Rural Reimagined
Welcome Rural Reimagined Students
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What is Rural Reimagined?
Rural Reimagined is Tennessee Tech’s Grand Challenge initiative to transform rural living through harnessing science, technology and innovation! As Tennessee Tech students, you can serve your surrounding rural communities by getting involved in Rural Reimagined’s student club, service learning, academic service, internships and more! We invite you to take part in our Grand Challenge – let's transform rural living today.
Join the Rural Reimagined Club
When you join the Rural Reimagined Club, you’re more than a member – you're an advocate. The mission of the Rural Reimagined Club (RRC) strives for students from every college to bring their diverse skillsets to the table and collaborate on innovative service projects aimed towards serving their rural communities. Every student’s idea matters, and the RRC ensures that all service projects are created and implemented by students, while ultimately being recognized as Rural Reimagined student successes. Do you recognize a need in the rural community that you call home? Do you have an idea for a service project that can transform rural living? Then don’t wait; become a part of the rural projects that are supporting your rural communities.
- Transform Rural Living through Service Learning
“One awesome aspect of this club is that it's not just for Agriculture majors, it's open to everyone. Coming from working on the fair board, I understand the process of hard work, and it makes life a lot easier if you have a team comprised of many different talents, instead of them all coming from the same pool.”
Dawson Davidson, Agribusiness Management Grad
The communities that Rural Reimagined serves have diverse needs, such as marketing, research, communications, agriculture development, educational outreach, and more. We offer opportunities for students to gain professional experience while simultaneously serving surrounding rural needs through Rural Reimagined academic and paid internships, academic credit hours, paid student worker positions, and even Graduate Assistantships. One of our missions is to connect Tennessee Tech students to rural areas with needs that match the student’s field of study. Through these connections, students gain experiential learning while helping their assigned rural community, business, school, or other partner. If you’re seeking an experiential learning opportunity that transforms the rural areas you call home, we have something for you.
- Rural Reimagined Student Internships, Academic Credits and More
“I implemented the Rural Reimagined Club with the purpose of involving students of all majors to combine diverse skill sets and solve rural problems through service projects directly correlated through Rural Reimagined. After only one year, I now see club members inviting other students, proposing ideas to advertise the club, and truly finding their voice in Rural Reimagined - the future for the club itself, is bright indeed.”
Kinsey Potter, PPE Ph.D. Student and RRC Founder
The communities that Rural Reimagined serves have diverse needs, such as marketing, research, communications, agriculture development, educational outreach and more. We offer opportunities for students to gain professional experience while simultaneously serving surrounding rural needs through Rural Reimagined academic and paid internships, academic credit hours, paid student worker positions, and even Graduate Assistantships. One of our missions is to connect Tennessee Tech students to rural areas with needs that match the student’s field of study. Through these connections students gain experiential learning while helping their assigned rural community, business, school or other partner. If you’re seeking an experiential learning opportunity that transforms the rural areas you call home, we have something for you.
- Student Civic Engagement and Research
“Being a part of Rural Reimagined has helped me realize that I can use my career and my platform to serve people in need, whether it be through research, civic engagement, or simply connecting people and ideas together. Over the past year, I have developed the passions to serve rural and distressed communities and to educate the next generation of engineers through STEAM. Growing up in a rural area, I did not have as many opportunities as those in more urban communities, and I hope that whatever I may do in the future, through engineering or education, I could help provide better opportunities for those who may not have that many.”
Kester Nucum, Computer Engineering Student and former RRC President
Student researchers are incorporating rural-related research into their studies across campus, and we invite you to learn how you can integrate Rural Reimagined into your civic engagement, research, or course projects.
If you are in a student fellowship program, conducting research, participating in civic engagement, or curious about how to incorporate rural living into your coursework, contact us.
- Make an Impact
“I joined the Rural Reimagined Club in order to experience the I&E environment on campus at a higher degree. I hope to impact our community by providing care to our residents. Since I have lived and will continue to live among this population, I plan to use this experience to find ways that I could improve patient care.”
Courtney Savage, Nursing Student and iCARE President
Student involvement in Rural Reimagined continues to grow within our campus and communities through service project ideas, student volunteers, internships, and new involvement. Brainstorm ideas for ways that you can impact your rural community and find out their needs. Rural needs could range from healthcare education to the need for freshwater, and it can be surprising what just one idea can do to spark involvement and change. As Margaret Mead states, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” We urge you to change the world with us. If you have any service ideas or would like to become involved with the club, we want to hear from you, and we invite you to serve with us.
For more information, please visit our page at https://www.tntech.edu/grand-challenge/ or contact us.
