The Center for College and Community Engagement
Find purpose, deepen your connections and be a part of building a just and sustainable world.
The Center for College and Community Engagement (3CE) offers you opportunities to engage, learn and grow in partnership with the local community. You might mentor local youth, implement a social media campaign in a political advocacy class, or support ecological restoration during an Alternative Break.
Whatever you do, at Alma College, transformation happens in the classroom and in the community.
Getting Started
Learn how to build and demonstrate valuable, career-ready skills, and how to explore and improve the world locally, nationally and globally.
- In your First-Year Seminar, you’ll collaborate with community partners and examine how to learn from and impact your community and your world.
- Engage in service projects through Alternative Breaks or with your athletic team, fraternity, sorority, or other campus organizations while exploring opportunities such as job shadowing internships, and study abroad.
As your interests develop at Alma College, you’ll dig deeper into community-engaged courses and programs that let you explore your academic and career interests.
- We provide funding for an Alma Venture that allows you to put your learning into practice with a project or program of your own design.
- You’ll graduate with the skills necessary to thrive as a person, professional and community member, embodying Alma College’s mission to prepare graduates who think critically, serve generously, lead purposefully and live responsibly.
Choose Your Path
You’ll find various ways to engage with the community at Alma, with multiple opportunities to help you discover and pursue your passions.
Alma College defines community engagement as a partnership between the college and the larger community that:
- Builds relationships based on the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources.
- Enhances scholarship, research, teaching, knowledge and learning.
- Addresses critical social issues and contributes to the public good.
- Strengthens democratic values and civic responsibility.
Community Engaged Scholarship
Community Engaged Scholarship
At Alma College, faculty and students connect the classroom with the community through research and projects.
Alma Scots in action:
- Environmental Science students work with the Environmental Protection Agency and local community organizations to understand and improve the Pine River watershed.
- Students in History, Theatre, Dance, and Music work together on performances that capture the region’s history and legacy.
Organizing and Advocacy
Organizing and Advocacy
You will use your academic skills to advocate for and support your communities.
Alma Scots in action:
- Environmental Science, Political Science, Secondary Education, and History students and faculty worked together to tell the story of an environmental disaster and advocate for its victims.
- New Media Studies and Arts students produced documentary projects that explore critical areas in our community such as the lives of farm families and agricultural workers.
- Our honors students organized a field day that taught local students about sports and self-esteem.
Direct Service
Direct Service
Volunteer with nonprofit and civic organizations to support causes you care about. Use the community’s volunteer platform to identify service opportunities or join a group serving locally or nationally during an Alternative Break program.
Alma Scots in action:
- Alma Community Engagement (ACE) scholars contribute over 2,000 hours of direct service to the local community each year.
Philanthropy
Philanthropy
Learn about giving and fundraising and how to make a financial impact on agencies and causes that you care about. For instance, fraternities and sororities each raise funds for a dedicated philanthropic partner.
Alma Scots in action:
- The Alma College TKE chapter raised over $10,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Policy and Governance
Policy and Governance
At Alma College, students support real change in their communities.
Alma Scots in action:
- Every year public policy students collaborate with community stakeholders to explore an important policy issue, such as housing or local healthcare capacity, and make recommendations.
- The current transit system in Gratiot County uses a model that the students studied and endorsed.
- Political advocacy students developed and implemented a strategic plan to advocate for water quality improvements at the Michigan state legislature.
Social Responsibility and Entrepreneurship
Social Responsibility and Entrepreneurship
Gain hands-on experience in supporting businesses and other organizations.
Alma Scots in action:
- A senior in New Media Studies developed the social media campaign for the world-famous Alma Highland Festival.
- Our recently founded Center for Small Business Innovation, Incubation, and Development program offers students the opportunity to work with small, local manufacturers, as does our Business concentration in Supply Chain Management and Logistics.
These experiences make our students uniquely prepared for successful careers in business and beyond.
Community Engagement Projects
3CE supports a variety of projects that aim to foster a sense of civic responsibility and community awareness among students, preparing them to be active and engaged citizens.
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ACE Scholars
Alma provides full tuition scholarships to exceptional local students who are devoted to serving their communities. These students will collectively contribute over 2,000 hours annually in various roles, such as little league coaching and social media production for non-profits.
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Doing Democracy Summer Seminar
3CE welcomes high school students to Alma College every summer to learn civil discourse skills that help them to engage in productive discussions across political divisions.
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Alma Connection Project
The Alma Connection Project highlights voices from Michigan’s Arab-American community. In 2024, the Center invited prominent community leader and businesswoman Nabeleh Ghareeb and hosted Middle Eastern crafts organized by the Arab-American National Museum.
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Community Fitness Program
The community fitness program, offers student-led, personalized exercise training to improve community health and fitness. Students gain experience in exercise programming, while community members enjoy free, tailored exercise sessions to achieve their goals.
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Alma Enrichment Partnership
Every year 3CE supports the Alma Enrichment Partnership which brings local middle school students to campus to study STEM topics with our professors.