Student Service Programs at Cornell College
Ingenuity in Action through service programs
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, including an opportunity for you to make civic engagement one of your Ingenuity in Action projects. 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.
You might use your educational grant to fund your study abroad trip or your off-campus studies course. You can use the grant money to buy books for your classes or help pay for your room and board, or put money toward a student loan or the accrued interest on a student loan.
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 school
students—dodgeball, anyone? You can also join the Lunch Buddies program and become a role model for local third graders! Connect with the students by joining them for lunch and recess three times a month. Host a Halloween party, bring them to a Cornell basketball game, or eat lunch with them on campus. Cornell Lunch Buddies typically pair 55 Cornell students with 60 third graders at Washington Elementary each week, while nearly 20 Cornell students provide weekly tutoring at Mount Vernon Middle School. Set a positive example for a young child and have fun!
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. Our Civic Engagement Office provides
opportunities to work 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.
David DeMoss ’19
Alternative Spring Break leader for Women Helping Women in Cincinnati, Ohio
Community service programs and Ingenuity in Action
Our Ingenuity curriculum is brimming with opportunities to help you grow
academically, professionally, and personally. That’s why it includes two Ingenuity in Action experiences. One type of experience you can participate in is a civic engagement experience. Grounded in civic and social responsibility, you will take action in your local community and immerse yourself in a student service program.