For undergraduate students who take part in community engagement and leadership programs at the 乱伦社区, the community is their classroom.
Some UW students help high school students apply for college while some teach K-12 students in rural or Tribal areas about science. Some intern with nonprofit organizations that help those who are unhoused in the University District while others create competitions for students to debate policy solutions to our society鈥檚 biggest problems.
Students involved in these programs and more through the and shared their experiences at the annual Spring CELEbration in May.
Hundreds of fellow students, faculty and community members gathered in the Husky Union Building to learn about how students鈥� work in community engagement, leadership and activism affected their academic experience and impacted the broader community.聽
鈥淭his is my favorite event of the year because it鈥檚 just so inspiring to hear all your stories and reflections,鈥� Francesca Lo, executive director of the CELE Center, told students at the start of the celebration. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e thinking about issues that really matter in our community in serious ways. You are using your knowledge and your skills to strengthen our civic health and our democracy.鈥�
More than 170 students presented at this year鈥檚 event. Read on to learn about just a few of them.聽
Eden Bogale
Major: Environmental public health
CELE Center program: Dream Project
Eden Bogale, 鈥�27, knows how difficult it can be to find resources for college and career readiness as a high school student of immigrants.聽
When Bogale was in high school, she had to find these resources all on her own. Through her work with the Dream Project, Bogale was able to share what she learned in her experience to help students at Denny International Middle School.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of students [there] who look like me,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e come from similar backgrounds, and I know what it鈥檚 like to be a lot of these students.鈥�
Bogale set up a high school information night where students could learn about how they can choose to go to a different Seattle public high school than the school they are assigned to based on their address. She also worked with the school to host an open enrollment night where families could come get support with their applications, and she helped students with their lessons.
Bogale wants to go into public health or healthcare, but she said she knows how important education is to someone鈥檚 health. 鈥淓ducation is just kind of the key to everything,鈥� she said.聽
鈥淭hrough the Dream Project, I鈥檝e developed a lot better communication skills by presenting to students or families,鈥� Bogale said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 so important in public health and healthcare, to be able to connect with a lot of different types of people.鈥�
Caroline Hayes
Major: Political science and sociology
CELE Center programs: Husky Leadership Certificate, Dream Project
Caroline Hayes, 鈥�26, has spent a lot of time at the UW thinking about what leadership means to her.聽
Through her work in the, Hayes talked with her mentor about her position on campus and in her community. Through the Dream Project, where she helped Rainier Prep students apply to Seattle high schools or scholarships and internships, Hayes learned just how valuable her role as a UW student was.聽
鈥淎 lot of these programs and services are sometimes this unseen thread in the community,鈥� Hayes said. 鈥淏ut being able to be a part of them really pulled that all to the surface in a really beautiful reminder.鈥澛�
Hayes was recently named one of , an annual showcase of students at the UW who are making the most of their time at the University.聽
Her experiences with the CELE Center will be instrumental as Hayes enters her next steps as a teacher in Denver as part of Teach for America. After that, she hopes to attend law school and focus her career on advancing sustainable, equitable policy and justice.聽
鈥淎ll of these programs have a broad impact on public policy and social policy, and my long-term goal is to go into law, so it gives me a good foundation for what is valuable to people in the community and what threads might need change,鈥� Hayes said.
Ava Michler
Major: Applied mathematics data science
CELE Center programs: Mary Gates Leadership Scholar, NextGen
As an applied mathematics data science major, Ava Michler, 鈥�27, saw a lower rate of civic engagement among peers in STEM disciplines.
She wanted to change that and give students an opportunity to collaborate with those in other majors.聽
Michler decided to create a NextGen Undergraduate Policy Competition, in which students would get a chance to propose policy solutions to some of the biggest issues facing society today.聽
鈥淥ftentimes, it can be easy to feel helpless and that our voices as young people are not valued in policy-making,鈥� Michler said. 鈥淚 think one actionable way to become civically involved is learning about public policy, which gives us the opportunity to see how our unique academic interests can translate to meaningful work in the public sector.鈥澛�
The competition鈥檚 first theme was immigration and artificial intelligence. About 40 students showed up and spent the day giving presentations on their solutions, connecting with professionals in their fields and learning more about each other.聽
鈥淲e were really able to see how the different ways of thinking that we get from our majors can be applied to public sector work,鈥� she said.
Michler said the CELE Center has been critical for her leadership development and her civic engagement.聽
鈥淭here are pathways and support for students through the Evans School and the CELE Center to learn about public service and their role in it,鈥� she said.
Siham Mohamed
Major: Computer science
CELE Center program: Dream Project
When Siham Mohamed, 鈥�26, was graduating from Rainier Beach High School, she had to navigate the college application process all on her own. She saw just how complicated college and financial aid applications can be.
Through the Dream Project, Mohamed saw an opportunity to give back to her former school.聽
鈥淚 thought, 鈥榃hat are some ways I can give back to my community? What are some of the gaps that I can fill, especially with things that I was struggling with?鈥欌�� she said.聽
Mohamed worked mostly with first-generation students and new English learners to help them apply for colleges, scholarships and financial aid. She helped organize a college fair for students to learn more about their options and the resources available to them.聽
Along with helping students with college applications, Mohamed also used her computer science major to talk with students in their computer classes and help them build websites of their own.聽
One of the most important takeaways from the project for Mohamed was that it reaffirmed her desire to go to graduate school for education policy.聽
鈥淏efore this, I was debating whether I wanted to continue my education, and that鈥檚 a big choice,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his helped me get one-on-one experience in a classroom with students, which was very important for me, and now I鈥檓 definitely sure that I want to do this.鈥澛�
Iris Xu
Major: Neuroscience
CELE Center program: Undergraduate Community-Based Internships
Iris Xu, 鈥�27, decided to volunteer to help unhoused people in the University District after she witnessed an opioid overdose in the community.聽
鈥淚 remember thinking, 鈥榃ow, this is real,鈥欌�� Xu said. 鈥淭his is a problem that is really affecting my community right here.鈥�
Xu decided to pair her education in neuroscience with her volunteer experience to learn as much as possible about opioids and how they affect the brain while simultaneously being vital in medicine.聽
When it came time for her community-based internship, Xu decided to work with the Doorway Project, an organization that serves young people experiencing homelessness in the U District.
While there, Xu helped create a new online and printed resource guide and organize their annual resource fair. That experience taught her about how community partners across the area work together to provide wraparound resources, like shelter, housing, employment and health care, to young people.聽
She also learned how nonprofit organizations function and what kind of work they require internally to provide the services they do, Xu said.
鈥淚 really learned so much about my personal positionality within my community, about my own privilege and what I can do to support unhoused folks and my community as a whole,鈥� Xu said.
Kruthi Duraisamy, Reeva Nedungadi and Milo Schwindt
Major: Biochemistry (Duraisamy); mechanical engineering (Nedungadi); molecular, cellular, and developmental biology (Schwindt)
CELE Center program: Riverways Culture and Science Exchange Program-Yakama
When UW students take part in the, they take away more than just the experience of teaching elementary and high school students about science.聽
During their time working with the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Kruthi Duraisamy, 鈥�27, Reeva Nedungadi, 鈥�28, and Milo Schwindt, 鈥�27, also gained an appreciation for cultural skills like traditional root digging and basket weaving. And, they each learned more about themselves and their goals for the future.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just us going there and teaching science,鈥� Schwindt said. 鈥淲e learn from them, too.鈥澛�
One of the biggest skills that Schwindt, who鈥檚 spent three years in the Riverways program, said he will take away from his experience is being able to slow down and break explanations into smaller pieces.聽
When you鈥檙e teaching fourth graders about rockets, for example, you can鈥檛 just immediately go into the complicated workings of it, he said.聽
鈥淚 learned how to break this subject that might be big and confusing for people down into smaller parts,鈥� Schwindt said. It鈥檚 a skill he hopes to use in his future as a pediatrician.聽
Nedungadi had a similar experience. As an engineering student, one of the skills that鈥檚 becoming increasingly important is communicating, they said.聽
鈥淵ou need to be able to justify why you think the way you do and how you would go about solving a problem,鈥� they said. 鈥淐ommunicating with a bunch of kids requires you to think like that. It鈥檚 very, very rewarding when you see their faces light up because they understand and are enjoying an activity.鈥澛�
For Duraisamy, seeing how the kids鈥� attitudes toward science or school in general changed over the week was always a highlight. Some would start the program not wanting to go to college, for example, but by the end of the week, they would find something interesting that they wanted to continue learning about, she said.
鈥淲hen they can see themselves in something, they鈥檒l become excited about it,鈥� she said. 鈥淐onnection is so important to kids.鈥�
About the Community Engagement and Leadership Education Center
The Community Engagement and Leadership Education (CELE) Center is a primary coordinator at the UW for community-engaged learning, partnership development and student civic leadership. It is at the center of the UW鈥檚 community engagement infrastructure, enabling students, faculty and community partners to come together, expand and sustain relevant, high-quality community-engaged learning. Each year it supports thousands of students and hundreds of collaborations with community-based organizations and faculty to strengthen community-driven solutions to complex societal challenges.
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