Students in IMPACT typically live together on the same floor of a residence hall, creating a class community and developing lasting relationships with their classmates. Individual weekly service in a community organization outside of class is a requirement of Impact! Students work at a service site approximately three hours a week, and in doing so, directly relate their academic learning about social justice to their experience in the community.

Coursework allows students to explore the simultaneity of their individual social identities; learn about power, privilege, and oppression; and understand their place within a larger societal system. In addition, throughout the course, students engage in mindfulness practice through a range of approaches. Mindfulness, or contemplative practice, invites us to be in the present moment to recognize differences and inequalities while developing compassion for ourselves and the world around us.

Through learning about social justice theory and issues of diversity, the program brings the lens of sociology, psychology, history, and the arts and sciences to a critical analysis of past, present, and changing U.S. culture. The integration of mindfulness practice, weekly civic engagement, and attendance at local cultural venues provide nuanced support for students as they explore their own identities within the context of a diverse culture. The intent of the curriculum is to extend beyond critical thinking and analysis and connect “the head and the heart.”

Service in IMPACT

Each IMPACT student chooses one community organization for their service for both the fall and spring semester. Several of you might work at the same site at different days and hours or you might find yourself there at the same time. During class-time, we will reflect on our experiences. The exploration of social justice theory and introduction to systems thinking will broaden and deepen our understanding of the root causes and the clarify the needs of the community. This connection expands “volunteering” into “service-learning.”

In service-learning, we learn to connect what happens to us in the community to what we read and discuss in class. Our work in the classroom will make us more effective in our service; our work in the community will deepen our learning about the world and self. Mindfulness practices enable us to look at these complicated issues with compassion and a commitment to a just world.

Impact community partners include a soup kitchen/food pantry/free store, an elementary-age after-school program, a community adult education program, tutoring English as a second language, and a workplace education program.

Social Justice in IMPACT

In IMPACT, we explore how our lives are shaped by the society in which we live. What does it mean for each of us to identify as being of a particular race or ethnicity, gender, social class, sexual orientation, ability, religion, or any of the many of forms of social identity we may carry? Equally important, what does it mean for us to be in relationships with people whose identities differ from ours—other students, people we encounter through service, and other people in our lives? What are the patterns and systems in our society that lead to opportunities and resources being given more fully to some people than to others? And how can our actions contribute to making our world more just?

Contemplative Practice in IMPACT

Contemplative practice is the practice of focusing and paying attention. When we do contemplative practice, we slow down and become more mindful of the present moment. We learn to enter each present moment with more full awareness. We practice mindfulness in IMPACT in order to become more mindful in our daily lives, to be more fully present in all that we do. It allows us to listen to what we have inside. It opens our access to intuition and compassion and can enhance creativity. It is a gateway to understanding self, while connecting to the external world. Mindfulness enhances our learning, it enhances our service, it enhances the quality of our lives.

Leadership in IMPACT

In IMPACT we connect theories of leadership with the practice of leadership. We read about different approaches to leadership and about the processes of group dynamics and teamwork. Through a variety of projects, each participant can learn about and develop their own individual leadership style—an approach to leadership that draws on each person’s individual strengths and patterns. We do this exploring of self within a community of support. By building trust with each other, one can practice to be oneself and to learn how one comes across. Together we explore new patterns of thinking and acting.