HWS News
20 November 2024 • Service Exploring Community at HWS By Annabel Ramsay '25
Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning Katie Flowers encourages belonging in her first-year seminar, “Exploring Community.”
Katie Flowers, Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning, was thinking about how community can often feel nebulous and sometimes foreign to first-year students, who are just getting their feet on the ground. This idea turned into the basis for the First-Year Seminar Flowers now teaches, called “Exploring Community.”
At Hobart and William Smith, First-Year Seminars (FSEMs) are designed to aid in the transition to college life. Each seminar is intended to strengthen critical thinking and writing skills, as well as the development of high-level analytical work. FSEMs are a required step students take during their first semester on campus, serving as the academic and social foundation for their future at HWS.
“Exploring Community” is unique in that it is a service-learning course, which means that throughout the semester, each student will complete 20 hours of community service in partnership with a local non-profit organizations. Flowers provides a multitude of potential service opportunities for her students, ranging from occasions to tutor at surrounding schools or volunteer at childcare centers, family resource centers, food pantries, lunch programs and local arts and culture centers. A second section of "Exploring Community" is currently in session with Associate Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Student Wellness and Support Shelle Basilio instructing the cohort.
The two primary texts for the class are Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World by Vivek Murthy and The Good Life by Dr. Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz. Both texts explore the importance of participating in community and connecting with others, especially as directly related to mental health.
Ryan Agans '28 says “Exploring Community” has enabled him to build close connections with peers and community members that will stick with him throughout his college career. “This course has given me more insight into the importance of relationships in my life, especially when it comes to my health and well-being,” he says.
The two cohorts have taken a number of excursions together including a community tour in which they explored service-learning locations, apple picking, and a field trip to local businesses ranging from Finger Lakes Community College’s Viticulture Center to Robert Poole's Farm. Guest lecturers have included members of HWS Votes; Heather Mills, the Director of Geneva 2030; and Dan De Nose ’10, the author of The Power of Exposure: Lessons of Success from Highly Effective Mentors and founder of the nonprofit Leaders of the 21st Century.
First-Year Mentor for the course, Anjalee Wanduragala ’25, who transferred to HWS from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, in her sophomore year, has enjoyed experiencing the seminar for herself and providing guidance to students. “Contributing to the community should be an essential part of our educational journey, especially as college students privileged to have the opportunity to study at such a great institution.”
Under Flower’s leadership, in August of 2024, Hobart and William Smith was ranked Number One in the Nation for Service by Washington Monthly.
Pictured above, The students in the "Exploring Community" FSEM tour the home of Geneva Town Historian Robert Poole during a field trip.
