civic engagement Archives - News and Events

Swim for Success Donor, Students Make Waves for Kids

Posted on October 19, 2026October 19, 2026

Swim for Success, which offers affordable swimming lessons to Kalamazoo children on Kalamazoo College’s campus, has served nearly twice as many young swimmers in the past year, prompting increased support from the donor who helped launch it in 2012.

Marc Schupan, the former CEO and current chairman of Schupan Inc., a family-owned sustainable materials and scrap-metal recycling company headquartered in Kalamazoo, increased his support this year in honor of former K President Jorge G. Gonzalez, who retired in June. Swim for Success is a partnership between the College’s Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement and the City of Kalamazoo Parks and Recreation Department. The program offers swimming lessons at K’s natatorium two evenings a week to children ages 5 to 14. About 25 K students serve as coaches and program leaders.

Schupan’s connection to the program began years ago with a newspaper story about two Black teenagers who drowned in the Kalamazoo River. Neither knew how to swim.

“I thought, ‘This should never be,’” Schupan said.

He provided seed money to the city, establishing Swim for Success in 2012, and continued contributing as the program developed into a partnership with K.

Schupan might never know whether the lessons have prevented a drowning, but he sees the potential for their impact to extend across generations.

“Have we saved, or will we save, a life? I don’t know, but it’s certainly worth trying,” he said.

Civic Engagement Scholar Isaac Duncan IV ’27 said Swim for Success offers more than swimming lessons. It also gives children young role models.

“The kids will joke that K students are all about 40 years old,” he said. “But it’s good for them, whether they believe it or not, to have people closer to their age than their parents. We’re teaching them that they can do something they once thought was difficult.”

For some children, progress means learning a stroke or venturing into the deep end. For others, it begins with feeling safe enough to enter the pool. Duncan recalled a young participant who was terrified of the water. For two or three weeks, her coach sat with her on the bleachers, talked with her and gradually earned her trust. Eventually, she decided to get in.

“The rapport and the trust that comes is the biggest thing,” Duncan said. “We’re showing them it’s safe and that they’re going to be fine.”

Fellow Civic Engagement Scholar Briza Leyva-Regalet ’27 sees the value of the program in the connections it creates with their families, as well. On her first night with Swim for Success, Leyva-Regalet met a Spanish-speaking parent who was excited to find someone she could talk with while watching her children in the pool.

“I could just tell the happiness on her face, seeing her kids in the water and taking pictures,” Leyva-Regalet said. “The parents are grateful for this program because their kids have the opportunity to learn how to swim.”

Swim for Success coach Maya Arau ’27 said some of the program’s most memorable moments have occurred outside of formal swimming instruction. Arau recalled working with a child who learned when her birthday was and surprised her with a handmade card featuring a drawing of Steve from the Minecraft video game and movie series.

“With experiences like that, there’s never been a time when I’ve considered not coaching,” she said.

The work has connected her not only with children, but with the broader Kalamazoo community.

“There are some kids that I have seen every term,” Arau said. “It’s so cool to think, ‘I met that girl three years ago,’ and now I’ve seen this part of her childhood two days a week for three years. I love getting to be a part of these families’ lives.”

Briza Leyva-Regalet ’27 and Isaac Duncan IV ’27 serve the Swim for Success program as Civic Engagement Scholars.

Swim for Success coach Maya Arau '27 with a plush squirrel toy — As a prospective student, Swim for Success coach Maya Arau ’27 joked with her dad that her little toy squirrel would help her decide where to attend college. When it went missing for a short time at K, Arau took that as a sign. “K is the only school where anything weird happened with him, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, he chose K. He wanted to stay here!’ So that’s the joking answer I have for why I chose K.”

The experience also helps K students develop skills of their own. Coaches learn to communicate with children of different ages, personalities and ability levels. Civic Engagement Scholars, who serve the community through partnerships with Kalamazoo Public Schools, youth leadership and arts organizations, food justice initiatives, health and legal advocacy groups and government entities, lead the program, recruiting participants and coaches, coordinating schedules, leading orientations and organizing the many people needed to run Swim for Success.

These student leaders also facilitate structured reflection sessions that encourage their peers to explore the structural inequities that contribute to disparities in swimming access. K students leave the program having built meaningful relationships with young swimmers and their families, while gaining a deeper understanding of structural inequities and their role in addressing them.

Duncan said overseeing that work has shown him how much he enjoys management, communication and bringing people together for a shared purpose.

Schupan has been impressed by the K students’ commitment and abilities. He said Swim for Success provides children with a chance to spend time on a college campus with students invested in their safety, education and future, giving Swim for Success a special place in his heart.

“A lot of people judge success by what kind of car, what kind of house or how much money you have,” Schupan said. “But significance is, ‘Do you make a difference in anyone else’s life?’

“When you have a vision of what you could do that will make your community a better place or other people’s lives better, and you see it come to fruition, that’s rewarding,” he said. “I’m hoping this program continues long after I am gone.”

Internship Helps Student Find Community, Purpose

Posted on October 2, 2026October 2, 2026

Three children immediately ran up to Micahaia Reynolds ’27 during one of her first experiences with Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS).

“I want you to be my tutor,” they told her.

For Reynolds, a psychology major from Detroit, the moment felt like coming home. She had connected with Kalamazoo College’s Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) during her first year on campus as a work-study student. She eventually became a Civic Engagement Scholar with CAPS, a community organization that provides tutoring opportunities for Kalamazoo Public Schools students living at Interfaith Homes.

“I had never met these children, and they didn’t know who I was,” Reynolds said. “But it made me think, ‘OK, I can do this.’ I’ve been doing it ever since.”

That commitment to children and community grew this summer through an eight-week Community Building Internship at the Douglass Community Association. There, Reynolds helped launch Crowned with Confidence, an initiative developed by Executive Director Stacey Ledbetter, built around a fully functioning beauty salon inside the community center. The program combines free hairstyling services for girls with literacy-based activities.

“She wanted to encourage young ladies in the community to feel confident in themselves by providing free hairstyling services,” Reynolds said of Ledbetter. “In exchange, they would participate in a literacy-based activity with conversations about subjects like math and science and lessons in responsibility.”

The CCE develops Community Building Internships with its community partners exclusively for K students. These immersive, paid roles support students while also contributing to the work of local organizations. At Douglass, Reynolds worked with children ages 5 to 14.

In addition to providing styling support, she helped collect data through surveys conducted before and after the program.

The surveys measured possible connections among the participants’ feelings about their appearance, their self-confidence and their motivation to attend school.

“I think seeing the befores and afters, it really was appropriately named Crowned with Confidence,” Reynolds said. “We weren’t just looking into beautification. We were collecting data to track changes over time.”

The internship felt like a natural extension of Reynolds’ work with CAPS because many of the children she met through Douglass came from the same neighborhood. It also aligned with what she describes as her personal mission: glorifying God through her work, particularly by supporting children experiencing difficult home situations.

During the internship, Reynolds also learned about the humility, sacrifice and day-to-day challenges involved in nonprofit work.

“So many nonprofits are functioning on the bare minimum, and they’re constantly asking for more funding,” she said.

Yet Reynolds saw how leadership could shape the experience of working in a resource-strapped organization. Ledbetter held staff meetings twice a week and regularly sought feedback. Reynolds said those practices helped the organization feel like a family.

One story from Reynolds’ summer captured the deeper purpose she saw in the community association’s work. A staff member known as Mr. Tony began hosting weekly community breakfasts years ago after children came to the center and said they were hungry. For Reynolds, his response reflected the same sense of care and dignity at the heart of Crowned with Confidence.

“You don’t just matter enough for us to help keep you alive,” she said. “You matter enough for us to add value to your life, to remind you that you are important, that you are human with dignity and that you deserve respect.”

The internship also helped Reynolds clarify her path forward. Although she had once envisioned a broader career in nonprofit work, her summer at Douglass pointed her toward working with people on a more individualized level. She is applying to graduate programs in counseling with the goal of working with families affected by mental health challenges.

Reflecting on her time with the CCE, Reynolds encourages other students to get involved.

“It provides an opportunity for us to learn what we’re committed to, learn what’s worth sacrificing for, and learn more about not just who we are, but what we’re called to do,” she said. “And at the very least, if you’re feeling homesick, go there. They not only have good snacks, but they also have amazing opportunities for people to feel less alone.”

Community Building Internship, Micahaia Reynolds — Micahaia Reynolds ’27 served an internship with the Douglass Community Association.

Q-and-A with
Stacey Ledbetter

Question: At what point did you decide that Micahaia would be a good fit for the Douglass Community Association and Crowned with Confidence?

Answer: I knew from the beginning that Micahaia should be our intern. Shout out to [Center for Civic Engagement Executive Director] Sashae [Mitchell] for having quality relationships with both students and community partners, because she sensed in advance that this connection would be perfect, and she was right. In addition, in our first conversation, along with a great initial vibe and impressions, Micahaia and I discovered that we attended the same high school in Detroit: Cass Tech!

Q: What were Micahaia’s strongest qualities when she worked with you and the kids?

A: Micahaia is dependable, astute, passionate about her faith and serving the community, loved our specific focus with Crowned with Confidence, was patient with the young people we served, and she fit in with our Douglass family like she had been with us for years. We all miss her! She was absolutely successful as an intern, for the aforementioned, and so much more. She also has a great sense of humor!

Q: If Micahaia were in Kalamazoo another year, would you want her to contribute to Crowned with Confidence again next year?

A: We would have Micahaia return in a heartbeat, she is going to be successful in whatever path she chooses and she represents K College with excellence!

How You Can Contribute

The Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) engages students, faculty, and community members in sustained partnerships that foster collaborative learning and civic participation in a diverse, democratic society. The work of staff and students, like Micahaia, is funded through the generosity of donors and organizational funders. Support the student experience and experiential excellence by making a gift at kzoo.edu/onlinegiving.

Science Night, Civic Engagement Bridge Kids, College

Posted on May 5, 2026May 5, 2026

Civic Engagement Scholars encourage kids to attend Family Science Night — Kalamazoo College students help youths in the Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS) program learn about acids and bases during a demonstration at Interfaith Homes.

Kalamazoo College students Carter Haley ’28 and Gloria Jackson ’26 are working to expand access to science education for local youth, creating opportunities for hands-on learning both in the community and on campus. Through K’s Center for Civic Engagement (CCE), they mentor Kalamazoo Public Schools students as part of Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS), a grassroots program serving youth at Interfaith Homes. On Tuesday, May 5, they will bring those students to the College for Family Science Night—an annual event open to all KPS families—offering interactive science activities and a firsthand look at college life.

In addition to participating in experiments, the young scholars will tour key campus spaces including the Center for Civic Engagement, Hicks Student Center and a residence hall before sharing a meal in the dining hall. The goal, Haley said, is to help students envision themselves in a college environment.

“I feel school can sometimes be traumatizing for marginalized groups, and I want to try to break the barrier between academia and fun,” Haley said. “We are here every day doing what they will be doing. We can show them the faces we see and the spaces we go. It matters that we can show them they can get to the same place.”

Organized through the College’s physical science departments and coordinated by Assistant Professor of Chemistry Cecilia Vollbrecht, Family Science Night invites KPS families to explore science demonstrations led by K students. No registration is required. In past years, as many as 160 community members have attended, with about 40 K students volunteering as demonstrators alongside campus organizations such as Sisters in Science and the College’s chapter of the American Chemical Society.

As volunteers, K students practice science communication while engaging children through experiments that use everyday household materials. Past activities have included Magnetic Munchies, which extracts iron from cereal using magnets; Butterfly Wings, which creates colorful designs using coffee filter chromatography; and Spies in Disguise, which introduces acids and bases through invisible ink.

CAPS was founded in 2006 in response to the Kalamazoo Promise to help ensure students are reading at grade level and prepared for college. Many participants face systemic barriers that make those goals more difficult to achieve, representing an inequity that motivates student mentors like Haley and Jackson.

Two students perform experiments at Family Science Night in 2025 — K students showed Family Science Night attendees learn about ways to make ice cream.

Family Science Night 2025 — Lessons in acids and bases helped Family Science Night attendees experiment with invisible ink last year.

“When I joined CAPS, I was drawn toward the idea of working with a different type of community,” Jackson said. “They face different challenges from me, and I appreciate learning from their experiences and seeing what their lives are like. It’s inspiring and has made me want to learn more about the greater Kalamazoo area.”

For Haley and Jackson, Family Science Night represents the kind of opportunity their students deserve but rarely get.

“They’re the sweetest kids I know, and getting the college readiness they deserve is important,” Jackson said. “They deserve the same rights and access to activities like Family Science Night.”

“I think Family Science Night gives kids in the community a chance to come to K’s campus, climb that hill, and get into the Dow Science Center to learn how science works in real life,” Haley said. “STEM requires resources to run experiments and see things firsthand, and this lets them experience that.”

Both students emphasized that the Center for Civic Engagement and CAPS make opportunities like this possible, not just for K students, but for the community partners they serve.

“I’m always shouting out the CCE,” Jackson said. “They’re creating meaningful ways for students to connect with organizations across Kalamazoo.”

“I hope this can shine light on the work that the CCE does because they employ a couple of hundred students every year to work for their programs or internships in some way,” Haley said. “People need to be more aware of who they are and know that it provides good opportunities for students and the community.”

Voting Advocacy Sparks Student’s National Honor

Posted on April 8, 2026April 8, 2026

Lyrica Gee and K Votes support voting — Civic Engagement Scholar Lyrica Gee ’26 (far right) and her K Votes teammates planned strategies that helped students with voting.

When Lyrica Gee ’26 began helping classmates navigate voting, she saw firsthand how access to information could shape civic participation. Now, her efforts are earning national recognition.

Gee has been named to the ALL IN Student Voting Honor Roll, recognizing her work to advance nonpartisan voter registration, education and turnout at Kalamazoo College. A Civic Engagement Scholar with K Votes, Gee is one of 168 students nationwide selected for the fifth annual honor roll from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. She is the first student to be involved in K Votes across all four of her years at the College.

K Votes is a nonpartisan coalition that promotes voting and civic engagement among students, faculty and staff through the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement. This marks the fourth consecutive year that a K Votes Civic Engagement Scholar has received the recognition.

Support K Experiences

Lyrica’s experience is one example of how donor support powers the K experience, with scholarships helping ensure students can pursue meaningful opportunities inside and outside the classroom. Make a gift to support K students at www.kzoo.edu/onlinegiving.

Through her work with K Votes, Gee helped fellow students register to vote, understand key issues and access information about local and state ballot measures.

“K Votes has been a defining piece of my Kalamazoo College experience,” Gee said. “The people I have met and the lessons I have taken away have developed my leadership skills and helped me feel as if one person truly can make a difference. Politics can seem like a scary endeavor to embark on alone, but with the hard work of K Votes participants and leaders as well as our institutional support through the CCE, this type of engagement has become second nature to me. I am so thankful that this opportunity I selected as a first-year student has turned out to be so beneficial for my personal development and that of the campus community.”

The Center for Civic Engagement has supported student voter engagement for nearly 20 years, working with faculty, staff and student leaders to build campuswide initiatives. In recent years, Civic Engagement Scholars have strengthened those efforts by expanding community partnerships and organizing voter education events, advocacy initiatives and outreach to help students cast their ballots.

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge works with more than 1,000 colleges and universities across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, representing more than 10 million students.

“From hosting registration drives to initiating conversations with classmates in the hallway, our 2026 Student Voting Honor Roll is filled with students who exemplify what it means to be leaders in civic engagement,” said Jen Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “We are thrilled to celebrate their accomplishments and excited to see their continued impact as we approach this year’s midterm elections.”

Two Internships, One Community Shape Student’s Life Lessons

Posted on November 10, 2025November 10, 2025

For Gloria Jackson ’26, the lessons she’s learned in Kalamazoo neighborhoods have strengthened the ones she’s encountered in the classroom and vice versa. With two Community Building Internships (CBIs) through the Center for Civic Engagement (CCE), Jackson has deepened her understanding of what it means to be part of a community while discovering new sides of the city she might not otherwise have seen. 

“I think CBIs are an accessible and meaningful way to get connected with the greater Kalamazoo community,” Jackson said. “As a student, it’s easy to think we need to be on campus, but through CBIs, there are endless opportunities to engage with community members, learn about what’s important to them and understand the issues that affect our shared community.” 

Jackson’s first CBI, in summer 2024, was with the Eastside Arts and Science Experiential Learning program, also known as EASEL, which focuses on science, technology, engineering, art and math—also known as STEAM—for children with hands-on projects and field trips. EASEL is an initiative of Eastside Youth Strong, a nonprofit organization in Kalamazoo that provides programs and support for youth in the Eastside neighborhood. The organization aims to help children succeed academically and socially by offering after-school and summer programs focused on building relationships, leadership and life skills. 

“It’s a really beautiful program,” Jackson said. “It’s grassroots—neighbors helping neighbors, who see inequalities within their own community and using their own resources to fill those gaps. I thought that was such a beautiful sentiment and I wanted to see how I could put my hope somewhere beyond myself.” 

Portrait of Community Building Intern Gloria Jackson — Gloria Jackson ’26 has found a home with Kalamazoo College’s Center for Civic Engagement as a volunteer, Community Building Internship recipient and Civic Engagement Scholar.

At EASEL, Jackson worked primarily with kindergartners through eighth-grade students, leading science and math-based experiments and joining them on educational field trips. 

“We did so many cool hands-on activities,” she said. “We learned about ecosystems and the water cycle, and one of the teachers who loved birding took us to a nature preserve to identify birds. It was so rewarding to see how curious the kids were and how much they already knew about their own neighborhood environment.” 

The experience provided a window into inequities in Kalamazoo outside of the Northside neighborhood, where Jackson previously volunteered with the CCE’s Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS) program. This grassroots community organization provides quality academic support to Kalamazoo Public Schools students who live at Interfaith Homes. She is also currently one of two CAPS Civic Engagement Scholar. 

“The Eastside community is similar in many ways to Northside, but also very different in terms of access to resources,” she said. “I wanted to understand those differences firsthand. Public funding sometimes fails to adequately support certain communities, and it’s important to recognize this while working with local organizations. These orgs exist to provide essential resources that might otherwise be unavailable to the community due to lack of funding.” 

Last summer, Jackson returned for a second CBI, this time with Kalamazoo Parks and Recreation. The role brought new challenges while broadening her view of the community even further. 

“My position was unique because I rotated between all six day camps across the city,” she said. “I filled in wherever support staff were needed—sometimes for field trips, sometimes when another staff member was out. Every day looked different.” 

That unpredictability pushed Jackson out of her comfort zone, an experience she needed to have to grow as a young adult. 

“I’ve realized I sometimes struggle when things don’t go as planned,” Jackson said. “But this internship taught me how to adapt. I never knew what site I’d be at or what kids I’d be working with, so I learned how to adjust my approach depending on the group. What worked at one site might not work at another. I learned to be flexible, patient and creative.” 

Jackson said she especially enjoyed discovering what made each camp different. 

“Kalamazoo Parks has programs at places like LaCrone Park on the Northside and Rockwell Park on the Eastside,” she said. “I was amazed by how diverse each site was and how the leadership reflected the youth they served.” 

Seeing that representation, Jackson said, left a lasting impression. 

“It was so powerful to see kids look up to people who looked like them,” she said. “You could see respect and pride. It made me realize how important representation is in community work.” 

Working with children also helped Jackson discover a leadership style she hadn’t recognized in herself before. 

“I wouldn’t have called myself a leader before this,” she said. “But when kids come to you for help or when they disagree, you have to respond thoughtfully. I learned to listen to both sides and help them find compromises. A good leader doesn’t silence others. They make space for everyone’s voice.” 

Her favorite moment of the summer came during a camp talent show. 

“It was such a fun time,” she said. “Some of the quieter students completely came out of their shells. They danced, acted and showed their art. It was beautiful to see them be themselves and shine in front of their peers.” 

The experience also taught her the value of consistency. 

“I found that being the adult who listens to and supports them makes a difference,” she said. “I wanted the kids to know they could always come to me and be taken seriously.” 

Beyond youth work, Jackson’s internships helped her grow personally and professionally. 

“The program ran from 9 to 5, but because I relied on public transportation, my days were much longer,” she said. “Sometimes I had to wake up earlier than I was used to and get home later than expected. It taught me discipline, punctuality and how to be prepared every morning.” 

That daily experience, she added, also gave her perspective on community systems. 

“I have so much more respect for people who rely on public transportation every day,” Jackson said. “Sometimes the buses were late or routes changed. It takes effort and resilience to navigate that. It really made me think about how infrastructure impacts people’s lives.” 

Jackson, a psychology major, said her internships have directly shaped how she thinks about human development and behavior. 

“They’ve absolutely helped me in the classroom,” she said. “I was able to draw from what I learned in psychology, especially social and developmental psychology. For example, I could see theories about how kids’ different environments—their microsystems—interact. One child might be scared to swim, while another can’t wait to jump in the pool. I learned to support both in ways that met them where they were.” 

Jackson said her internships wouldn’t have been available to her had it not been for the CCE team, including Operations Manager Felicia Ford, Program Associate Oakley Gabriel, Director Sashae Mitchell and Associate Director Marquise Griffin.  

“They’ve helped me reflect on my own positionality including who I am, why I’m entering these communities, and how to engage responsibly,” she said. “They’ve helped me understand civic engagement as an ongoing process.” 

And now, as she looks ahead to life after K, Jackson says she isn’t sure exactly what her career will look like, but she knows where her heart is. 

“My heart belongs to the community,” she added. “Wherever I end up, it’ll be something community-based or grassroots, where I can use what I’ve learned to help someone else. Learning through civic engagement is ongoing and I’m excited to keep growing.” 

Student Plants Seeds of Change Through Club Grub

Posted on November 3, 2025November 3, 2025

Civic Engagement Scholar Hannah Parsons cooks with a student in the Club Grub kitchen — Civic Engagement Scholar Hannah Parsons ’26 and some Club Grub participants from Woodward School learn to cook new recipes in the Club Grub kitchen.

Hannah Parsons and students harvest radishes at DeLano Farms — Parsons and two Dig it at DeLano participants harvested radishes at Delano Farms.

When a group of second and third graders at Woodward Elementary slices fresh tomatoes or pulls mint from the school garden, Kalamazoo College student Hannah Parsons ’26 sees more than an after-school activity. She sees the roots of community. 

“They are certain it’s magic,” Parsons said. “We start Club Grub with piles of tomatillo vines, and two hours later, they’ve cooked a full meal for 20 people. They’re so proud of what they’ve made.” 

That magic moment when a child realizes food comes from the Earth and not just a store shelf has shaped Parsons’ time at K. What began as volunteer work through the Center for Civic Engagement’s (CCE) Club Grub program has blossomed into a deep passion for food education, community partnership and public health. 

“I was able to volunteer all through sophomore year, and now I’m the program’s Civic Engagement Scholar through the CCE,” she said. “It’s special to help lead a program that means so much to me.” 

That enthusiasm carried into last summer when a Community Building Internship (CBI) allowed Parsons to continue her food education work with children. With her community partners at the Kalamazoo Nature Center—including Laurel Wong and the Fair Food Matters Program—she helped design and run Dig it at DeLano, a four-week experience about food, sustainable agriculture and the environment. At DeLano Farms, Parsons helped children grow vegetables, learn about local agriculture, and explore how food connects to the world around them. 

“We spent long, sunny days out on the farm, which does a lot of community-supported agriculture work,” she said. “It brought together everything I loved about Club Grub, just on a much bigger scale.” 

Club Grub describes itself as a cooking and gardening after-school program, but to Parsons, it’s much more. 

“It’s about food, but it’s also about access, education and curiosity,” she said. “In my role as a Civic Engagement Scholar, I have led multiple workshops with my Club Grub volunteer team, and through these structured reflections, we talk a lot about food sovereignty and food apartheid— when communities are denied equal access to nutritious foods through oppressive historical practices. That’s very real here in Kalamazoo.” 

She sees Club Grub as a way to uproot those inequities. 

“I love seeing the kids get to experience so many types of food at such a young age,” she said. “The kids we work with are in second and third grade—peak Oreo and Cheeto time. But that’s also when you start forming habits that you’ll carry into adulthood. Showing them where food comes from, how it grows and what’s in season, that’s powerful.” 

The Club Grub curriculum centers on seasonal produce, international cuisines and hands-on experiences. When guest chefs visit, the lessons become even more personal, and the children’s reactions keep Parsons motivated. 

Parsons and a Club Grub participant visited Wedel's Garden Center — Parsons and a Club Grub participant visited Wedel’s Garden Center in May 2024 to learn about and buy vegetables and herbs for Woodward Garden.

Woodward students and teachers joined Parsons in visiting Michigan State University's W.K. Kellogg Experimental Forest — Woodward students and teachers joined Parsons in visiting Michigan State University’s W.K. Kellogg Experimental Forest to learn about maple syrup and buy some to use at Club Grub.

“Every time I walk into Woodward, they run up gushing about the dishes we’ve made or the field trips we’ve taken,” Parsons said.  

Parents are often just as amazed. 

“They’ll joke, ‘You cooked all that in two hours? Why don’t you do that at home?’” Parsons said. 

For many children, Club Grub’s field trips are a unique chance to explore the wider community while connecting places with their food. 

“They love piling into the van and discovering a new place just 15 minutes away,” she said. “A lot of them had never been to places like Woods Lake or the AACORN community farm. It’s such a joy to see them and the Kalamazoo College student participants experience that.” 

Parsons also treasures how the program gives children ownership of their space. 

“When we’re in the Woodward Garden, they get to plant, water and care for the beds,” she said. “The returning third graders love showing the second graders around. It’s this little moment of leadership that happens naturally and it’s something they can carry with them through school.” 

Through her summer CBI, Parsons saw how her work fit into the broader network of Kalamazoo’s food systems. 

“I learned how much community involvement goes into things we take for granted like where our cafeteria food comes from,” she said. “Seeing DeLano Farms producing so much food without heavy machinery or chemicals and then realizing that produce might end up at K or at the Valley Hub at Kalamazoo Valley Community College was eye-opening. Everything is connected.” 

The CBI experience also deepened her understanding of reciprocity and humility in community engagement. 

“It’s easy as a college student to slip into the mindset of thinking you know more than others because you are taking higher education classes,” Parsons said. “But the community is the expert of its own needs and desires. You have to show up, be curious, listen and build trust. My internship locked that in for me.” 

She described her approach as meeting people where they are. 

“I think it’s about asking, ‘How can we work together toward shared goals?’” she said. “I’m a temporary resident here, but the people I work with are permanent ones. I’ve learned that anywhere you go, you shouldn’t assume you’re the most important person in the room. Everyone’s knowledge matters and it’s important to look out for who doesn’t have a seat at the table.” 

Those lessons are shaping Parsons’ path. She recently applied to the Master of Public Health program at Grand Valley State University, where she hopes to focus on community health education. 

“My K-Plan has led me down a path of food and education,” she said. “I want to be a health educator and program developer, someone who helps people build healthier relationships with their bodies, their communities and their environment. I don’t know yet if that will be through a nonprofit, a hospital or a local government, but my experience with the CCE has shown me how all of those worlds connect.” 

Parsons encourages other students to get involved with the CCE in whatever way fits their schedule. 

“When I was a first-year student, I knew everyone in the CCE was super involved and I was afraid I couldn’t commit to that level,” she said. “But once I dipped my toe in, I realized there are so many ways to engage through classes, internships or programs like Club Grub.” 

Her advice to fellow students is simple and heartfelt. 

“If you care about food, which we all should because we eat every day, get involved. Club Grub is such a literal, ground-up way to connect with Kalamazoo. And if you love kids, this is the place for you. They’re hilarious and they remind me every day to stay curious.” 

As for the Dig it at DeLano experience, she calls it one of the best opportunities she’s had at K. She also encourages other students to pursue a CBI. 

“It’s flexible, it’s paid and it’s the best networking experience I’ve had,” Parsons said. “You get to meet community partners who really care about working with students, and you see how your ideas can make an impact. It’s a great way to embed yourself in the city, and I feel like I learned so much about what types of jobs exist in the world, especially those little niche ones. I could go and be one of 100 interns at Google, and that would be cool, but 99 other people would have that experience. These internships are one of a kind. They put a unique spin on working.” 

Reflecting on it all, Parsons summed up what she’s learned from three years of digging, cooking and growing alongside Kalamazoo kids. 

“Food brings people together,” she said. “When we share food and stories, we’re not just feeding ourselves, we’re building community.” 

Local Roots, Dream Job Grow from Civic Engagement Internship

Posted on September 16, 2025September 16, 2025

When Olivia DiGiulio ’25 arrived at Kalamazoo College, Michigan was new to her. She was a Portland, Oregon, native with a budding interest in civic engagement and a curiosity about how policy could shape communities. Just four years later, she is growing local roots and works in what has become an ideal full-time role in youth advocacy.

The bridge between those two points was a Community Building Internship (CBI) through the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) at K. In summer 2024, DiGiulio was placed with the Kalamazoo Youth Development Network (KYD), a nonprofit that supports after-school and summer programs across the city. The organization acts as an intermediary for dozens of community programs, ranging from the YMCA to the Kalamazoo Nature Center while providing training, coaching and professional development for program leaders.

Each summer, the CBI program supports students and CCE community partners by offering immersive paid roles developed with the organizations exclusively for K students. Since 2009, with funds from donors and K’s Center for Career and Professional Development, the CCE has offered about 20 internships a year in positions that promote social change and equity in Kalamazoo. In these six- to eight-week experiences, students gain exceptional professional skills and knowledge of local and global issues, while building community capacity to address food security, youth development, the creative arts, health equity, neighborhood planning, neurodiversity, community gardens and childcare policy, among others.

“It was a great opportunity to get the lay of the land for Kalamazoo grassroots, community-based movements,” DiGiulio said. “I could see all the ways their internal network supported the external network of programs in the area. It was energizing and beautiful to witness all the amazing work they were doing.”

Finding Her Place in Kalamazoo

DiGiulio’s internship gave her a firsthand look at the joy behind youth development and revealed the systemic barriers that keep many young people from participating, chief among them was transportation.

Olivia DiGiulio, who developed local roots from a summer internship in civic engagement — Olivia DiGiulio ’25 found an internship at Kalamazoo Youth Development Network through the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement before turning the experience into a dream career with the Michigan After-School Partnership.

“There are a lot of youth in Michigan who don’t have access to after-school or summer programs because of the limitations related to transportation,” DiGiulio said. “That realization led me into conversations about policy and advocacy that reaffirmed my desire to support systems-level barrier removals as part of my career.”

DiGiulio’s daily schedule at KYD rarely ever repeated itself day to day. Some mornings began with a drive out to observe summer programs, where she helped assess the quality of activities. Other days, she tabled at community events such as the National Day of Summer Learning at Bronson Park, connecting with families and showcasing opportunities for youth. Back in the office, DiGiulio helped process evaluations from youths and families, and supported staff with program-improvement efforts. But what stood out most to her was the culture of the organization.

“KYD Network is very focused on ensuring staff develop as people as much as professionals,” she said. “We had team meetings where we reflected on our values and how to live them out authentically in our work. Seeing my coworkers build such trustworthy and meaningful relationships with community partners was really inspiring.”

Through KYD Network, DiGiulio supported a transportation affinity group that brought together leaders and advocates to think about solutions. The Michigan After-School Partnership (MASP) is a statewide organization that does for Michigan what KYD does for Kalamazoo by supporting out-of-school programs, advocating for funding and pushing for systemic change. By the time graduation rolled around, MASP offered her a full-time position as a policy and advocacy coordinator.

“Truly, this is my dream job,” she said. “I have to pinch myself that I get to do this work. And it all started with that summer internship.”

The Long Game of Change

Today, in her MASP role, DiGiulio leans on those lessons. Advocacy, she said, is rarely about quick wins. Instead, progress comes in steady steps with incremental policy changes, persistent conversations with legislators, and deepening relationships with program directors across the state.

“Measuring success in this work means recognizing that it’s the long game,” she explained. “It’s about building transformational relationships and keeping the drumbeat of advocacy going so momentum continues to build.”

One of her current priorities is transportation equity, which ensures that young people across the state can get to the programs designed for them. Another is securing increased funding for after-school and summer programs. Both, she said, are multi-year efforts.

“I break it down into what can I do this week, what I need to plan for next month, and what has to be set up for the next budget cycle,” she said. “It’s about moving the vision forward one step at a time.”

Seeds Planted Before College

DiGiulio’s passion for civic engagement was first nurtured back home in Portland. In high school, she worked with the Blanchet House, a nonprofit offering free meals and addiction-recovery programs. As a student ambassador, she designed projects that introduced middle school students to issues of food insecurity and houselessness.

“That experience helped me realize I love building connections with people and also analyzing the systems shaping their lives,” she said. “I wanted to find a way to bring relationship building and systems change together. That’s what led me to policy and advocacy.”

K turned out to be the right fit to grow those interests. She took part in CCE programs such as Club Grub, volunteered with Building Blocks of Kalamazoo, and enrolled in courses such as Urban Planning as a Liberal Art, taught by then-CCE Director Alison Geist and local city planners.

“K really values experiential learning,” DiGiulio reflected. “And the friendships I made across disciplines were just as transformative. My friends in biochemistry, public health, and music all shaped how I see the world and the work I want to do.”

Though she never expected it, Kalamazoo—and Michigan more broadly—have become a second home. She cherishes the green spaces, the walkable neighborhoods and the friendships that stretch beyond campus.

“As someone who didn’t grow up here, it’s been special to see the city through the eyes of young people who call it home,” she said. “I feel like I’ve built a community both at K and in Kalamazoo itself.”

Looking Back and Ahead

As DiGiulio settles into her role at MASP, she often thinks back to that pivotal summer in 2024 and the CBI program that made it possible. Her story is a reminder of what CBIs are designed to do as they give students a chance to learn from the community, serve in meaningful ways, and sometimes discover the work they were meant to do all along.

“I’m extremely grateful for the CBI program,” she said. “It fostered meaningful connections with the Kalamazoo community and opened the door to my career. The relationships I found at K have been transformational in my life.”

Civic Engagement Director’s Honor Benefits Students, Partnerships

Posted on August 12, 2025August 12, 2025

A recent honor handed to Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement Director Sashae Mitchell ’13 will help students continue strengthening community partnerships beyond Kalamazoo College through critical engagement and collaborative learning for years to come.

Mitchell is one of 18 faculty and staff from 13 states selected for the 2025–26 cohort of engaged scholars through Campus Compact’s Engaged Scholars Initiative. The effort is a professional-development program that supports early-career faculty and staff in strengthening their community-engaged efforts and programs.

Scholars were selected this year based on their commitment to centering equity in their civic- and community-engagement work. In applying, members of the cohort were asked to outline their interest in the program and share how they expect to grow with it.

“I am truly honored and elated to have been selected for the fifth cohort of Campus Compact’s Engaged Scholars Initiative,” Mitchell said. “It’s a privilege to work alongside an amazing group of faculty and staff from across the country who are deeply committed to advancing community engagement in higher education. This opportunity aligns closely with one of my core professional goals of developing my identity and practice as a community-engaged scholar and researcher, so I’m excited to grow through this experience.”

Throughout the academic year, Mitchell will participate in virtual meetings, in-person retreats and collaborative scholarly work to strengthen her own scholarship and, in turn, empower K students, faculty and staff and lead change in the Kalamazoo area.

“What excites me most about this opportunity is that it not only supports my own professional development, but also directly benefits the work of the CCE,” Mitchell said. “One of our ongoing priorities has been to amplify the impactful work happening through the CCE, both on campus and in the broader community, and being part of this national cohort will help us elevate our story, share our successes, and identify areas for growth.”

Portrait of New Civic Engagement Leader Sashae Mitchell — Sashae Mitchell ’13 has been selected for the 2025–26 cohort of engaged scholars through Campus Compact’s Engaged Scholars Initiative.

Mitchell earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics at K, where she was actively involved in the CCE as a Civic Engagement Scholar through Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS), a grassroots community organization that provides tutoring opportunities to Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) students who live at Interfaith Homes. It offers a structured but fun environment with relationship-based homework help, literacy and math support, field trips and information about getting into colleges. After graduating, Mitchell worked with the W.E. Upjohn Institute in Kalamazoo, where she contributed to research teams analyzing data on the Kalamazoo Promise and other aspects of KPS.

Mitchell later earned a master’s degree in international education and development from the University of Pennsylvania. Since then, she has worked with organizations in the U.S., South Africa and her home country of Jamaica, conducting research on educational disparities. She has also implemented and evaluated interventions and innovative solutions to address these inequities.

As the CCE’s director, Mitchell promotes, develops, manages, funds and evaluates sustainable and effective academic and co-curricular programs while building strategic relationships with community partners and faculty, overseeing programming, collaborating with on- and off-campus partners, and leading CCE teams.

“By learning alongside peers from across the country, I’ll gain new insights into best practices in community-engaged scholarship and programming,” Mitchell said. “These lessons will inform how we support our student leaders, strengthen our community partnerships, collaborate with faculty and deepen the impact of our work. Ultimately, this honor helps position the CCE to be even more intentional, reflective and sustainable in serving both our students and the community.”

Campus Compact Vice President Nicole Springer said each engaged scholar, including Mitchell, already has demonstrated an impressive level of dedication and passion for civic and community engagement.

“Each year, our engaged scholars learn with and from each other, engage in scholarship production, and connect in collaborative ways that contribute to their own individual leadership and the growth of the field of higher education civic and community engagement,” Springer said. “I can’t wait to see how this group progresses over the next year as they engage in this transformative process.”

Why College? Student Filmmaker Has the Answer

Posted on June 2, 2025June 2, 2025

Kalamazoo College international student Mphumelelo Khaba ’25 wants to tell area high school students from global locales that college turned out to be so much more for him than he originally dreamed it would be. As a result, the possibilities for them can be endless, too.

Khaba is from Eswatini in southern Africa and serves the Kalamazoo Language and Intercultural Partners (KLIP) program as a teaching assistant guiding three K courses—Language and Identity in Newcomer Classrooms, Language Acquisition, and Teaching for a Lifetime—with Learning Support Specialist Candace Combs. These courses are community-based learning programs offered in cooperation with the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE).

KLIP is a unique program in that it is facilitated through these courses and is also a student-led program supported by the CCE. Community-based classes unite community members, faculty and students in work related to education, health equity and access, immigration and borders, courts and criminal justice, sustainability and food justice, urban planning, transportation, reproductive rights, voting, housing, public art and more. K students in Khaba’s classes build connections between class content and work to welcome international newcomers to Kalamazoo and its public schools by applying knowledge and experience toward interactive activities, lesson plans, language learning games and structured reflection. Each course explores identity, shared experiences and community-based knowledge-building.

Khaba took his expertise in documentary filmmaking, picked up through courses led by Visiting Instructor Danny Kim, and decided to create What College Means to Me on KLIP’s behalf after proposing the project to Combs for his classes.

“With the way Danny teaches his classes, filmmaking is about more than the skills and techniques behind documentaries,” Khaba said. “It has life lessons embedded in it. For example, when I think about what it takes to create a documentary, you need to plan, schedule, make sure you have a lot figured out, and then contact people, trying to think about who could be a good fit for it. It’s about initiating, being proactive, talking, asking and explaining what you’re trying to do.”

International students Allan Martinez ’25, Senchen Subba ’25 and Akinyi Okero ’25 are featured in What College Means to Me along with alumna Julie Zabik ’20 and men’s tennis coach Mark Riley, who adds perspective on college athletics. The students featured in the film were eager to share how they had a dream and made it happen through hard work, a bit of luck, and a lot of support from their families. In a tour of Kalamazoo Central, Loy Norrix and Phoenix high schools, Khaba and the three current students showed newcomers the film they created to communicate some of the benefits of college and its experiences, including friendships, athletics, confidence building, study abroad and research projects, while going over details such as affordability, personal growth and education as an investment. Their goal was to help high school students relate to the idea that college starts with a dream.

The documentary is not a personal assignment or Senior Integrated Project, so “I would call it a passion project,” Khaba said. “I do a lot of things to fulfill what is meaningful for me and this is one of them. I think I would have enjoyed seeing something like it before college, so I wanted to create it for other people.”

In coming up with the title, Khaba was thinking how K has changed his life. The film doesn’t intend to recruit high school students specifically to K, but to show what college can help them do.

Four college students presenting in a classroom — In a tour of Kalamazoo Central, Loy Norrix and Phoenix high schools, filmmaker Mphumelelo Khaba ’25 and three other current students showed newcomers “*What College Means to Me”* to communicate some of the benefits of college and its experiences, including friendships, athletics, confidence building, study abroad and research projects, while going over details such as affordability, personal growth and education as an investment. The students are Allan Martinez ’25 (from left), Khaba, Akinyi Okero ’25 and Senchen Subba ’25.

College student and filmmaker visiting students in a classroom — Khaba works with students in a Kalamazoo Public Schools classroom.

“I took some time to reflect and compare what I thought college was versus what it is to me now,” he said. “I could have taken a few other opportunities and pursued a few more interests, but where I come from, we’re told that college is just academics. I don’t think that anymore, so I came up with this documentary.”

Khaba admits he’s a big critic of his own work and usually thinks of something he would’ve done differently when his projects are done. Regardless, “I think the high school students received it well, especially with meeting the people involved with the film,” he said. “The discussions were productive and impactful because the film’s stories could clarify ideas. The mixture between the film and the discussion provided an impact that probably inspired a few students to think about college. The students we visited were inquisitive and curious how they could get to college themselves.”

Combs appreciates Khaba’s efforts, which will have a lasting impact on KLIP and international students in Kalamazoo.

“This documentary is Lelo’s third film on KLIP’s behalf in partnership with Kalamazoo Public Schools and under the guidance of Wessam Abdelaziz, the district’s coordinator of multilingual services and world languages,” Combs said. “Each film has been used to introduce and demonstrate our work with newcomer families and our dedicated partnership with the Kalamazoo Public Schools. In support of the college-going values of KPS, this film will continue to be used to inspire and motivate students to envision their potential and reveal the possibilities of a future in college.”

The experience will now serve Khaba well with his next project: a film that wraps up his experiences at K and what seniors will remember of their time at the College.

“I think I’ll enjoy this (new) film when I’m 40, when I’m 60 and for years after,” Khaba said. “I think this college imparted some excellent lessons and helped me see life more broadly. When you come from a specific culture, it can give you a tunnel vision into life. I think Kalamazoo College helped me see more and be more empathetic to re-evaluate my values and think critically about them. I’ve heard a lot about other colleges, but when I reflect on what I’ve had here, I’m always grateful. It’s been a fun experience.”

Civic Engagement Scholar Earns National Honor

Posted on April 10, 2025April 10, 2025

Amy McNutt ’25 is being honored as one of 232 students from across the country for her exceptional efforts to advance nonpartisan student-voter registration, education and turnout efforts at Kalamazoo College in the 2024 election cycle.

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge has named McNutt, a Civic Engagement Scholar with K Votes, to its fourth annual ALL IN Student Voting Honor Roll. K Votes is a non-partisan coalition that informs K students, faculty and staff members about voting and civic engagement through the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE). This is the third-consecutive year that a K Votes Civic Engagement Scholar has received the award.

By integrating nonpartisan voter registration and education into campus life, colleges and universities can have a measurable impact in encouraging students to become active and engaged citizens. McNutt helped her peers register to vote, learn about the issues at stake, and find information on critical ballot measures in local and state races in 2024 through K Votes.

“Working in voting education and mobilization spoke to me when I took this role because it was a way for me to use my political science education to help my community here at K,” McNutt said. “Helping other students register to vote, facilitating meaningful conversations about our political systems, and evaluating current events with students has allowed me to share this knowledge and learn many lessons from my peers.”

The CCE has worked with dozens of faculty and staff for more than 15 years to support student-voter engagement. In recent years, CCE staff and paid student Civic Engagement Scholars have built community connections and campus structures with K Votes. Those efforts have helped hundreds of students through quarterly voter education events, democratic advocacy and activism, and the countless individual efforts by students to get their votes cast.

Civic Engagement Scholar Amy McNutt with two other students registering their fellow students to vote — Amy McNutt ’25 (middle) helped her fellow Kalamazoo College students register to vote last fall. For her efforts in that and more as the K Votes Civic Engagement Scholar, she has received recognition on the ALL IN Student Voting Honor Roll.

“Rather than being a divisive topic, our events about politics have created rich learning environments where students of all backgrounds have learned from one another,” McNutt said. “Working with young adults—some of the voters with the most barriers to voting in the nation—is one of the most important aspects of this work to me. Building a campus that is civically engaged not only helps remedy this age disparity in voting, it gives students the tools to be civically engaged citizens for a lifetime.”

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge empowers colleges and universities to achieve excellence in nonpartisan student civic engagement. With the support of the ALL IN staff, campuses like K that join the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge complete a set of action items to institutionalize nonpartisan civic learning, voter participation and ongoing engagement in our democracy on their campus. The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge engages more than 1,000 institutions that enroll more than 10 million students in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

“Whether they hosted nonpartisan voter registration drives or early voting celebrations, the students honored today made sure their peers did not sleep in on Election Day,” said Jen Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “With 100,000 local elections happening across the country in 2025, ALL IN students continue to ensure that everyone on their campuses has the information they need to cast their ballot. The 232 Student Voting Honor Roll honorees lead by example, making nonpartisan voter participation a lifelong habit for themselves and their peers.”

Q-and-A withStacey Ledbetter