We CU Honors Students, Instructors, and Partners for Their Community Contributions

The We CU Community Engaged Scholars program (We CU) hosted its annual spring reception on Thursday, April 25, at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center. The reception celebrated the positive impact of students, instructors, and community partners in the Champaign-Urbana area this year. 

The University of Illinois Alumni Association supported the event, and more than 80 students, instructors, and community partners gathered to celebrate. We CU's Directors Katie Shumway and Emily Stone offered congratulatory remarks and commended students, instructors, and community organizations for their efforts this year. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect in-person with campus and community partners. Representatives from PACE, Champaign Unit 4 Schools, Elevated Access, the Office of Public Engagement, the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute, and the Humanities Research Institute were among those who attended.

This year, 493 students spent 9,731 hours collaborating with 43 community partners. Hailing from 11 colleges across the university, the students completed 90 service projects for local community organizations in Central Illinois. 

Another 84 students, including 4 Humanities in Action students, earned recognition as We CU Community Engaged Scholars. Logging more than 8,615 service hours, these students displayed a remarkable commitment to service and community this academic year. Together, they dedicated service hours toward social and racial justice, health and mental wellness, youth advocacy and education, translation and immigrant services, arts and culture, and community outreach. The students' effort help We CU build reciprocal partnerships that fulfill the vision of the Campus-Community Compact to Accelerate Social Justice.

Alyssa Holguin, a senior in the College of Applied Health Sciences, is one of this year's scholars who attended the April reception to receive a certificate and enamel pin. Alyssa completed over 262 hours of service work at Carle Health during her time at Illinois. For Alyssa, "service has highlighted the true meaning of 'it takes a village.'" Working on diversity, equity and inclusion projects at Carle Health taught her how complex socioeconomic factors drive community need. She learned the value of approaching service with an interdisciplinary and intersectional mindset. Service has also contributed to her personal and professional development, helping her build skills such as effective communication, adaptability, and leadership. 

Other students participated in We CU through one of the 22 service learning classes We CU supported this year. In academic year 2023-2024, We CU collaborated with instructors in the College of Education, Liberal Arts and Sciences, the School of Social Work, Gies College of Business, the College of Law, and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. 

Andrew Moss, a senior lecturer in the Department of English, taught Business and Technical Writing (BTW) 263: Effective Grant Writing in Spring 2024.The course offers undergraduate students the opportunity to research and write grants for local community organizations. The students did site visits, conducted interviews, and worked closely with community partners to revise their grants. Moss says the experience "sparked the students' creativity and drive to complete excellent work." Their "emotional investment in their projects was an inspiration. I've never seen such willingness to go the extra mile. I heard phrases like 'grind it out' and 'go for it' at the end of the semester as students really committed to completing grant drafts for their community partners."

We CU works with instructors like Moss to offer project matching with the help of the Community Learning Lab in the School of Social Work. These collaborations allow students to connect their studies to local needs and help community organizations fulfill their missions. 

Strides Shelter hosted several Illinois students this year. A low-barrier emergency shelter and resource center, Strides Shelter provides essential services to adults experiencing homelessness in the City of Champaign. Students offered clerical assistance, social media support, referrals, data management, and public outreach. Strides Shelter's Communications Coordinator Charlene Murray says this support was invaluable to the shelter, and she praised the Community Learning Lab for their help this year. "You all are awesome and probably have no idea how much you are helping social service organizations like ours!" Murray said. "You all are simply amazing, and your continued support and dedication to the people we serve is unmatched."

A PDF of the presentation highlighting the collective impact of our students, instructors, and partners is available on the We CU website.  

We CU will continue to offer instructor consultations, project matching for service learning courses, student trainings, and mini-grants during the 2024- 2025 academic year. If you are looking for support in any of these areas or are interested in learning more about community-engaged teaching, visit wecu.illinois.edu.   

We CU is grateful for the support of the Office of Public Engagement, the Humanities Research Institute, the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute, College of Education, and School of Social Work.