YaleNews | A summer of learning about the city while serving the community

Shovels and paintbrushes in hand, 33 students toiled in the sun, planting trees and sprucing up buildings in neighborhoods around New Haven in concert with Yale’s Urban Resources Initiative — and that was even before the students’ real work in the community began this summer as Yale President’s Public Service Fellows (PPSF).

This is the first year that participants have spent a few days undertaking volunteer work as part of the PPFS program. The innovation was introduced by the program’s new director, Karen King, who says that the “service learning opportunity” was a great way for the fellows “to get out and experience New Haven.”

The 2012 President's Public Service Fellows talk about their summers.

Forging student connections with Yale’s hometown is a key mission of the PPFS program, which was established in 1994 by President Richard C. Levin.

Each summer, Yale undergraduate and graduate/professional students work full-time for non-profit groups or municipal agencies in the city for 8 to 11 weeks, tackling special projects or helping with day-to-day operations, depending on the organization’s needs. The groups get much-appreciated help for free (Yale gives the students a stipend to support their summer stay in New Haven), and the students get an opportunity to experience life in the University’s hometown in a way they never could during the academic year.

CLICK BELOW FOR THE WHOLE STORY.

Katherine Romans, a student at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, stands with Ed Rodriguez, a community green space leader, in front of a tree they planted. Romans worked with the Urban Resource Initiative. (Photo by Michael Marsland)

Vanessa Williams ’14 of Timothy Dwight College teaches in a lab at Hopkins as part of Breakthrough. (Photo by Karen King)

Stephen Hughes ’13 of Jonathan Edwards College helps students develop their reading skills at Footebridge. (Photo by Karen King)

 

Divinity School student Benae Beamon works with students at the garden at Common Ground high school as part of the New Haven Ecology Project. (Photo by Michael Marsland)

Law School student Sonia Steinway works with the Community and Economic Development Law Clinic. (Photo by Karen King)

Shatavia Wynn, also of the Divinity School, meets with Life Haven Social Workers. (Photo by Karen King)

Graduate School student Tyler Griffith works with youngsters at the Eli Whitney Museum. (Photo by Karen King)

 

 

YaleNews | A summer of learning about the city while serving the community