A Place to Engage in the Community

Woven into Concordia University, St. Paul’s identity as a Christian university is a commitment to serving others. “We are proud to be a dynamic, multicultural, missionminded university that prepares students to serve God and humanity,” says Associate Vice President of Faith & Ministry, Rev. Dr. Mark Koschmann.

One of the ways students live the University’s mission during their time at CSP is through service learning. Service learning takes many forms at CSP, from local service projects to international service trips, but the common thread is providing experiential learning through service, helping students expand their perspectives while in service to others. “These real-world service experiences shape our students in an unparalleled way [as they] are provided with hands-on experiences and mentoring where they learn from local organizations on how to best serve local neighborhoods,” Koschman shares.

Kelly Matthias, director of the Center for Student Engagement, shares how service learning benefits CSP students. “Serving expands our students' worldview and perspective by providing new experiences in the real world outside of the classroom,” she says.

Matthias and her team incorporate such opportunities for students to serve others from the time they start at CSP. Beginning with Welcome Weekend and continuing throughout the First Year Seminar, traditional students start their journey at CSP engaging in the community through service projects. Throughout the year, the Center for Student Engagement and other departments offer additional service learning projects and trips for the university community.

The list of service learning opportunities during the 2022-2023 academic year has been wide-ranging. During Hunger and Homelessness Week in November, students in St. Paul worked to address hunger in partnership with three local organizations. In January, CSP students, employees, and alumni served together during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service at four local non-profits. This spring, nursing students from the St. Paul and Portland campuses traveled to Guatemala to run medical checks on children in local elementary schools. Doctor of Physical Therapy students also went to Guatemala to serve and earn clinical hours. Other students from St. Paul spent their spring break doing hurricane recovery work in Florida.

The thousands of hours that CSP students spend volunteering each year impacts the lives of countless individuals. Kailez Campbell, a freshman at CSP, says that “service learning is a way to advocate for those who might not have a voice.”

Advocating for those who don’t always have a voice is an area with which Campbell is quite familiar. As the recipient of this year’s CSP’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Leadership Award, Campbell models the many ways CSP students engage in the community, both on and off campus. Recently, she testified at the Minnesota State Capitol, supporting bills aimed at bettering the community, such as an anti-bullying bill and a measure allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote. Matthias praises Campbell as “an exceptional student leader who proactively seeks out opportunities to make a difference in the world and to ensure that her voice is heard.”

Harnessing the time in college to promote good in the community is something CSP prioritizes for its students. This ethos resonates with Campbell as she reflects on receiving her award, to her a “powerful reminder of the impact we can all make when we come together to serve others.”