Voices of CEL

Welcome to Voices of CEL! This is a monthly newsletter where you can learn about CEL opportunities, read stories about student, staff and partner experiences in the program, as well as find volunteer and job opportunities. This newsletter has something for everyone and great opportunities to explore. This newsletter will come out around the middle of every month.

What is CEL? Community Engaged Learning (CEL) is a method of experiential learning that emphasizes action, reflection and real-world engagement. It allows people to participate in hands-on experiences while gaining critical thinking, problem-solving and reflection skills by creating mutually beneficial relationships between individuals and communities.

CEL Updates

Campus to Community

Campus to Community (C2C) Days are half-day sessions where students participate in service work with communities in the Greater Ottawa area throughout the whole academic year.

Our Campus to Community Days have wrapped up for the year! Our student participants completed three final C2C Days two of which were with the Ottawa Food Bank. On March 29th and April 6th participants helped sort through and package donated food. On April 2nd, C2C participants partnered with Ausome Ottawa and helped facilitate their basketball program by supporting children with autism through sport.

Thank you to everyone who signed-up to lead and participate in Campus to Community Days! All your hard work continuously makes our community flourish and strengthen partnerships with local Ottawa organizations.

Campus to Community Days will be returning September 2023. Stay tuned for new dates, and opportunities to be a C2C Team Leader and Participant!

The Community Partnership Project

The Community Partnership Project (CPP) has come to a close for the 2022/23 year! Our program consisted of 12 dedicated students who worked through modules on topics such as Community Engaged Learning, UN Sustainable Development Goals, the importance of research, and interacting with communities with authenticity and reciprocity. During the February 2023 reading week, our students worked with three organizations: Bruce House, The Ottawa Rotary Home, and Young Diplomats of Canada.

Bruce House is an organization that supports people in the Ottawa community living with HIV. Students working with Bruce House helped create and find a tracking tool to organize their volunteers, funding, program, and service delivering.
The Ottawa Rotary Home helps improve the quality of life of caregivers and individuals with disabilities. The students in this group worked on a Community Mapping Project where accessibility in the Findley Creek area was evaluated.
Finally, Young Diplomats of Canada gave each of their students an individual project focusing on recruitment data, a website revamp, an alumni engagement strategy, and a YOD review.

We want to give a huge thank you to both our students and partner organizations for their commitment and hard work in The Community Partnership Project. We hope you gained valuable experiences and skills that can be put towards all future work.

Stay tuned for CPP 2023/24!

Humans of CEL

Featuring Raef Sarofiem

My name is Raef and I am in my first year of the Computer Science program here at Carleton. I was part of the Community Partnership Project, and I decided to join since I volunteered a lot in my hometown. It didn’t feel right attending school without continuing to volunteer, so I was pretty stoked when I heard about the CPP.

The most interesting thing I learned while being in CPP was how much of an impact volunteers have. When all is said and done, most non-profits don’t go above a dozen staff members; it’s volunteers that make up the majority of the organization!

One piece of advice I would give to someone who is thinking about getting involved with the surrounding communities is: less thinking and more action! Reach out to non profits or any volunteering services. If you’re worried about space not being available, I can almost guarantee that there is always a need for an extra hand. If you’re unsure about the time commitment, don’t think they’ll make you sign a contract! At least try it with a single session and see how it goes, and if you think you can continue, great! If not, no harm done.