Commonwealth University\u2019s growing community engagement tradition helps students see themselves as leaders, advocates and sources of encouragement.<\/p>\n
In Homewood, the lesson was bigger than a panel discussion. It began with Commonwealth University students arriving in Pittsburgh this spring not as visitors but as participants in a living classroom \u2013one where policy, education, and contact were legs of a stool supporting real people, real neighborhoods and real change.<\/p>\n
The university\u2019s bi-annual Out of the Classroom: Into the Community Program trip has become one of those unique experiences in higher education that feels both deeply practical and deeply human, rooted in service, identity and belonging.<\/p>\n
Ralph Godbolt, executive director of Access and Engagement and ACT 101, said the community engagement program began in 2018 with just four students. This spring, it brought close to 80 students from the Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield campuses to Pittsburgh\u2019s Homewood neighborhood \u2013the largest group yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the research tells us is that students who are able to volunteer, definitely in communities similar to ones they may come from, are able to make that connection,\u201d Godbolt said. \u201cThey\u2019re more likely to be retained, because they\u2019re able to see themselves as role models.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Godbolt, the trip is also about visibility. The kind that changes how young people see themselves and how college students see their responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot be what you cannot see,\u201d Godbolt said. \u201cTo see 80 people walking around your neighborhood, 70% who look like you, makes a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s trip leaned into Kerrie DeVries\u2019 \u201cthree-legged stool\u201d model that she teaches, a framework that asks how policy, education and contact can create lasting change in anti-Black racism in the United States. A panel discussion held for the students was designed to make that model tangible, and the lineup brought together people whose careers have been shaped by that work from different directions.<\/p>\n
The panel included Rochelle Jackson, founder and CEO of the Black Women\u2019s Policy Center; former Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey; Felicity A. Williams, executive director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center; Cynthia Haines, president and CEO of HEAR Foundation; Ciora Thomas, founder and executive director of SisTers PGH; Dr. Christine McClure of the University of Pittsburgh; and Brenna Crable, educator and board leader.<\/p>\n
Godbolt said the programming was intentionally tied to what many students had already studied.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout 70% definitely of the Bloomsburg students, at one point or another, have enrolled in our anti-racism class (offered through the black studies minor),\u201d Godbolt said. \u201cOne of the key lessons (DeVries) teaches is something called the three-legged stool. So, for students to be able to say, \u2018I literally learned about this and now have made that connection here on this trip,\u2019 that\u2019s what makes it so cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ariya Hansen, of Macungie and criminal justice major at CU-Bloomsburg, said what stayed with her most was the way Homewood modeled community in action.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt so good to be able to work together with a community who shares the same beliefs and wants for the community,\u201d Hansen said. \u201cEveryone was so kind to one another that I assumed they all knew each other, but they\u2019re simply just good neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her reflection returned again and again to the phrase that framed the trip.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t be what you can\u2019t see,\u201d Hansen said. \u201cThis hit me deeply and completely altered the way I view opportunities for both me and the people of Pittsburgh, as well as any other community.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also described the trip as personally clarifying. She says the trip was not only an act of service, but a confirmation that community work is the path she wants to keep following.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis experience will forever have an impact on me,\u201d Hansen said. \u201cI want to help the underprivileged, disadvantaged, impoverished, needy and the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Commonwealth University\u2019s growing community engagement tradition helps students see themselves as leaders, advocates and sources of encouragement. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[524,227,72194,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-265845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-community","tag-education","tag-homewood-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}