Project Springboard is aiming to fuel student engagement through art.
With the help of a $1,000 Healthy Civic Campus and Community grant given by the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, a group of UF students hopes to accomplish that goal by debuting a wooden-canvas Mona Lisa in April for student interaction.
In its first year, the Healthy Civic Campus and Community grant awarded three projects out of twelve proposed, totaling about $5,000.
The grants are not a one-time deal, said David Colburn, director of the Graham Center. Colburn said he is looking to raise the amount in the next few years.
“We want to empower our young people to work together to address an issue that will strengthen our campus or community,” Colburn said.
Undergraduate students can propose a local- or campus-based project this Fall.
A $3,400 grant allowed the Lake Forest Garden project to move forward with the idea to plant a garden at Lake Forest Elementary School to double as a classroom, said Anupa Kotipoyina, a UF Spanish and history sophomore involved in the project.
“(The grant) allows us to build something that will last,” Kotipoyina, 20, said.
Van Truong, a 19-year-old UF anthropology sophomore, said she was inspired to start Project Springboard after recreating Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” with biology notes on a whiteboard.
“Don’t underestimate the magnitude of your idea,” Truong said. “Just go for it.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 3/17/2015 under the headline “UF group receives grant for communication through art”]
