Vassar Today
Student Sasha Zweig helping a dementia patient plant herbs and succulents.
Sasha Zweig ’25 worked with dementia patients as part of the course Physiology in the Community, designed to bridge the gap between academic learning and real-world applications in health.
Michelle Olson

Community-Engaged Learning

A Link to Community and Real-World Experience

Vassar has always taken pride in fostering a strong sense of community—both on and off campus. Two programs that have greatly strengthened the College’s relationship with its surrounding area are the Office of Community-Engaged Learning (OCEL) and Vassar Education Collaboration (VEC).

These programs provide students with opportunities to extend their learning beyond the classroom and meaningfully engage with Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, and the greater Hudson Valley. Whether tutoring local schoolchildren or working with a nonprofit organization, Vassar students can apply their classroom knowledge to real-world contexts that benefit others.

Connecting Students with Nonprofits

“Community-engaged learning within a liberal arts setting is—and should be—a vehicle in which individuals explore their own identities, discover their passions, explore what justice means to them, and ultimately understand their place in this world,” Elizabeth Cannon, Director of OCEL, said. “My hope as an educator and practitioner in the field is that students graduate with self-awareness, critical analysis skills of the root causes of social injustices, and the knowledge, tools, and agency to create a more just world.”

The OCEL originated as the Field Work program in 1949, emphasizing civic and community engagement, and evolved from the 1990s to 2017 by integrating various disciplinary theories and practical experiences. In 2017, it was officially renamed OCEL, enhancing the collaboration between Vassar and local organizations.

Today, the program still fosters those partnerships, working with organizations focused on a variety of issue areas ranging from food insecurity to housing justice to legal access. In the 2023–2024 academic year, 195 Community-Engaged Learning students worked with over 85 local and community-based organizations.

Six core programs make up OCEL: the mentorship- and reflection-based Civic Engagement (aka VassarVotes), the Community Fellows summer program, Community-Based Research, Community Service Work-Study, and Community-Engaged Curriculum.

The Community-Engaged Curriculum initiative, funded by a Mellon Foundation Community-Engaged Intensives in the Humanities (CEIH) grant, allows a reimagination of how curricular initiatives can support high-impact learning experiences, by giving faculty the ability to develop a new course or reinvent an existing one that addresses an issue identified by the community.

Student Jake Leffort (’27) poses in front of Family Partnership Center.

Jake Lefort ’27 works with Vassar’s after-school program, VAST.

Buck Lewis

CEIH-funded courses such as Physiology in the Community, taught by Professor of Biology Kate Susman in spring of 2024, are another way Vassar students are bridging the gap between academic learning and real-world applications. Students in the class were split into four groups, and each group volunteered with a local organization that addressed human physiology.

Sasha Zweig ’25 worked with Evergreen Minds, a nonprofit that provides those living with dementia and their caregivers opportunities for stimulating experiences in nature and the expressive arts. “I had learned about some aspects of dementia in my neuroscience classes, but I wanted to have more hands-on interaction with people,” she said. “This experience was incredibly powerful and empowering. I learned things I wouldn’t have been able to learn just in a traditional lab setting. I learned about teamwork, listening, empathy, and the power of engaging with folks often forgotten. I was able to really connect the dots between my classes.”

Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County, Poughkeepsie Farm Project, Dutchess County Pride Center, Exodus Transitional Community, and The Art Effect are a few of the other organizations with which OCEL has partnered.

“I chose to do community-engaged learning because I knew I wanted to do more work with the local community but had no idea how to get involved,” Nicole Ezell ’25 said. “While liberal arts education has been good for studying theory, CEL has helped me apply it in real life. As a political science major, I can see how the politics I study impact the communities I work in.”

Community Partnerships

Similarly, the Vassar Education Collaboration has been an integral part of Vassar and the surrounding community since 2003, when Vassar students began working in Poughkeepsie City schools.
Elizabeth Cannon, Director the Office of Community-Engaged Learning, addresses an audience.

Elizabeth Cannon is the Director the Office of Community-Engaged Learning.

Kelly Marsh

“VEC is a bridge between Vassar and Poughkeepsie,” VEC Executive Director John Bradley said. “Our programs provide Vassar students with the real-world opportunity to experience the public education system in the City of Poughkeepsie and to develop relationships with schoolchildren and teachers.”

VEC comprises three programs, each offering unique experiences for both Vassar students and local schoolchildren: Vassar After-School Team (VAST), Vassar English Language Learners Program (VELLOP), and Exploring College (EC).

VELLOP sends student volunteers into local districts to help schoolchildren learning to speak English. The VAST program pairs students with middle schoolers for after-school homework help, mentorship, and other activities.

“VAST gave me a love for the community,” Jake Lefort ’27 said. “My student never really had homework, and she was coming to VAST for good food—besides her cafeteria food—and for the community. These are kids who have beautiful ideas. It’s inspired me to do more work in the community, to try and get to the root of some other problems facing Poughkeepsie.”

What begins as a two-week summer residential program, Exploring College is an introduction to college-level material, Vassar itself, and the college application process, and acts as a team-building initiative. During the academic year, the program mentors meet with students three timesa week to support the college application process.

Kayla Hawkins ’27 was a student in the Exploring College program before attending Vassar. Now, as a mentor in the program, she’s helped students navigate the college experience, something she’s deeply grateful that her mentors did for her.

Vassar student helps younger children at a local school with writing.

Vassar students in VAST provide after-school homework assistance to local school children.

Johanna DeKrey

Vassar Education Collaboration programs provide students real-world opportunities in the Poughkeepsie education system.”
John Bradley, Director

“Programs like EC provide a space of community for these students that they don’t commonly have access to,” Hawkins said. “Working in EC helped me navigate a new space like Vassar without being divorced from my connection to my hometown.”

Real-World Collaboration

Both OCEL and VEC continue to enrich the lives of Vassar students and the broader community.

NaJa Jackson ’18 was in the Exploring College program as a high schooler and became a mentor while at Vassar.

“This program opens students’ eyes to the college experience, yes, but it also gives parents a chance to see how life will be when or if their student moves away for college,” Jackson said. “Many people focus on the academics, but college is learning how to balance academia with mental health.”

Now a Poughkeepsie High School English teacher, Jackson hosts a couple of VEC students in her own classroom.

Naja Jackson (’18), a teacher in Poughkeepsie, in front of some greenery.

Naja Jackson ’18, a former participant in Exploring College at Vassar, now teaches in Poughkeepsie and says her students greatly benefit from Vassar’s assistance.

Karl Rabe

“It helps tremendously with giving students individualized attention, which they often lack in this environment,” Jackson said. “Having a VEC student allows our students the social-emotional learning and check-in they desperately need, and it helps students feel seen, listened to, and loved.”

Through these important programs, Vassar students are sharing their skills and discovering more about themselves all while exploring and helping the area that surrounds the College.

“Our student’s expertise at research has assisted Habitat Dutchess in expanding our deliverables for our Advancing Black Ownership Initiative,” Jennifer Radicone, COO of Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County, said. “He increased our capacity by assisting in data research on national, county, and local municipal levels. We greatly enjoy participating in OCEL and have a returning student and a new one this semester!”

—Heather Mattioli

To learn how you can support OCEL and VEC, visit campaign.vassar.edu/the-campaign or contact Gregg McCarty via email at gmccartywang@vassar.edu or by phone at (845) 437-5409.

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