Please join the Community Engagement Fellows fall cohort!
Options High School (OHS) and WWU’s Center for Community Learning (CCL) invite you to join a distinctive Community Engagement Fellows cohort this fall 2024.
The cohort will integrate high school youth and adults in an intergenerational learning experience focused on addressing community challenges. This is a chance for students enrolled in civics at OHS to partner with various stakeholders to engage in intergenerational learning. We will explore ways to enhance our work and build new collaborations across organizations and generations. This cohort builds on a strong pilot program we offered together early in 2024.
Our goal is to develop well-rounded community members engaged with the broader world. The Options High School Fall Cohort series will have 6 meetings that focus on learning across cultural, organizational, generational, and geographic boundaries and developing partnerships to help us all better serve our communities.
The cohort gatherings will take place on Wednesdays from 12:15 pm to 1:45 pm starting September 25th to October 30th at Options High School. Participants should plan to attend all cohort sessions to help create rich relationship-building and learning opportunities for all. Joe Wooding of OHS and Travis Tennessen of WWU’s CCL will serve as the primary facilitators.
All people working to build more thriving and resilient communities are encouraged to participate, including those connected with community organizations, schools, tribal and non-tribal governments, universities, colleges, etc. There are no required qualifications.
The program is free, and we have delicious snacks.
Please note that this is the one cohort we're doing in the fall, but there will be more cohorts in the winter and spring.
See the fall schedule and sign up by clicking the button below!
Questions? Contact cefellowsteam@gmail.com or travis.tennessen@wwu.edu
Join Us!
Quotes from past participants at Options High School
“I see our community differently in the sense that there’s more action being done than I thought. I’m more interested in becoming a part of that change too.”
-A.M.P.
"This experience felt like a breath of fresh air due to the fact that so many people showed up in hopes of bettering our community and youth, It showed me and others that adults do care and are trying to do what they can to help.”
- M.B.
“I feel comforted knowing there are so many different people in our community who have different goals and programs for different groups of people.”
-S.H.
“It felt reassuring to hear other people in the community were talking about the problems in the community and potential solutions. It's made me feel more connected to my community and reinforced my already strong will to improve the things around me.”
--J.R.
Cohort Schedule and Topics
Meeting #1: Why Engagement?
Why are you drawn to build new collaborations?
Meeting #2: Preparing the Self
What do you need to keep in mind about yourself as you engage?
Meeting #3: Forming Lasting Partnerships When challenges arise, how will you and partners respond?
Meeting #4 Integrating Your Work
How can new collaborations support your work holistically?
Meeting #5: Defining Success
Where will new collaborations take you and your partners?
Meeting #6: Building Support
Who will champion the collaborative work over time?
CE Fellows @ Options High School
Cohort co-facilitated with Joe Wooding of Options High School
Wednesdays 12:15-1:45 pm
Meeting Dates: 9/25, 10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23, 10/30
More Quotes from CE Fellows
"I met so many amazing people in the CE Fellows program, all working to protect and improve life in this special place we call home. The discussions and excursions were enlivening, the relationships genuine. I'm grateful for the wider vision and strengthened heart I've received."
Bill Lonneman, WWU
"Community Engagement Fellows provided me a safe and creative space to brainstorm and develop different strategies to use in my work."
Kirsten McDade, ReSources
"Community Engagement Fellows gave me greater appreciation of the variety of ways people are mobilizing and organizing community throughout Whatcom County to manifest care."
Joe Wooding, Bellingham Public Schools