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OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Life is for Service
PUT YOUR
PASSIONINTO
ACTION.
Educating yourself may begin with
books, midterm papers, and cram
sessions. But that is merely the first
step in an amazing transformation.
At Rollins, the classroom is your first
teacher; the world is your final exam.
In between spending your first night in a
residence hall and walking across the stage at
graduation are service experiences that can only be
found in the Rollins community. Through these experi-
ences—which may include providing citizens of Nepal
with access to clean water or mentoring children of
farmworkers just down the road from
Rollins—you’ll forge a stronger bond
with your classmates, a closer con-
nection to the planet, and a more
profound understanding of not only
what you learn in the classroom, but
what you can contribute to the world. You’ll learn that
service isn’t just an opportunity—it’s a responsibility.
This is the promise of a Rollins education and the purpose
of the Office of Community Engagement. Rollins is a
place where you will cultivate lifelong passions for
service and progress …
a place where you will find yourpurpose through action.
Community Engagement Courses
New to Rollins, courses are now being offered
with the designation “CE” (Community Engage-
ment). CE courses provide unique opportunities
for students to put their education into action
through service-learning and research with
community organizations and leaders. Reflec-
tion is a critical piece of the course experience.
For instance, students may journal about ethics
while working hands-on with terminally ill
children in the popular course Death and Dying,
or they may write about how community-
based fieldwork with migrant farmworkers
enhances classwork in Applied Anthropology.
Although Rollins has offered more than 160
service-enhanced courses over the last decade,
this new curriculum designation makes it easy
for students to integrate scholarship with the
greater good.
Ian Wallace ’12Tampa, FloridaMajor: International Relations Minor: Asian Studies
• Has enrolled in two CE courses: the Rollins College
Conference (RCC) class Poverty & Citizenship and
an international economics course on fair trade
• Student coordinator of OCE’s Immersion Program
• Has been involved in Student Government and
X Club and completed study abroad in China
Everyone should take at least one CE course.
Going through those experiences has so much
impact on what you’re studying. When I’m talking to
an artisan in Indonesia, it’s much more enriching than
just reading about fair trade in a textbook. Now I know
I can apply what I’m learning to the world. These are
the educational experiences I will remember the most
about college.”
“
Rollins Immersion is a wildly popular version of
the alternative spring break. Just as much fun as
the typical spring break, immersion experiences
are not limited to just a week in the spring
and they offer something more lasting than a
sunburn.The program offers more than a dozen
weekend and weeklong experiences throughout
the year, where students learn about the history
and culture of new places and gain first-hand
knowledge about social issues like poverty,
education, and the environment. Recent trips
took students to Guatemala to study organic
coffee production, and to our nation’s capital to
study urban poverty and healthcare. Immersions
allow students to use their time off as time on,
preparing them for a life of active citizenship.
Lucas Hernandez ’13 Rochester, New York Major: International
Relations
• First college service experience: SPARC Day of Service
at Fern Creek Elementary School during orientation
• Traveled to Washington, D.C. for an alternative spring
break focused on poverty, which involved working
with children with disabilities and at a food bank
• Led an alternative spring break to Miami focused on
the diversity of immigration in the U.S.
Participating in immersions has been one of the
most transformative experiences of my life. You
don’t just learn about crucial social issues, you learn
about about conflict resolution and leadership. What I
find most rewarding is learning new and profound
things about myself and about my community rela-
tionships. I feel more in tune with myself and more
empowered to lead and set an example.”
“
Rollins Immersion:Citizens Take Action
{ THE WORLD } is your final exam.
Becoming a college graduate begins with a
dream, but for many students from under-
served communities that dream never takes
flight. The Pathways to College program
brings children from public schools to the
Rollins campus to give wing to their aca-
demic dreams, showing them what college
life is really like, from watching a theater
performance to working on real robots in a
science lab. Hundreds of children walk
across campus with their Rollins guides,
who not only show them secret spots for
studying and where the crowds sit to cheer
on the basketball team, but also where they
might find themselves in a decade.
Kayli Ragsdale ’12Austin, TexasMajor: Political Science
• Student intern for Pathways to College
• Serves on the executive board of JUMP
• Plays on the varsity tennis team and was
awarded the 2011 Arthur Ashe Leadership
& Sportsmanship award
Rollins has a very holistic view of education, so
what I learn in the classroom is only a small part
of my whole education. I’m learning and growing as a
person by spending time with children in the Pathways
programs and helping to get other Rollins students
involved. All of that is integral to my development and
helps me to understand everything I’m learning in my
classes about political science and civic activism.”
“
Pathways to College
Forge a
{ STRONGER BOND }
Annamarie Carlson ’14Canal Winchester, Ohio Major: English
• Volunteered at Mayflower Retirement Home with SPARC
• Experience inspired her to join the executive boardof JUMP, where she is a student coordinator
• No stranger to service, she began volunteering ather local library when she was in elementary schooland has logged more than 1,600 hours as assistantcoordinator of its summer-reading program
SPARC truly sparked my interest in community
engagement at Rollins. I realized that this was
going to be more than just committing a few hours to
service—it was the beginning of a lifestyle for me. In
those few hours, I realized I was not just getting a
textbook experience, but that service was going to be
a part of who I am. Rollins’ mission statement says it
values service and my very first day on campus con-
firmed that. I knew it was exactly the right place for me.”
The only program of its kind in the state of Florida, SPARC is
a one-day service experience required of all incoming first-
year and transfer students. Service projects are connected
to the content of Rollins College Conference coursework,
creating a unique blend of real-world experience and
academic understanding. SPARC is a high-energy, campus-
wide highlight of Rollins’ orientation programming with the
goal of igniting a life of service and activism.
SPARC (Service Philanthropy Activism Rollins College)
“
Upward Bound and Talent SearchGetting to the next level academically is a
struggle for many talented students whose
parents did not attend college or whose finances
put college out of reach. The federally funded
programs Upward Bound and Talent Search
are all about encouraging students in grades five
through 12 through tutoring, SAT test prep,
motivational speakers, and college tours in order
to better prepare them for the challenges of
college. Upward Bound and Talent Search
programs have helped thousands of high
school students become college graduates
and future leaders.
Carrie GlattingOrlando, FloridaPre-Collegiate
Programs Coordinator
• Enrolls and challenges 60 students in Upward Bound
each year
• Enrolls 800 students from area schools in Talent Search
• Coordinates both paid teachers and Rollins students
who tutor the high school students in academic subjects
as well as on the finer points of becoming a college
student, from filling out the application to figuring out
which college and major will be the best fit
Rollins students do so much to make these pro-
grams successful. Some have work-study positions
to tutor in math or science or languages. Some are summer
RAs, so they live in the residence halls with the Upward
Bound students. Some are studyingmental health counseling
and offer career assessment to Upward Bound students,
helping them figure out what path might work for them, so
Rollins students are not only mentors, they’re also getting
valuable work experience.”
“
Sam Barns ’10 ’12MBAFalmouth, MaineMajor: Critical Media & Cultural Studies,
MBA student
• Has traveled twice to New Orleans
with Rollins Relief to rebuild homes
destroyed by Hurricane Katrina
• Has served as vice president and president of
Rollins Relief
• Travels yearly to Tanzania for service projects and
plans to open an eco-lodge there when he graduates
with his MBA
I wish we had some other word than ‘service’
for this kind of work. Service implies that we are
giving something of ourselves away to other people.
The best service experiences I’ve had have always left
me feeling like there was no way I could ever repay that
place or those people for what they’ve given me.”
Rollins Relief
“
Thanks to streaming media,
the world watched every hor-
rifying moment of Hurricane
Katrina in 2005, but a small
group of Rollins students
wanted to do more than just
bear witness to the suffering.
They were inspired to help.
They traveled to New Orleans
in the wake of the hurricane,
founding a student-led
campus-wide organization
called Rollins Relief. Since then,
nearly 270 students, faculty,
and staff have served with the
people of the region hit hardest
by Katrina, with 1 1,000 service
hours dedicated to recovery
and rebuilding. Participants paint,
saw, hammer, and construct one
house at a time with Habitat
for Humanity and through
hard work discover what it
means to build a community.
Discover what it means to
{ BUILD A COMMUNITY }
JUMP (Join Us in Making Progress)
The old phrase that a person learns best by
doing is the essence of the JUMP experience.
JUMP, a student organization created to connect
volunteers with programs and initiatives in
communities across Central Florida, provides
opportunities for students to learn while serving
alongside others. Studying the politics of poverty
takes on new resonance when students share
stories with residents of a homeless shelter.
Cramming for a test about the environmental
impact of garbage is one thing, but it’s something
else to join a hundred friends in filling bags with
junk washed up on the coastline. Each JUMP
event is open not only to students, but to faculty,
staff, family, and friends, making it a true
community experience.
Amanda Wittebort ’13Kenosha, WisconsinMajor: Psychology
• JUMP Student Coordinator
• Feels special affinity for children’s programs like Give Kids the World and Children’sHome Society
• Has organized events as children’s chair of JUMP
• Among many other experiences, has dressed up as a Christmas princess for the Give Kids the World holidayparade, part of a program where critically ill childrenenjoy a family vacation in Orlando, free of charge
It only takes one event to get a student—or faculty
member—hooked. Our events are about small
moments that you take away with you, such as the child
you bond with at Give Kids the World Village, or the wall
you build at Habitat for Humanity. Being a part of JUMP,
I feel so much more connected to Rollins now, and I try to
think every day about at least one thing I can do to make
someone else’s life better.”
“
Contribute to
{ THE WORLD }
Making Lives Better
Perhaps no other organization on the Rollins
campus is more perfectly named than Making
Lives Better, which is in the business of doing
just that. Two Rollins students, who both call
Nepal home, decided three years ago that they
wanted to do something to help the underserved
in their home country and at the same time
share the wonders of Nepal with their Rollins
friends. Thus was born Making Lives Better,
which provides basic medical care at health
camps in the impoverished Doti district. Rollins
students have traveled there two years in a row
with medical supplies as well as books, com-
puters, and sports equipment for local schools.
Raghabendra KC ’13 Kathmandu, NepalMajor: Economics & Mathematics
• With friend and fellow Cornell scholar and Nepali
Adi Mahara ’12, KC has inspired dozens of Rollins
students, faculty, and staff to support health camps,
freshwater project Mission Aqua, school renovations,
and a program that provides backpacks and school
supplies to local children in rural regions of Nepal
• Has succeeded in adding four additional Making Lives
Better chapters at other colleges here and abroad
• Teams up with local organizations, such as Impact
Nepal, to manage the logistics from half a world away
More than two-thirds of my country lives
below the poverty line. Had I been born just
two houses down the road, I could not have afforded
any education, let alone going to a college in America.
This experience helps me get the fullest out of all that
I have, it helps me push myself and make the most out
of everything. I feel blessed to have all that I have and
to be involved in such an amazing venture with such
amazing people.”
“
Rollins has received the following recognition for it's community engagement initiatives:
Presidential Award Winner for Community Service
“So often, immersion experiences are an opportunityfor unlearning, in that students begin to challengewhat they thought they knew and understood. Students begin to understand things from a new perspective, begin to ask new questions. When you’retaken out of your comfort zone, that’s when the reallearning takes place. After you’ve spent your spring
break building a new porch for a house destroyed by a hurricane, what youthought you knew isn’t the only thing you know anymore.”
—Meredith Hein Assistant Director of Community Engagement
• Presidential Award, 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service
Honor Roll | Rollins was one of six colleges and universities nationally out of
more than 600 to receive this award, which is the highest federal recognition
a college or university can receive for its commitment to community service.
• Recognition from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) |
Rollins consistently performs above average in number of students who
participate in community service, living learning communities, class discussion,
and student/faculty collaborative research.
• 2008 Community Engagement Classification by The Carnegie Foundation for
the Advancement of Teaching | Less than 5% of colleges and universities
nationwide have achieved this prestigious academic classification.
• Top Engaged Campus Award by Florida Campus Compact | Rollins faculty
received recognition for excellence in service-learning for four consecutive years.
• Orange County Public Schools Partners in Education Award
• Winter Park Chamber of Commerce Community Organization of the Year
Rollins CollegeOffice of Community Engagement1000 Holt Avenue - 2789Winter Park, FL 32789Phone: 407.691.1250 • Fax: 407.975.6455
“Our goal is for students to be equippedto take on the greatest social, civic, andenvironmental challenges of our time andcontribute in meaningful ways throughglobal action and progress.”
—Micki Meyer, Director of Community Engagement
rollins.edu
Rollins College educates students for
global citizenship and responsible
leadership. The Office of Community
Engagement (OCE) fosters, encourages,
and promotes student, faculty, and staff
involvement within local and global
communities. Through service-learning
courses, community-based research,
leadership development, community
service, and innovative immersion
programs and resources, OCE is deeply
committed to fostering a lifelong
commitment to personal and social
responsibility in every member of the
Rollins Community. Visit us: 2nd floor of Mills Memorial BuildingEmail: [email protected]: “Rollins College Office of Community Engagement”Twitter: twitter.com/rollins_oce
rollins.edu/communityengagement