Ellen Shortt Sanchez (left) and Richelle Enriquez (right) give a tour of the satellite food bank at The Evergreen State
College. Photo credit: Holly Reed

With 2019 in full swing, many businesses and organizations have concluded
their charitable giving and community involvement after the holiday season. Butfor the students of The Evergreen State College, giving back to the community
is a year-round effort, and one that takes on many forms.
The needs of Olympia are as diverse as the people living in it. Throughthe Center for Community Based Learning and Action(CCBLA), Evergreenstudents have dedicated countless hours to meet many of those needs. Fromhttps://www.thurstontalk.com/2019/01/31/evergreen-students-give-back-to-their-communitiesthroughout-the-year/

empowering adults with disabilities, building relationships with incarcerated
youth, and finding ways to get others involved with volunteering, Evergreen
students have demonstrated that giving is not just a seasonal occurrence, but a
year-round commitment.
For Jessica Jimenez-Smith, volunteering has been
integrated into much of her

time as an

Evergreen student. Jessica started at Evergreen in2015. Her personal involvement in volunteering as
a tutor and mentor at North Thurston HighSchool and Green Hill School inspired her to reachout to others about volunteering through theCCBLA. She recruited volunteers and interns for
Title I schools, after school programs in the area,
and other sites that connect youth witheducational opportunities.
“Community organizations and schools are usuallyunderstaffed, so volunteers make it possible forprograms to run,” says Jessica, “if I wasn’t here

Richelle Enriquez looks for ways to help
the satellite food bank continue toimprove services to the community.
Photo credit: Holly Reedrecruiting volunteers, they would not have enough assistance for youth andeducational organizations.”
Jessica mentions one of Evergreen’s five foci of learning, linking theory withpractice. For her, community involvement has been a way to apply herclassroom learning. Jessica is looking forward to volunteering at Olympia HighSchool and with Kokua in the Literacy and Education for Adults with Disabilities(LEAD) program as well as graduation later this year.
Billy Sweetser is in his second year at Evergreen. He has been involved in anumber of volunteer efforts and student groups. One of those groups
is Gateways for Incarcerated Youth, a program facilitated through the CCBLA.
“Gateways allowed me an opportunity to motivate, teach, and learn withincarcerated youth from our Washington State community,” he explains.
https://www.thurstontalk.com/2019/01/31/evergreen-students-give-back-to-their-communitiesthroughout-the-year/

Billy’s volunteering effort inspired him to get involved with a Summer Summit
at Evergreen, which was hosted by Gateways, the Sustainability in Prisons
Project, and the Justice Involved Student Group. He also traveled to California
to attend the California Formerly Incarcerated Students and Alumni Conference
and presented at the National Conference on Higher Education in Prison inIndiana.
“My education at Evergreen has given me not only the tools and opportunity toget involved with real change in the community,” he shares, “but also given me
a community that has supported me in every way in my educational journey.”
Community involvement is important to Billy. “By doing my part, helping others,
and inspiring others to be their best selves, I believe a small group of people
can change the world,” he adds. “It is making a difference in the lives of others,
one idea at a time, one project at a time, one connection at a time, that makes
the journey worth living.” He hopes by being involved with his community hecan make the world a better place. “Often we cannot quantify our contribution
to the community immediately. It is persistence that pays off.”
Sanna Nour Mohammadi started at Evergreen in 2018. She also found arewarding experience being involved with Gateways. “A lot of the youth havefamilies who live far away, which makes it difficult for them to visit on a regularbasis, and the rest don’t have anyone who would visit them,” she explains.
“Showing up week after week for the ones who have been forgotten leaves alasting impact and gives them something to look forward to.” For her, givingback means inspiring others that may not have felt that education was the right
fit for them. School never seemed like the right fit for her either, until her father
suggested Evergreen. Being a student at Evergreen showed her that there aremany ways to attain education, and she hopes to pass that knowledge along toothers that may not have thought there is a place in higher education for themeither.
By engaging in community involvement projects, Evergreen students havefound ways to benefit the community while enriching their own educations andhttps://www.thurstontalk.com/2019/01/31/evergreen-students-give-back-to-their-communitiesthroughout-the-year/

lives. These experiences will follow them beyond graduation wherever they go,
and should serve as an inspiration to all about the importance of wholly
inclusive communities.
Take a page from The Evergreen State College’s book, and see what you can dofor your community, not just during the season of giving, but throughout theyear.
The Evergreen State College
2700 Evergreen Pkwy NW, Olympia
360-867-6000

https://www.thurstontalk.com/2019/01/31/evergreen-students-give-back-to-their-communitiesthroughout-the-year/