Economic Development

PROJECT OUTCOMES

After the completion of our two community events and debrief with Professor Phelan, we realized that we were successful in completing our main goals. For one, we created a program that increased the exchange student’s awareness of the Kingston community. Some of our volunteers were visibly shocked by the dramatic transformation that took place in the city from the time we departed from Goodes Hall to our arrival at Martha’s Table. Kingston has some beautiful areas on Queen’s campus or down by the water, but it was refreshing to see the exchange students want to make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate. Even as local students, we realized that our understanding of the Kingston community was very limited.

Another outcome of our project is the partnership we created with the Centre for International Management. We were unable to secure a formal certificate from the Centre of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), but the exchange office was more than willing to help us out. They expressed to us that it had always been an objective of theirs to entice exchange students to volunteer, but it had been difficult to get incoming students to commit to such a program. We forged a great working relationship with the centre and they produced a certificate that we could give to the students to acknowledge their efforts. In addition, they promised that they would help us work towards getting the exchange students involved in the exclusive CSR program in the future.

A third outcome of our project was the engagement of 9 total exchange students in 2 unique and relevant community events. Many students approach their international exchange as a vacation and don’t know how to make use of all their free time. Although their commitment was small in comparison to what we are working towards, it was rewarding to see the exchange students perform to their best abilities. Due to our project, these exchange students realize that volunteering is a fun and...