Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live with nine friends in a house together on campus? The Mayfield experience provides a unique opportunity for 10 students to live together while working on a project of their choice.
The Mayfield Experience Fall Showcase, held Nov.13, highlighted 14 projects that blended students’ diverse interests and passions into impactful initiatives for the community.
In addition to showcasing the students’ impressive projects, the event featured insights from faculty on the broader impact of the Mayfield program. Byron Uzzell, area coordinator for Housing and Residential Experience, and Dhesel Khando, graduate project manager for the Mayfield Experience, shared their perspectives on the program’s goals, mentorship opportunities and community-building initiatives.
“The Mayfield Experience seeks to empower students with a platform for pursuing their service and learning interests,” Uzzell said. “The Mayfield provides students an opportunity to create a self-generated, self-directed group project while living together as a small group.”
Participating in the Mayfield Experience can play a role in shaping academic or career choices.
“As someone who oversees [students’] projects and interacts with team leaders on a daily basis, I have observed that their projects often align closely with their academic majors and personal passions, extending beyond strict academic requirements,” Khando said. “These passion projects can play a critical role in shaping their career choices by helping them discover whether they are truly interested in pursuing a particular field or direction.”
All 14 projects showcased the students’ shared passions. Here are a few highlights:
Unity Mosaic
By: Ahmed Sufi, Kodi Udochukwu, Dorien Bennett, Geda Wekene, Jed Kumah, Sean Gentry, Franklin Udensi, Roy Vyizavyijuru, Hassan Adegokhu, Peter Seam
The Unity Mosaic project seeks to promote a more inclusive campus by bridging different cultures and perspectives through social events and social media. The students explained that their motivation stemmed from observing how friend groups often form among people of similar cultural backgrounds. Their goal is to encourage greater cultural understanding and challenge these dynamics. Their initiatives, such as spicy food contests and bonding activities like bowling, are designed to cultivate a strong sense of community among students of diverse backgrounds.
Vanderbilt College Compass
By: Andrew Xiong, Alok Karkare, Amy Jung, David Cho, Julia Lee, Justin Oh, Jillian Zhu, Kaden Chan, Lisa Kim, Youhyun Noh
The Vanderbilt College Compass project aims to address the challenges first-generation, low-income students face in navigating the college application process. Recognizing that many Metro Nashville public schools lack access to personalized support, the students aim to bridge this gap. Their efforts include hosting in-person college application workshops, facilitating student panels and creating a platform to connect high school students with individual mentors. These initiatives are designed to provide Nashville’s first-generation, low-income high school students with the tools and support needed to successfully apply to college.
MELODY: Musical Education at Local Organizations for Developing Youth
By: Ryan Cho, Raj Fitzpatrick, Ned Henneman, Trevor Hyun, Tony Kim, Cindy Liu, Spencer Mckee, Libby Maede, Isabella Nguyen, Albert Wu
This project harnessed the power of music to benefit local schools and hospitals, offering concerts to children unable to attend traditional performances. Leveraging their musical backgrounds, the students organized and performed at the Children’s University and local hospitals. Through sharing their musical talents, they not only brought art and education to children but also enhanced their own collaboration, leadership and performance skills.
Revolutionizing Recycling: A New Approach to Carbon Credits
By: Samuel Tamayo-Sarver, Matthew Rapp, Niels Koroma, Shahwaiz Ahmed Hashmi, Graydon McCormick, Sylmond Domingo, Cason Mcferrin-Clancy, Mehdi Mrini, Battulga Purev
This group created an online platform designed to enable buyers and sellers to trade carbon credits with greater transparency and verifiability. The driving idea behind the marketplace was to ensure that high-integrity carbon credits — equivalent to one metric ton of carbon dioxide — are traded authentically with proper certification.
Originally, the group planned to create devices for sorting plastics, but that soon changed because of funding. They shifted their focus to developing a platform that nonprofits can use for infrastructure and the public can use to trade carbon credits. The team, composed of students from diverse fields such as computer science, economics and biomedical engineering, showcased their website at the event. Though still in development, the project shows significant potential to advance sustainability efforts.
Final Comments
The Mayfield Experience Fall Showcase highlighted community, creativity and collaboration initiatives at Vanderbilt. It showcased how students in the Mayfield Living-Learning Community make a positive impact on campus and in the greater Nashville area.
Whether the student’s passions lie in social justice, environmental sustainability or creative arts, the Mayfield Experience fosters an environment where students can grow, challenge themselves and make a difference.
