Students from these California campuses were selected in Fall 2021 to participate in California Campus Compact’s Community Engagement Student Fellowship (CESF) program, a 4-month initiative specifically designed to support student leaders advancing service, service-learning and community engagement at California Campus Compact member campuses throughout the state.
College of the Canyons’ Center for Civic Engagement continues to advance its ongoing student-driven, co-curricular PLACE Action Team to examine the topic of housing insecurity and affordability. The project, entitled Hunger, Homelessness, and HOPE encourages students to employ design thinking, action research, Project-Based Learning, and social entrepreneurism to address this escalating social problem. Emphasizing collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity–21st Century professional skills–students work collaboratively to demonstrate the power of HOPE. More specifically, they demonstrate “How Our Passion Engages” campus and community.
Two students will serve as California Campus Compact-Community Engagement Student Fellows in Fresno State’s Jan & Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning. The fellows will work as co-directors of the 4th Annual LIFT Conference—a statewide conference that convenes student leaders around the shared responsibility of coordinating and supporting community engagement and service-learning opportunities for their peers in higher education settings. The Fellows will lead a team of student volunteers to coordinate and implement the event, including applying innovative and out-of-the-box thinking to restructure the conference to meet the needs of student in the COVID era.
This activity focuses on the storytelling and journalism skills of one student leader to dedicate their service to developing several educational and storytelling projects—a podcast for the Center for Service and Action and a blog for the Alternative Break program. One lesson learned in amidst the COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of Center’s like ours to have dynamic platforms that tell the story of our service, justice, and advocacy work. The project will help connect our students who participate in service and justice programs with an avenue to share about their experience and spread awareness about injustices that they are working to fight against. Loyola Marymount University ranks no.4 nationally for “Students Most Engaged in Community Service” (Princeton Review, 2021) and this CACC-CESF Fellow will help create digital platforms for students to share the stories that they encountered, spread awareness about important social justice issues, and create a space to process deeper meaning in their service experiences. Service and justice work is transformative for many individuals, and this project will focus on sharing more of these stories, lessons, and experiences for the entire community to learn from.
The proposed initiative reflects a focus both on Oxy student community-building and service-learning/community participation. The intent is to engage historically marginalized students by creating a digital space in which they can connect throughout their time at Oxy. The project, while creating a multi-layered ‘Social Identity Support and Networking’ experience on the Occidental College Presence platform, will serve to connect students with each other and with leadership development opportunities on and off-campus. Components will include, but not limited to, the first-year experience, peer-to-peer and alumni networking, political and social activism in Los Angeles, and community-based learning and service events.
The SSU CAC CE Student Fellow will be an English or Communication Studies major doing an unpaid internship as a blogger. They will create and edit blog posts in support of the CCE’s efforts; create posts about events, community organizations and opportunities, and other community engagement topics; work closely with CCE student assistants, especially those working on updating our social media accounts and our website; and watch the work of our counterparts and community partners for ideas. The blogger will also support faculty by attending their workshops and writing blogs about them as well as writing a case study about a faculty member who has taught service learning.
The Community Engagement Student Fellow at UC Merced will support the development, growth and outreach for the Changing Cultures, Changing Lives (3CL) youth mentoring program. Created to support Black youth, in grades 7-12 in Merced, California, 3CL seeks to alleviate obstacles to achieving quality education and building alternative ethics in youth. 3CL offers a platform of empowerment that centers academic excellence, critical thinking, self-care, and community building through structured mentoring sessions coupled with travel to educational and cultural sites in Merced and other cities. The program will engage Black UCM graduate and undergraduate students as mentors.
Teaching Assistants (TAs) will support the Community Empowerment Activists (CEA) program, as it develops students as transformative justice warriors by analyzing systems of oppression and movements of resistance to raise consciousness and build people-power while interning alongside grassroots organizations in San Francisco that are mobilizing against various arms of injustice in the collective struggle towards a reimagined just world that lifts Black liberation, human dignity, equity, and Mother Earth. TAs will deepen their professional development as co-educators, peer mentors, community partner-student-liaisons, and digital media coordinators that will document the CEA journey rooted in revolutionary love, kinship, and cultural humility.
- Jacqueline Marroquin is a Vocational Nursing (VN) student volunteering at Shriners for Children Medical Center in Pasadena, California. As part of this Campus Compact volunteer fellowship project, Jacqueline will be providing assistance as needed for the Shriners for Children Medical Center team, which may include observation, some interaction, as well as administrative duties.
- Chelsea Rock is an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) student volunteering at Shriners for Children Medical Center in Pasadena, California. As part of this Campus Compact volunteer fellowship project, Chelsea will be providing assistance as needed for the Shriners for Children Medical Center team, which may include observation, some interaction, as well as administrative duties.
- Victoria Esposito is a Veterinary Technology (Vet Tech) student volunteering at Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, California. As part of this Campus Compact volunteer fellowship project Victoria may be assisting with pre and post orthopedic surgeries, learning about surgery packs, as well as assisting the RVT and doctor with medical cases.
- Evelin Cifuentes is an Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) student volunteering with the Higher Ground organization. As part of the Campus Compact volunteer fellowship project Evelin will have the opportunity to assist with their adaptive veteran climbing program in Joshua Tree, California, as well as with administrative duties for the Higher Ground organization.
- Courtney Boutwell is a Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA) student volunteering with the Therapeutic Riding Center of Huntington Beach, in Huntington Beach, California. As part of this Campus Compact volunteer fellowship project Courtney will be assisting with equine-assisted therapy for the Therapeutic Riding Center of Huntington Beach.
- Olivia Moscoso is an Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) student volunteering with the Back Bay Therapeutic Riding Club in Newport Beach, California. As part of the Campus Compact volunteer fellowship project Olivia will be assisting as a side-walker for equine-assisted therapy at the Back Bay Therapeutic Riding Club, she also may be assisting with other administrative duties including development of program materials.
- Jordan Buntich is a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy (MSOT) student volunteering with the Back Bay Therapeutic Riding Club in Newport Beach, California. As part of the Campus Compact volunteer fellowship project Jordan will be assisting with the development of program materials for equine-assisted therapy at the Back Bay Therapeutic Riding Club, as well as potentially assisting with other administrative duties or equine-assisted therapy.
- Lisa McManus is a Vocational Nursing (VN) student volunteering with Memorial Care Medical Center in Laguna Hills, California. As part of the Campus Compact volunteer fellowship project Lisa will be assisting with the Hospital Health Program (HELP), as well as performing additional administrative or hospital related duties as requested at Memorial Care Medical Center.
- Joelle Houston is an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) student volunteering with Memorial Care Medical Center in Laguna Hills, California. As part of the Campus Compact volunteer fellowship project Lisa will be assisting with the Hospital Health Program (HELP), as well as performing additional administrative or hospital related duties as requested at Memorial Care Medical Center.