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: OCE@rollins.eduFacebook: “Rollins College Office of Community Engagement”Twitter: twitter.com/rollins_oce

rollins.edu/communityengagement