Why should Students Engage with Community?
Student engagement with community partners has always been an important response to critical social issues.
How can Students Become Engaged?
Michigan State University recognizes four primary modes of student civic and community engagement:
- Academic service-learning
- Curricular service-learning
- Co-curricular service-learning and student civic engagement
- Individual action
- Student-led initiatives/student groups and organizations
Visit the Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Web site for definitions of these types of student civic engagement.
Whether the student engagement is for a class, a personal or professional interest, or as an act of advocacy or activism, all are examples of the University's land-grant philosophy in action.
More Examples of Student Engagement
ANC Food Team
Lansing's Eastside neighborhood has 6-7 convenience/party stores, but no grocery stores or supermarkets. Therefore, in a neighborhood where many residents do not have the financial resources to own a car or take a cab to travel to a "Meijer" or a "Kroger," there has been little access to fresh produce – something that suburban and rural residents take for granted.
The "Food Team" of the Allen Neighborhood Network Center (ANC) on the Eastside is working to change the disparity in access to fresh food. The ANC staff and residents have partnered with local farmers to provide a weekly Farmers' Market in the summer months. Also. the City of Lansing has donated space in Hunter Park for an Urban Greenhouse-Community Garden.
MSU students have been involved in the Farmers' Market and Hunter Park Greenhouse projects since their inception, having written promotional materials and newsletters, built planting boxes, prepared soil, and served with and supervised ANC Youth Service Corps middle school students in planting.
Visit the Allen Neighborhood Center Web site to learn more about the ANC initiative.
Students Consulting for Non-Profit Organizations (SCNO)
Not-for-profit human service-focused agencies and organizations, through their purpose and mission, exist to meet the needs of the underserved and marginalized. Often, these agencies themselves are disadvantaged in terms of financial resources, relying on donated money, temporary grants, and the like. Yet, their need for business plans, databases, Web sites, newsletters and promotional brochures is as great as any business that wishes to succeed.
Recognizing this, committed students from the Eli Board College of Business and the College of Communication Arts and Sciences have formed a registered student organization, SCNO, to engage with and help build the capacity of non-profit organizations. Advised by a faculty member in the College of Business, SCNO has its own administrative structure designed to maximize student skills and leadership and to provide optimal tangible results to community organizations. Learn more about SCNO.
