We believe a student experience focused on engaging with and learning from the community prepares students to enter the world beyond Colby as thoughtful leaders and engaged global citizens. Civic engagement programs support students in going beyond volunteering and facilitate opportunities for students to explore their roles and responsibilities within the community, and to build the skills, knowledge and experience to tackle complex social changes. Regardless of a student’s academic major or professional aspirations, the Office of Civic Engagement supports experiences that cultivate civic purpose and civic leadership.
The Civic Engagement and Community Partnerships program provides students with opportunities to become thoughtful leaders, critical thinkers, and socially responsible citizens. Through an integrative learning approach including course work, research, global experiences and co-curricular education, students explore the civic dimensions of their academic discipline and develop the intellectual grounding and confidence to address complex public problems and impact change.
A wide array of courses are designed to extend learning beyond the classroom through embedded experiences with community stakeholders, scientific exploration, critical assessment, analytical inquiry, creative expression, and survey research. By integrating academic study with community engagement and critical reflection, students b ecome active citizens, develop targeted skills and abilities, forge meaningful relationships with community service organizations, and enhance their sense of civic identity and purpose.
F E A T U R E D S T O R Y
Professor Erin Murphy
Documentary Video Production
Professor Erin Murphy and students in her Documentary Video Production course created documentary short subject films about food production and sustainability in Waterville, Maine.
F E A T U R E D S T O R Y
Professor David Freidenreich’s
Religious traditions and socioeconomic structures
Professor David Freidenreich’s civic engagement course, Faith, Class and Community explored the various intersections between religious traditions, socioeconomic structures, and communities.
Educating the next generation of creative leaders and democratic citizens requires students to engage in public action and collaborative problem solving beyond the classroom. Participation in real-world projects elevates the intellectual challenges Colby offers and promotes students’ ability to assume leadership roles on and off-campus.
Colby students and faculty collaborate with Waterville area non-profit organizations, local government, public schools, and businesses on real-world projects that address some of the city’s most pressing challenges. The Office of Civic Engagement and Community Partnerships has relationships with over 70 community partner organizations, and is a valuable resource and a pipeline for students looking to place their education squarely in the context of the real world.
Educating the next generation of creative leaders and democratic citizens requires students to engage in public action and collaborative problem solving beyond the classroom. Participation in real-world projects elevates the intellectual challenges Colby offers and promotes students’ ability to assume leadership roles on and off-campus. Experiences empower students to become leaders and role models in responding to challenges and opportunities at local, regional, national, and international levels to propel social change and make democratic engagement a lifelong practice.
Student Initiated Leadership Projects: See how Colby students have charted civic engagement pathways and demonstrated leadership. Student initiated projects include dedicated days of service, youth mentorship, and semester programs that foster long term community partnerships and purposeful reflection.
The O’Hanian-Szostak Fellows for Civic Leadership are awarded to highly motivated students dedicated to public service and civic life in Maine communities. Fellows develop community-based projects, independent studies, or internships that align with the student’s academic interests, focus on meeting community needs, and build meaningful relationships with local stakeholders and community members in Waterville and across Maine. Fellows work under the guidance of the Office of Civic Engagement and Community Partnerships to design and implement high-impact initiatives that foster a campus culture of critical inquiry and active citizenship.
“My growth as an active member of the Waterville community through the K-12 engagement opportunities with the museum and the civic engagement office has been an integral part in distinguishing my Colby experience from a mere degree earning journey. Instead, I’ve found the value in getting an education by becoming a part of the community. As someone who has been living away from home in a boarding school and with numerous host families since the age of nine, I’ve found a sense of comfort and belonging through my active engagement with the Waterville community. For the first time, I felt re-connected to a word that I’ve felt distanced by my entire life, home. ”- James Kim 21’
Bill and Joan Alfond Commons
150 Main Street in downtown Waterville.
[email protected]
Elizabeth Jabar, Lawry Family Director of Civic Engagement and Community Partnerships
Paige Begley, Assistant Director of Student Civic Engagement
Colby College and Colby Votes are part of the national NESCAC Votes initiative, created in 2019 by the All In Campus Democracy Challenge. The NESCAC Votes initiative is designed to “fulfill a responsibility of higher education to graduate informed and civically engaged citizens” and “to push for a more inclusive democracy through increasing voter registration and turnout rates across all of our campuses and, in turn, the nation. NESCAC Votes aims to tackle the issue of low college student voter turnout by advancing nonpartisan civic learning and voter participation on each of the eleven campuses.”
Colby Votes works to incorporate nonpartisan civic learning into curricular and co-curricular education, adopting practices that advance students’ political engagement and informed voter participation. Through the Colby Votes initiative, the college aims to graduate more civically engaged citizens and to advocate for a more inclusive democracy by increasing voter registration and voter turnout on campus.
Since 2019, Colby Votes has earned four national awards from the All In Campus Democracy Challenge recognizing the significant gains in Colby students voter registration and voting rates, including Best Campus Action Plan, Highly Established Action Plan Seal, and a Gold Seal based on our campus voting rates, achieving a 93% voter registration rate, and 86% of students voted (66% was the national average), marking a 12.8% increase from 2016.
Colby Votes worked with Maine Students Vote to establish a civic action team and peer-to-peer student voting outreach program. At the core of this model are the Colby Votes Fellows; these student leaders organize and support their student peers to move through a civic ladder of engagement: register to vote; make a plan to vote; understand what’s on the ballot and share nonpartisan voting information; send reminders about important election deadlines; and vote on or before Election Day.
Founded in 2001, Colby Cares About Kids (CCAK) is a program that pairs Colby students (mentors) with local youth (mentees) in one-on-one mentoring pairs for students in grades K-8 within the Greater Waterville area. The goal of the program is to provide the youth with an additional role model and friend who can be a consistent part of their school experience. It began with an introductory English class going into local schools to work with kids with approximately 20-30 mentors. Today CCAK over 300 Colby mentors paired with mentees at 13 schools throughout the Greater Waterville Area. This mentoring initiative is one dimension to the college’s commitment to encouraging civic responsibility as an essential part of a liberal arts education.
Alfond Commons is a civic engagement residential community focused on civic learning and democratic engagement. Residents are committed to being engaged members of their community and guided by a set of shared values and goals. Through participation in direct service, academic and community based learning experiences, Alfond Commons residents engage in a rich set of activities that define life at Colby and prepare students to live productive, healthy lives of leadership and purpose.
The Chace Community Forum, on the first floor of the Bill & Joan Alfond Main Street Commons, is a communal events space for creating and cultivating dialogue and relationship building among community members.
[email protected] | 207-859-4155
If you are interested in working with our office or meeting with our team to discuss civic engagement opportunities, please fill out the form. We look forward to hearing from you.
Bill and Joan Alfond Commons
150 Main Street in downtown Waterville
