Student Symposium

Student Symposium on Community Engagement

Each year, Partners in Campus and Community Engagement invites students and their mentors (faculty, staff and/or community partners) to present their collaborative work to build a better Spokane at the Student Symposium on Community Engagement.  The event convenes students and their mentors to present poster describing their work and detailing its impact on our community. Our celebration highlights the impact of community-based learning on both students and Spokane-area partners.

2020 Student Symposium on Community Engagement

This year’s Symposium will be hosted by Gonzaga University. We will gather in the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center: Martin and Edwidge Woldson Recital Hall from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM on Tuesday, April, 14, 2020.

Students from all regional institutions of higher education are welcome to submit applications to present at this year’s student symposium. Students interested in doing so should read the requirements below and fill out the form towards the bottom of this page.

Submission Deadline: February 28, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. 

What you need to know to present

Any students engaged in regional community-based work may present at the Student Symposium on Community Engagement.  We ask that your poster include all the following elements:

• Names and affiliations of student(s) and mentor(s)
  • Remember that this presentation will showcase the collaboration of campus and community partners.  As such, you should have the support of a mentor in your work, such as a faculty member or a community partner. Be prepared to provide the name and contact information of the mentor online.  We encourage mentors to co-present with you.

• An explanation of the work completed in the community
  • Explain what you did in the community, the issue that you addressed, who your partners were, what systems were in place to facilitate your work, or any new systems that you helped to create.

• An explanation of the purpose and significance of the campus/community work
  • Be sure to identify the issue area that your work in the community has addressed and how your own understanding and your community partner’s understanding of the issue, its context, root causes, etc., may have transformed during the collaboration.

• A demonstration of outcomes (for all partners), such as displays of community collaboration, learning and reflection, or impacts of the work. Your poster must clearly demonstrate the benefits of your partnership to both the community and the student.
  • Consider , for instance, what you have learned about community assets or community needs; how the project developed your skills in preparation for your career; how the community-based work connected to classroom learning; how the community partners met their goals or transformed their practice through collaboration with you.

Important details:

Tables and stands for printed posters will be provided. Posters should be largely graphic with photos of the partnership, graphs of work performed or large text with explanations of the project. Please make the font large enough to read from several feet away. In addition, presenters may choose to develop electronic posters which may be presented on a laptop (as a scrolling PowerPoint, Prezi, or single slide).   Wifi and a power source will be available, on request.

Set up will begin thirty minutes before the event starts. Please plan to stay with your poster to answer questions during the event (4:00 -5:30 PM).

If you have submitted a poster proposal you will receive an email confirming that you will present at the poster session by Friday, March 20, 2020.

For questions, contact Daniel Geiter in the Dornsife Center for Community Engagement at dgeiter@whitworth.edu or 509-777-4279.