FYS emphasizes community service

JACK JONES
STAFF WRITER

9/16/2024

This year Alma College freshmen students are being presented with a new community engagement program that aims to connect students more deeply into Alma and the larger mid-Michigan community through community events and volunteer work. 

This year’s first-year seminar students are part of a pilot program that requires each student to engage in five hours of community engagement. These hours include volunteer service, however, the assignment also offers activities such as hiking the nature preserve, attending artistic and cultural events in the community or even attending city commission meetings.

These five hours are not the only assignment connected to community engagement: it’s just one of many assignments that are designed to build out the student’s skills and prepare them fully for the academic transition from high school to college. 

The program was created in response to previous feedback about first-year seminar programs and aims to expand options for students to engage with community partners. 

The college has partnered with thirty organizations around ten different themes. These themes include animal welfare, literacy, and environmental conservation as well as many more, each with a variety of organizations with which students can work and engage ranging from Alma Public Library to the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.

These programs and opportunities are designed to connect first-year students to the alma community and expand their skill sets beyond campus. 

“There are many ways students can explore and apply their personal, academic, and professional interests in ways that enhance their Alma College education and also contribute to the vibrancy of our community.  When students engage their talents and interests beyond the campus, it’s mutually beneficial, strengthening the community, the college, and the individual,” said Carla Jensen, Co-Director of the Center for College and Community Engagement.

The program is not all perfect though: some First-Year Seminar professors feel it has been difficult to complete both goals of preparing students for the transition into Alma and connecting them to the wider community. 

“I feel like the students are learning more about community organizations than they would without such a program, but it could be integrated better into the first year seminar,” said Angela Kelleher, Associate Professor of Library and Information Science. 

However, many do see the program as having potential and growing to be a more effective tool as the program grows and integrates itself better with FYS. The program bears similarities to other community engagement programs and continues to build on the success of events such as the Scots in Service Day.

“We hope every student will find opportunities that are enjoyable and meaningful and make this community feel more like home,” said Jensen, expressing the program’s interest in providing for all students to find these opportunities to make Alma home. 

The college is using the Golden Volunteer platform to connect students to these opportunities. The platform shows the community opportunities for students and is a space not only for the college but for the entire community, including residents of Gratiot and Isabella counties.