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Tatiana Zuniga
Dr. Rios
ENC 3331
10 April 2015
Civic Engagement: Activism in Action
Civic Engagement is participating in the range of civic life in order to make an impact
that potentially leads to a positive change. People have different reasons for why they choose to
become civically engaged; they also have different approaches and steps they take towards their
participation. Civic engagement can be seen in many aspects of life and there are many different
areas to participate in; we have been exposed to many groups that practice civic engagement in
class. The three organizations/people who stood out are: Hope Community Centers Citizenship
Classes, Katie Mantheys Dress Profesh Tumblr, and Dr. Donnie Johnson Sackeys Petroleum
Coke Community Engagement grant project. They all work towards promoting their reason for
being civically engaged and are extremely passionate in what they do.
Hope Community Center
Hope Community Center (HCC) is a service-learning center that works closely with
immigrants to help them become citizens. I had the chance to attend one of their Citizenship
classes and before even going there I had some background knowledge because they had a
representative, Lorena, who came into our class and talked about their cause and about getting
involved. At the class they spend time teaching everyone facts about the United States and they
keep repeating the pronunciations to get it right. Their theory of social change, as seen on their
website is, Hope CommUnity Center has always had a service-learning focus, striving to
empower the community to develop its own potential, working side by side to create positive

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change. Their message comes down to community involvement; they make change happen
through the assistance and efforts of the whole community.
HCC started from the efforts of Catholic Nuns who came to Apopka, Florida to work
with farmworkers and those that were in the working poor class, they hoped to provide this
underserved community with the resources needed to move toward social and economic justice.
They actively participate in serving learning by helping the farm workers that do not have the
same advantages and privileges as citizens. With the efforts of those in the community, HCC is
able to prepare others for citizenship, it is important to give back to the community that you live
in. HCC has classes to teach and engage with those in the community; each time people attend
they are gaining knowledge to become citizens. HCCs service learning is represented every time
they engage and help others learn; but with success comes limitations.
Some limitations are when they try to partner up with schools; some of the students
cannot participate in their service learning. One limitation was in class we talked about the
alternative break option; to go live with the farmworkers for a week and help out, but those plans
ended up falling through because of scheduling. It can be hard to constantly work with them
because of time constraints, location, and free time; it is hard for some to make it to HCC for the
citizenship classes, because of other obligations. When some students cannot attend, others can
so at HCC they still engage in community-building and are meeting a variety of students willing
to help; despite scheduling and inconsistency as a limitation, HCC is open to people coming
whenever they can and appreciate the help and desire of students to serve the community.
Kathie Mantheys Body Positive Tumblr
HCC involves the efforts of the community all-together to practice civic engagement, but
a more individualistic approach can be seen in Katie Mantheys work. Katie is a PhD student

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who has a website that allows others to post pictures of themselves dressed up the way they
deem professional wear. Her tumblr page Dress Profesh, is a judgement free page where
people can upload their pictures. She expresses in her theory of social justice: My goal with this
gallery is to collect images that, together, will reveal that professional is not a monolithic idea
and that the idea of professional dress, like any dress code, is inherently racist, sexist, abelist,
sizeist, etc. She does not dictate what professional dress is, she leaves it open to the individual
to determine their sense of style and comfort.
She talked to the class via webcam and gave us some background knowledge as to why
she made the tumblr account, basically it all boiled down to being positive about ones own body.
She told us how she has gained weight in the last few years and how at first she did not accept
herself, but is finally at the point of acceptance towards herself and she embraces her own body
through fashion, as a medium to express herself. She challenges the traditional work-place dress
code by not conforming to what society deems is acceptable to wear in the work force. She
practices civic engagement by making a page so that others can post pictures of themselves in
their professional wear, without fearing that they are going to be criticized for not wearing the
traditional pant suit to work because her whole page is about body positivity.
The assumption that people are going to judge someone based off their clothes is a valid
one; it comments on social justice in that the way someone dresses should not allow for others to
make assumptions about their overall work performance. People should not fear criticism for
dressing professional in terms of their own definition if it is not affecting their work and they are
still fulfilling their duties. She is able to help others see those in the same situation by allowing
them to post on her page; she uses tumblr as an effective medium of communication and a place
to feel comfortable. She encourages self-acceptance, and if one is comfortable in their own skin,

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they will be comfortable in the clothes they wear. The limitations associated with her work can
also be seen, although her page is about wardrobe acceptance in the workplace, some people are
still skeptical to dress a certain way out of fear that their boss will reprimand them. Some may
see it as jeopardizing their paycheck because they might get in trouble for not conforming to the
professional wear as everyone else in the office. She never advocates for going against anyones
work-place rules and getting fired, she simply tries to show that everyone has a different
definition of dressing professional.
Engaging with the Environment
Taking it from an individualistic approach to an approach that benefits human-kind,
regardless of the community one comes from, Dr. Donnie Johnson Sackeys work looks to
humans serving the environment and taking care of the place that gives us a home. Donnie also
spoke to our class via webcam, the issue he talks about affects every single living being, and the
environment needs help from everyone. Dr. Sackey informed us of a byproduct called Petroleum
Koch (Petcoke), which is oil embedded in the sand and it is not economically efficient to extract.
He uses information as a way to communicate about his efforts and taught us that the product is
harmful.
Donnie started working on this project in December 2013, because he heard about it
through some colleagues who found that petcoke is harmful. He participates in civic engagement
with collaboration from his team to see how they can approach the petcoke problem. Their
research is broken down into three categories: environmental impact, human health impact, and
distributing information and knowledge. His social justice is about environmental justice, which
comes down to all living, breathing, individuals are the type of audience that needs to be
concerned with the safety of the planet.

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The biggest limitation that can be seen is lack of interest; some people may not even care
to assist and make this planet safer. I never really understood when people say that it is not their
problem to worry about the environment because it is everyones responsibility to give the planet
the same care it has given them. On the other hand, people might not think that they can make a
difference with the amount they can contribute, so they choose not to. Luckily, not everyone sees
it that way and if a lot of people were to put their efforts together, the change would be seen.
Instead of limiting oneself, they should try their best and they might be surprised.

Tatiana Zuniga, Civic Engagement Chart

The reason for civic engagement can be different amongst everyone, but positive change
is the general goal that they try to meet. In Mitchells article about Service Learning, she quotes
from another author social justice approach to service-learning results in more complex
thinking and reasoning skills than traditional service-learning courses. The three forms of civic
engagement were all different, yet they were similar in the sense that they all worked towards
social justice. At HCC, they seem to take more of a critical approach because instead of just

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volunteering and sitting in on the class to fulfill volunteer requirements, the students are actually
interacting and standing up in front of the class reading what they want the immigrants to repeat.
By actually attending the class, people get experience how privilege they are because of the
opportunities they have over those who are not citizens. Katie Mantheys work gets to social
justice because it challenges people to look beyond what someones defentition of professional
clothing for work and to wear what they feel comfortable. Dr. Sackey looks to informing the
public about environmental justice and shows the public how it relates to them because it affects
everyone living on earth in one way or another.
Looking at my own definition of rhetorical citizenship, which is someone who
communicates to get his or her point across various mediums a rhetorical citizen must be able to
persuade an audience. My definition fits with HCC because they are helping others find their
voice. They are helping the immigrants speak English so that they can take the test and
eventually become a citizen. Katies efforts are also related to my definition by making body
positive progress happen every time a new post pops up on Dress Profesh. Dr. Sackeys efforts
also come into play with my definition of rhetorical citizenship because he communicates for
change every time he tells people of the harmful impacts to earth from petcoke; he is spreads the
message and intrigues others to want to make a change. The common theme was activism, they
all worked to spread awareness.

Works Cited

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Dress Profesh. Tumblr. Katie Manthey, n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
Hope CommUnity Center. n.p. n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
Mitchell, Tania D., Traditional vs. Critical Service-Learning: Engaging the Literature to
Differentiate Two Models. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. (2008):
50-65. Web.
Sackey, Donnie Johnson. Interview. 3 Apr. 2015.
Zuniga, Tatiana. Civic Engagement Chart. 7 Apr. 2015. easel.ly.