• Percent of first-year students who did volunteer work in high school
• 91
• Percent of first-year students who consider it "very important" to keep up with politics
• 59
• Number of continuing service projects overseen by the student umbrella organization The Lehman Community Service Council
• 40+
• Students participating in community service projects each year (many of which include tutoring and mentoring)
• 500+
• Number of Williams students who tutor in the America Reads Challenge program in local elementary schools annually
• ~75
• Number of religious denominations represented on campus
• 27
• Number of campus cultural organizations
• 25
• Endowment for Alumni Internship Fund, used to provide 50 students annually $2,600 each to be used to support eight weeks of summer internship work
• $3,000,000
• Number of Mead Endowment Grants/Loans given annually to support public sector/government internships
• 25
• Amount raised by the Hurricane Relief Coalition – formed in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by members of the Williams College community – in a single week
• $16,000
• Percent of first-year students who participate in the “Where Am I?!” program, which introduces the entering class to the region, its issues and history, and our neighbors, during three of their first days at college
• 25

Williams College and Williamstown have been intertwined ever since 1755, when Colonel Ephraim Williams bequeathed his estate to establish a “free school” in western Massachusetts. From his gift more than 200 years ago comes a tradition of mutually rewarding interaction and support between town and college.

Williams students continue to engage themselves in the community through a network of volunteers, active in an exciting array of opportunities. The area around Williamstown provides interesting possibilities for community service, internships, community-based research, and fun. Service opportunities can be found in the surrounding towns and cities including North Adams and Pittsfield, MA and Pownal, VT in addition to Williamstown, and these projects help develop meaningful partnerships with local individuals and organizations.

Office for Community Service

The Office for Community Service cultivates such partnerships with government and non-profit organizations in the Berkshires and supports service, community-centric leadership, and civic engagement in the Williams community. The Office for Community Service, acting as a primary resource for those seeking opportunities in service and social justice, provides students with volunteer and work-study placements in the community.

Lehman Service Council

The Lehman Community Service Council is a student-run group that serves as an umbrella organization under which all volunteer and service-oriented groups on campus operate. The Lehman Council also assists various groups on campus by encouraging students to volunteer and by providing logistical support. Students who bring with them ideas and passions from outside Williams can easily start their own groups and projects through the Lehman Council.

Every year, Williams students volunteer for organizations ranging from Adult Literacy Training to the Berkshire Food Project, to Habitat for Humanity. A college student makes a great big brother or sister for a community child in need of a role model. Senior residents of Sweetbrook Nursing Home welcome a young adult as a new friend. In some cases, a service commitment takes several hours per week; some agencies ask for only a few hours each month. The College provides transportation when needed. The Lehman Council manages over 40 such groups at the latest count, and approximately 30 percent of the campus is actively involved in these groups; additional instances of community engagement through athletic teams, student clubs, religious groups and other one-time events is widespread, but not easily tracked.

Experiential Education

Service learning, understood at Williams College as a form of experiential education or “learning by doing,” is critical to the College’s mission to encourage inspired and rigorous academic inquiry. Students at Williams also develop their own independent study projects involving fieldwork. In the past year alone, over 200 students have either taken a fieldwork course or designed their own study involving some form of community work.

Community Corps Winter Study

The Community Corps program is a biweekly Free University course (offered during Winter Study) intended to give new residents of the Berkshires an overview of regional development and to create community centered student leadership. During the month of January, students have evening “fireside chats” each week with longtime residents; conversations focus on the changing economy, affordable housing, and educational reform. Once a week, students work with local non-profits and reflect together on those experiences.

“Dead Week” Service Trip

The Office of Residential Life’s annual “Dead Week” (week off between Winter Study and Spring Term) trip to NYC affords 20 students the opportunity to work throughout the five boroughs. With the help of the Youth Service Opportunities Project, these students visit a variety of community organizations and make productive use of their week off. For the past three years this trip has introduced a sizeable group of students to service, to New York, and to each other.

Alternative Spring Break Trips

Every year, the Office for Community Service, the President’s Office, the Dean’s Office, and the Lehman Community Service council come together to support and fund alternative spring break programs. In 2006, six spring break programs (totaling 65 students) were subsidized, with grants from $50-$250 per participant. The offices distributed more than $7,000 in total to subsidize service-oriented break trips.

Community Scholars Programs

The Office of Experiential Education and the Office for Community Service work collaboratively to manage a summer program of community-based student internships. This program provides students the opportunity to intern with a Northern Berkshire County community-based nonprofit organization and develop related research and analytical skills. Students in the program participate in an orientation seminar and an end-of-session symposium. All participants are provided free college housing, a meal plan, assistance with transportation to their host organization, and a $1,000 education award, sponsored by the Massachusetts Campus Compact.

Alumni-Sponsored Internships

The alumni-sponsored internship program, run through the Office of Career Counseling, is one of the most exciting opportunities for civic engagement at Williams. Every year, more than 100 students are granted alumni sponsored internships, allowing them to engage in constructive and innovative non-profit projects during the summer months without worrying about how to earn money for school. Relying on a large network of interested partners, Williams students have conducted summer internships in more than 60 cities in 14 countries

For more information on any of these programs, please contact the Office for Community Service at: (413) 597-2139, email getinvolved@wso.williams.edu or visit the Community Service website at http://www.williams.edu/resources/commservice/