2019 Continuums of Service Conference

Outcomes from college students (n=151) at 30 colleges who participated in a semester-long California Campus Compact Community Engagement Student Fellowship indicate as a result of the experience enriched academic and professional competencies including expanded knowledge, empathetic understanding, psycho-motor abilities, and leadership skills. Fellowship students described their experiences as “capacity-building”, “educationally-empowering”, and “career-solidifying”. In turn, these facets of inspiration and purpose coalesced into students’ increased sense of community agency and efficacy—having the skills and motivation to continue to transform themselves and others. Moreover, students articulated that what differentiated this community engagement from other forms of experiential and collaborative learning is that the Fellowship held them accountable for advancing social responsibility. In other words,the impact of a Scholars program is that the power of knowledge is realized when publicly enacted. The purpose is to present an overview of the CESF Fellows that can be easily replicated on any campus. The objectives are to highlight this Low-investment and Low-infrastructure strategy by detailed sharing of best practices including opportunities for brainstorming next steps for those who want to implement a similar program. The panel presentation is a partnership of the program director, campus director, Fellowship student, and assessment consultant.