Summary
Students who invest time and effort into academics and campus organizations experience positive academic outcomes. Getting involved in campus social life will make students feel more integrated into the campus community, improving their sense of belonging. Joining an academic club, fraternity/sorority, local church, or student-led organization is an example of community engagement.
Snapshot
Match Your Why
Students use a collaborative 5W Cube activity and guided reflection to explore and articulate their personal “why” for university involvement and community engagement.
Community Engagement Gallery Walk
Students participate in a Gallery Walk to explore campus community engagement opportunities, reflect on new possibilities, and connect their choices to academic, social, and research-based benefits.
What? So What? Now What? (optional)
Students use the What? So What? Now What? strategy to reflect on their community engagement experiences and discuss how involvement has shaped their college experience.
Summer Action Plan
Students develop a low-stakes Summer Action Plan to identify ways they can stay connected to their community in alignment with their goals, values, and personal “why.”
Materials List
Session Slides (attached)
Gallery Walk posters (attached)
Match Your Why Cube handout (attached; one per group)
Notecatcher handout (attached; one per student)
Oklahoma Colleges Community Engagement Examples handout (attached; facilitator copy)
Pencil/pen
Chart paper (optional)
Poster Markers (optional)
Preparation Note
Match Your Why Activity
For the first activity, you will need a Match Your Why Cube for each small group of students. Print, cut, and fold as many as you think you need. Make as many as you think you will need based on your event's typical attendance. Keep groups small so that all participants can have a turn.
Gallery Walk Activity
Research different types of local community organizations that your students can potentially engage with, in addition to the general ones listed on the provided Gallery Walk posters. If you are in Oklahoma, review the Oklahoma Colleges Community Engagement Examples handout. Additionally, this handout can be used by anyone as a guide for the kind of information you should add. Be sure to add your college-specific content to the posters before printing. We have also provided two different sizes to print. Choose the size that best fits your presentation space. Depending on your space, you may be able to attach your posters to the wall. or you may have to leave them on tables.
Alternatively, if space allows, you can use the chart paper and poster markers to create larger versions of each community engagement example instead of printing the Gallery Walk poster handout.
Match Your Why
20 Minute(s)
Use the provided Session Slides to facilitate this session. Display slide 1 and introduce yourself and the title of this session. To better understand the personal connection a student might have with their career decisions, the student first needs to understand their “why.” Why did they enroll in this university? Why do they want to join an organization? Why should they feel connected to that organization?
Have students get into small groups. Display slide 2 and use the modified 5W Cube strategy by passing out an already prepared Match Your Why Cube to each group. Have students roll the cube, then answer the prompt that lands face up. Students will share their thoughts aloud by answering the prompt and explaining how a community organization could assist with their response. Once answered, have the student pass the cube to the next student and continue until all students have had a chance to roll the cube. Remind students that each question relates to how they see community engagement.
After all students have had a chance to share, proceed to slide 3 and distribute the Notecatcher to each student. Allow them time to reflect on what they learned about their “why” in the space provided.
Community Engagement Gallery Walk
20 Minute(s)
Next, move to slide 4 and introduce the Gallery Walk strategy. Explain that students will either walk around the room or review the table cards with each of the community engagement opportunities. Many of the listed opportunities will be accessible at any campus (e.g., academic organizations or personal interest clubs). However, some campuses will have site-specific organizations that students should be aware of.
Give students 2-3 minutes to review each station. After, have students fill out the right side of their Notecatcher. Give students 2-3 minutes to reflect on potential opportunities they may not have known existed, people they could meet, and something they could try. Have students share their thoughts and explain why they think engaging with their community could have a positive impact on their academic and social careers.
Transition to slide 5 and share the research rationale to further reinforce why community engagement may be a positive influence during their time at a post-secondary institution.
Participation in volunteering or service-learning is associated with long-term prosocial development and overall well-being in adulthood (Bowman et al., 2010). Similarly, participation in first-year service learning is positively associated with higher GPAs, retention rates, and graduation rates (Do et al., 2024).
What? So What? Now What? (Optional)
10 Minute(s)
If all students in your session have engaged in some form of community engagement during their time in college, you can use the What? So What? Now What? strategy and have them reflect on their levels of engagement. Unhide slide 6 and have students complete the What? So What? Now What? handout and continue discussions about how their involvement in the community has impacted their college experience.
Summer Action Plan
20 Minute(s)
To help students stay engaged beyond their first year and into the summer break, encourage them to start thinking about ways they can stay connected with their community. Move to slide 7 and have students turn to the back side of their Notecatcher to the “Summer Action Plan” section. Frame this activity as planning, not committing. Students are not locking themselves into anything today, instead they are simply identifying examples of how they could stay engaged over the summer in ways that support their goals and values.
Explain that students should consider ways to stay engaged in the following areas: career and skills-based, community service, and maintaining connections with peers. Encourage students to refer back to their “why” as they work and check that their examples align with what motivates them.
Close the session by reinforcing that engagement is a habit they can carry with them year-round, both on and off campus.
Research Rationale
Research indicates that students who volunteered or participated in service-learning courses were more likely to continue volunteering later in life, develop a stronger prosocial orientation, and report higher levels of personal growth, purpose in life, environmental mastery, and life satisfaction as adults (Bowman et al., 2010). Do et al. (2024) show a positive relationship between service-learning participation during the first year of postsecondary education and a college student’s cumulative GPA, retention, and graduation rates across subsequent college years.
Sources
Bowman, N., Brandenberger, J., Lapsley, D., Hill, P., & Quaranto, J. (2010). Serving in college, flourishing in adulthood: Does community engagement during the college years predict adult well-being? Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 2(1), 14–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2009.01020.x
Do, T., Hufnagle, A. S., Maruyama, G., Lopez-Hurtado, I., Song, W., & Furco, A. (2024). Community engagement, service learning, and underrepresented college student success: An examination of multiple cohorts. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 24(3), 1226–1251. https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12408
K20 Center. (n.d.). 5w cube. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/81
K20 Center. (n.d.). Gallery Walk. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/118
K20 Center. (n.d.). What? So What? Now What? Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/95