus Compact also has two other
projects.
The Spring Clothing Drive, which
began in January, will continue through
out the semester. The clothing donations
are taken to a Middletown thrift shop run
by Interfaith Senior Services. Helping out
with the clothing drive is the Capital
Christian Fellowship club.
On March 28, over 40 Penn State
Harrisburg students, staff and faculty will
participate in the Buddy Bowl to benefit
the South Central Pennsylvania Big
Brother/Big Sister organization.
An exuberant Harvey Edwards tells the audience about his first discovery of
the Harlem Renaissance, during the "Rediscovering the Harlem
Renaissance” seminar on Feb. 18. The seminar was part of Penn State
Harrisburg's month-long celebration of Black History Month.
Seminar focuses on
Harlem Renaissance
Matt Hunt
Capital Times Staff
On Feb. 18, the Harlem Renaissance
was rediscovered at Penn State Harrisburg.
A display in the Olmsted Building
lobby offered information on the principle
figures of the Harlem Renaissance. A fact
sheet in the lobby described the Harlem
Renaissance as a burst of creativity of
black artists in the 19205.
A film festival in the Black Student
Union presented more information about
the art and artists of the period.
"Rediscovering the Harlem
Renaissance," a seminar held in the
Gallery Lounge, was presented by Harvey
Edwards. Edwards, a graduate student, is
studying some of the artists from the
period.
Edwards began the program by
explaining how he rediscovered the Harlem
Renaissance. Edwards, bom in Brooklyn,
said he thought he knew everything he
needed to about Harlem. However, he was
proven wrong, after he graduated from
college and saw a museum exhibit on the
Harlem Renaissance, he said.
"I was riveted," Edwards said. "I could
not believe everything I had missed
growing up in Brooklyn. It was as if I
lived in Brooklyn all my life and had never
PSH NEWS/9
seen the Brooklyn Bridge."
Edwards shared some background on
the Harlem Renaissance, with information
on such black leaders as W.E.B. Dubois
and Marcus Garvey.
It is important to study the Harlem
Renaissance not only for black history,
but also for art history, Edwards said.
Several museums and magazines arc now
recognizing the importance of these
artists, he added.
Later, Edwards asked the audience to
list the events from the early 1900 s
through the 1950 s they thought influenced
America. Some answers included World
War I, the Great Depression and racial
riots.
The audience was then shown a brief
timeline of events of the period that
directly influenced the Harlem
Renaissance. The events included the
opening of black theaters, and the first
black musical.
Edwards ended the program by reading
some poems from the period. He noted
that his overview was by no means
complete.
Edwards said any presentation of the
Harlem Renaissance "needs to be
multifaceted—and for me to just talk to
you, it's just not enough.”
Starkey
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