Service Leader Fellows

Overview

As a Service Leader Fellow, you will be part of a team of highly motivated students working toward becoming empowered citizens and leaders of change. You will participate in leadership training, plan and facilitate service projects, and contribute to the greater good of the college, the Roanoke Valley, and communities around the world. You will grow toward:  

• Becoming an active and compassionate citizen
• Becoming a responsible and ethical actor, aware of your impact on the community and the world
• Understanding of differences, and the ability to find commonalities of purpose and work collaboratively across difference
  
  

Program Components

Training
Service Leader Fellows are required to attend regular weekly meetings throughout the semester that cover key foundational concepts in community engagement, including:  

• Power and privilege
• Systematic inequality
• Critical reflection
• Service-learning theories
• Leadership development
• Community development
  
  

Partnership and Leadership
As a Fellow, you will be able to work closely with area non-profit agencies, local government agencies and schools depending on your passions and interests. You will either be paired with a community partner to assist with the development and administration of that partners' community-engaged projects.  As a Service Leader Fellow, you will experience these learning outcomes:

• Critical reflection
• Creative thinking
• Ethical reasoning and action
• Civic engagement 
• Intercultural competence

Ambassadorship
Fellows who have developed key leadership competencies are called upon to facilitate the leadership development of their successors by co-facilitating foundational training, serving as peer mentors, and supporting the Center for Civic Engagement.

Qualifications

Ideal candidates for the Service Leader Fellows Program have qualities that include: 

• Commitment to social justice
• Demonstrated leadership qualities and skills
• Commitment to intercultural competence
• Enthusiasm for peer learning in a tight-knit community of Fellows
• Adaptability and flexibility

Application Details 

Applying to the program begins with an online application, including the following prompts, which are limited to three words each: 

1. My best friends describe me as:
2. What the world really needs is:
3. My greatest strengths are:
4. People I admire the most have:
   
   

The next set of prompts are each limited to 20 words or less:

      5. I believe a strong leader must: 
      6. The best way to spend a free weekend is to:
      7. I care deeply and have great passion for:
      8. To collaborate well with others, one must:

The final portion of the application is essays, limited to 500 words or less each: 

      9. Describe an experience you have had serving others that was meaningful to you.
     10. What is Social Justice?  How do we create a more just world?

If you are chosen as a finalist, you will interview with professors and mentors from the Center for Civic Engagement during a campus visit and receive a $500 scholarship per year. If you are chosen as a Fellow, you will also receive an on-campus work opportunity to earn an hourly wage that could be worth up to $1,000 a semester. 

Multiple fellowships will be awarded in each area of interest.

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