they realized that they learned a ton by doing the work in a hands-on way, rather than just memorizing from a book — and that seems pretty exciting!”


STUDENTS EXPERIENCE REAL-WORLD LEARNING


For more than 50 years, Keystone Substance Abuse Services has helped people and their loved ones find hope and light at the end of the addiction tunnel. The nonprofit, located in Rock Hill, offers in- and out-patient treatment, education, counseling services and more.


But staff needed a little help recently themselves: what data can we gather about the community’s awareness and perception of our services?


Enter the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Employer Provided Innovation Challenges (EPIC) program. Celeste Tiller ’01, ’04, vice president for talent and workforce development at the York County Regional Chamber of Commerce, has worked to pair local organizations with college classes to tackle real-world projects.


Learning in an Unstructured Environment As Winthrop Marketing Professor Cara Peters searched for a research project for students in her business research symposium, Tiller approached Peters about participating in EPIC, which she agreed to – with the caveat that she and her students wanted to work with a non- profit.


Now enter Kerri McGuire ’98, ’05, Keystone’s executive director. McGuire visited the class to discuss the work and then hosted the class for


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a tour. She tasked students with conducting two surveys and two focus groups.


“This type of data is helpful during our annual strategic planning process and helps us identify strategic priorities and goals for the upcoming fiscal year,” she explained.


Peters added that opportunities like this allow students to learn in an “unstructured environment.”


“Normally, classes are very structured with lectures and readings and then tests over that material,” Peters explained. “But with a client project, it's unclear what the problem is, and the steps to solve the problem slowly emerge over time, so you have to just dig into the work and figure out what you need to do in real time. That means the students were a bit confused when we started the project, but they began to figure out how to write survey questions, how to collect the data, and then how to analyze the information along the way.”


Creating Meaningful Experiences After students analyzed the data, they presented it to Keystone and the chamber this past spring – with awesome results, Peters said.


“[The students] poured themselves into the work and figured it out,” she said. “In the end, I think


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“I thought the students did a fantastic job with the research they conducted for Keystone,” McGuire said. “Their reports and recommendations were helpful, and I hope it was a meaningful learning experience for them. Keystone has written a draft of our next strategic plan and the students’ recommendations are reflected as objectives for a couple of strategic priorities.”


Their hard work paid off because not only will students receive certificates from the U.S. National Chamber of Commerce, but several students — Julie Ghent, Jocelyn Hess, Ayana Jones, Katelyn Kirk and Bobby Strong — traveled to Washington, D.C., June 23-25 to present their work to the national chamber.


For McGuire, the project provided more proof of her alma mater’s commitment to student success and engagement.


“I love returning to campus and being part of the learning for students,” she said. “I believe that real-world experiences are an important part of higher education, and I hope my time with the students helped create a bridge between classroom learning opportunities and the careers students will eventually pursue.”

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