Civic Engagement
Civic Engagement
W&L students are actively engaged in the Lexington and Rockbridge County communities. Examples range from tutoring in local schools to providing interpretation services for the hospital, and from helping to build houses with Habitat for Humanity to working at the local domestic violence shelter.
The commitment to service extends into the classroom as well, through a number of service-learning courses in which community service is integrated with instruction and reflection.
Civic Engagement Options
The Campus Kitchen at W&L combats hunger and promotes nutrition by providing balanced meals for low-income members of the community in Rockbridge County.
The program educates W&L students by providing opportunities for leadership, engaging a distinctive population in our community, initiating nutrition programs in the community, promoting awareness of nutrition and hunger issues, and stimulating research on hunger. Though Campus Kitchen only provides meals locally, its effort to educate students has national and global significance.
The Bonner Program is a unique leadership development program for students with an interest in service and civic engagement. The program is based on the belief that students have the desire and ability to leave lasting and unique contributions through their community service. The Bonner Program provides students with the framework to continue involvement in community
The Nabors Service League is a student-run community service organization that strives to promote and encourage a spirit of service and to connect service with learning. In addition to connecting W&L students with local agencies through
The Community-Academic Research Alliance (CARA) supports research partnerships between W&L students, professors
Research projects are aimed at meeting urgent needs identified by the community. Through CARA, community partners are viewed as co-educators and are involved in different stages of the research project, including defining the research
Environmental Studies Service Learning program offers students the chance to engage with sustainability measures in the local community while earning class credit.
The Volunteer Venture Program brings incoming first-year students together for a week-long pre-orientation program designed to introduce participants to the contributing factors of poverty in cities surrounding W&L.
The Global Service and Sustainability theme houses offer opportunities for service-minded students to live and serve together after their first year on campus.
