Blog

Do It Day, Finding a Home at Trinfo, and more

We asked student leaders in the Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement to tell us more about their community engagement work and why new students should get involved. Learn more about the leaders and student organizations.

Ozlem Atalay joined the CHER team as postdoctoral fellow in the Liberal Arts Action Lab in early August. Ozlem is a Ph.D. candidate in Urban and Regional Planning at Florida State. Their research focuses on queer spaces and LGBTQ involvement in local planning. They have experience with community engaged research in the US and Turkey. Learn more about Ozlem.

Laura Minor joined the CHER team as Interim Director of the Liberal Arts Action Lab at the beginning of August. Dr. Minor most recently served as assistant director of undergraduate advisement and coordinator of a Community and Civic Engagement minor at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). She holds a Ph.D. from Clemson and conducts research on how community engagement programs shape student outcomes. Learn more about Dr. Minor and her new role.

This academic year, Trinity is connecting in new ways with Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy (HMTCA), the inter-district magnet school located in the Learning Corridor. A growing number of HMTCA students will take classes on Trinity’s campus and Trinity students will have new opportunities to mentor and tutor at HMTCA.

In fall 2021, when I saw the opportunity to collaborate with a youth service organization in the Liberal Arts Action Lab, I knew I had to apply. I ended up working on the Positive Youth Development Project with ConnectiKids this past spring, where I participated in conducting research on the organization’s long-term impact. The project fit my academic interest in public service and education and allowed me to learn about research methods and collaboration. Our work also had a direct impact on our community partners at ConnectiKids, who have since used our deliverables in their internal reporting and communications.

When Kashwani Aarons ‘24 first visited Trinity as a prospective IDP student from Jamaica, she didn’t imagine she would come to view Broad Street as her home. Now, Aarons lives on Broad Street, and after a summer of working at Trinfo, she feels deeply connected to the community. She started as a student at Trinity in January and wasn’t very involved during her first semester. That changed quickly when she got a job working at Trinfo for the summer. She was one of the co-leaders of the summer youth programming collaboration with OPMAD, enjoyed working at the front desk, and connected with the Trinity and Hartford communities in new ways.

Preserving the Legacy of Carrie Saxon Perry, Transitions in the HMTCA-Trinity Partnership

The moment I first stepped foot on Trinity College’s campus, I was struck by the campus’s seamless immersion with the city of Hartford and its connections with the communities that call Hartford home. I applied for the Spring 2021 Liberal Arts Action Lab as a first step toward working with the Hartford community as a student. My experience with the Liberal Arts Action Lab was so fulfilling that by the end of the following semester, I applied to the Community Learning Research Fellows program to continue my commitment to community engagement and research.

Liliana Polley joined our team in summer 2022 as the HMTCA-Trinity Partnership Program Manager. In July 2023, she will take on the new role of Director of CHER Strategic Partnerships. ...