At Quinnipiac, students don't just learn and grow in the classroom. They go out into the community for their education – and to make a difference.

The University believes in learning by doing, an approach that includes involvement in programs and organizations that actively reach into the community to help others. For Quinnipiac students, the community is an extension of the classroom as well as a place to live, work and make friends.

Quinnipiac students' community work in Hamden has included donating food baskets for Thanksgiving to Hamden's Youth Services Bureau; donating new toys to the Toy Closets drive sponsored by Hamden Professional Firefighters, Local 2687; and inviting the Children's Center of Hamden to campus for a holiday party.

Here are some of the ways Quinnpiac students help their community:

Presidential Public Service Fellow Crystal Jeter, left, works with Hamden Town Clerk Vera Morrison.

Programs such as service learning, which integrates community service with active guided reflection in ways that enhance and enrich student learning of course material, provide real benefits to the community.

Service learning courses are community-service opportunities directly connected to classroom lectures, discussions, texts, projects and written assignments. Course instruction and supervision is shared between the instructor and a "community partner" – a representative of a public or private agency serving Hamden or a neighboring region.

Quinnipiac also sponsors the Presidential Public Service Fellowship which has students performing tasks that provide a valuable service to the Town of Hamden. The benefits of the program to the community are endless and the impact the students make through their work extends well beyond the 13 weeks they are part of the fellowship.

Community Action Project members accept a 2005 Connecticut Higher Education Community Service Award.

Student organizations such as Community Action Project (CAP), SHADES, Branches, the University's fraternities and sororities and service organizations like Habitat for Humanity are part of the lifeblood of Quinnipiac's public-service efforts. Academic organizations, such as student classes within the physician's assistant program, also coordinate a multitude of service projects in the community.

These organizations enable students to join in community service on campus and help meet needs in Hamden and Greater New Haven. Students participate in both group and individual projects.