Civic and Community Engagement at Penn State Behrend connects students to the community and to the world. Students evolve in their role as citizens and develop the knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to be active participants in their communities through experiences such as:
- volunteering at a local nonprofit organization
- collecting items to donate
- traveling on the Alternative Spring Break trip
- taking a service-learning course or
- participating in a student service club or organization
Explore our website to learn more about how Penn State Behrend students, faculty, and staff engage in service, volunteering, and philanthropy in our local community and beyond.
If you're interested in starting a service project or program and need support, please contact us at [email protected].
Benefits of Volunteering
Local Service Opportunities
For a list of current local service opportunities—both on and off-campus—you can always follow Civic and Community Engagement on Instagram (@psbservice) to see what we feature, or see what's happening on our Civic and Community Engagement BehrendSync page. For even more opportunities, visit Get Connected Erie.
Virtual and Long-term Service Opportunities
See our Service Opportunities page to learn how you can volunteer virtually from anywhere by using your phone, tablet, or computer. Or learn about long-term service opportunities like AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps. If you ever have questions about these opportunities, come see us in The Smith Chapel, or email us at [email protected].
Resources
For resources and guides (e.g. "Service Reflection Guide" or "Fundraising Ideas"), please see the documents on our Civic and Community Engagement BehrendSync page.
Photos of students serving with clubs, organizations, and at Behrend-sponsored events.
Students in Reality Check, a student service organization, host a drop-in service project at each general meeting. They create items to donate, care packages, letters of encouragement, etc. to further the culture of service on campus and give back to community members and students in need.
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Before heading out to El Toro trail in El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico's most popular rain forest destination, students picked their trail maintenance tools. All maintenance work must be done with hand tools, since one of the unique stipulations the National Park Service must follow for this particular trail is a "no motorized equipment" rule. This trail is a difficult climb, covered in mud and debris still remaining from the natural disasters that brought down the majority of the canopy in 2017. The lack of canopy allows strong vines and grasses to flourish, making the trail extremely dense and overgrown. Students worked for several hours tackling the vegetation with machetes, rakes, and spades, before beginning their 45-minute hike back out to the trail entrance.
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Penn State Behrend students serving at expERIEnce Children's Museum in August 2018 during Start with Service, an opportunity for students to get out into the area surrounding the campus to learn about the important assets and issues of their community. Students also served at Presque Isle, Community Shelter Services, and Pennsylvania Soldiers' and Sailors' Home during this year's service day.
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Penn State Behrend students serving.
Image: Penn State
Penn State Behrend's Alpha Phi Omega student service organization leading a team of volunteers during the August 2018 Start With Service event.
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Penn State Behrend students serving at Lawrence Park Watershed during International Coastal Cleanup Day in September 2018. This program is held each year and corresponds with similar cleanups happening simultaneously across the globe. Each piece of trash (down to the smallest piece of Styrofoam) is meticulously cataloged for the world-wide report compiled by the Ocean Conservancy.
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Behrend Benefiting THON partnered with the Behrend Cheerleaders to raise over $5,000 at a tournament in January 2019.
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Behrend SNAP (Student Nurses' Association of Pennsylvania Chapter at Penn State Behrend) delivered the clothing donations they collected to UPMC Hamot’s Neonatal ICU in 2019. Students got to see the unit and learn a little bit more about NICU. The clothing will be used for babies admitted to the unit during their stay. Content from SNAP @ Behrend.
Image: SNAP @ Behrend
Students volunteer at Presque Isle doing beach cleanup during Welcome Week in 2016.
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Behrend Benefiting THON's FTK (For The Cure) dance and activities night in 2019 was the perfect venue to reveal their incredible total to-date of $27,671.82 for THON, the largest student-run philanthropy in the world.
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Members of SNAP @ Behrend (Student Nurses' Association of Pennsylvania Chapter at Penn State Behrend) delivered 269 books to UPMC Hamot's NICU from their Books for Babies drive. Content found at SNAP @ Behrend.
Image: SNAP @ Behrend
Constitution Day events will be held at Penn State campuses across Pennsylvania.
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Students make sandwiches to donate during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week 2018. Community Shelter Services and The Upper Room of Erie both received 50 brown bag lunches with these sandwiches, a granola bar, banana, bottle of water, and handwritten note.
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Students and staff got together in The Smith Chapel to make 101 lunch bags during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. The bags, filled with handmade peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, granola bars, bananas, water, and handwritten notes, were donated to The Upper Room (a daytime homeless shelter) and Community Shelter Services, both in Erie.
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The winning organization for the 2018 Can Castle Challenge was sorority Alpha Sigma Alpha, who won by popular vote on the Civic and Community Engagement Instagram. Their donations filled 35 bags of food for the campus-wide Thanksgiving Food Drive for Second Harvest Food Bank, which directly benefits Erie families in need.
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In 2020, the Behrend Dance Team and the Cheer Team raised $7,001 dollars that they donated to THON, beating out the 2019 donation total by $2,001.
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