Student Service Programs at Cornell College
Are you a helper? Get involved while on campus.
Love working with people? Want to help those in need? Getting involved with service-learning opportunities is a great way to give back to your community. We offer a number of civic engagement experiences for every interest. Work with kids, advocate for sustainability, travel to communities in need across the world, and more.
Which student service programs will you get involved in?
Volunteering your time not only helps others but also helps you to build hands-on skills and achieve personal growth. Discover how you could get involved at Cornell.
Iowa College Americorps Program
Get involved in the local communities surrounding Mount Vernon. As a participant in the Iowa College AmeriCorps Program, you’ll dedicate 300 hours of service (capacity-building work) to local communities by the end of one academic year. At the end of your academic year, you’ll have grown in countless ways—and you’ll receive an educational grant.
Work with kids
Interested in fostering kids’ self-image and personal growth? Be a mentor to a child through Cornell’s Success Lab. You’ll visit Mount Vernon Middle School to meet with students, talk with them, and help them with their studies. Once a semester, you’ll plan a fun activity for the middle schoolstudents—dodgeball, anyone? You can also join the Lunch Buddies program and become a role model for local third graders!
Focus on change
As part of the Social Justice Initiative, you’ll collaborate with local organizations to raise awareness, educate, and assist with ongoing social justice programs with organizations such as the Emma Goldman Clinic, Justice For Our Neighbors, and the Catherine McAuley Center.
Want to make an impact in your own backyard? Engage in dialogue with others in order to help transform conflicts on campus. Sustained Dialogue is a national program in which student leaders can be trained in conflict resolution methods. Dialogues take place among students, faculty, and staff, and they meet regularly to discuss issues at Cornell, working together to discover creative solutions to local problems.
Alternative Breaks
Make a difference anywhere in the world. Always wanted to travel during college but can’t find the right semester to do it? Alternative Breaks are a great way to explore new places during your studies. You’ll spend an intensive week at one of the many sites across the country in an experiential service project. Work with a team of your classmates to fundraise, raise awareness, and educate yourself on the social issues relevant to the culture around you.