Beyond the Classroom - 35 Years of Impact

The first thing Monique Arellano ’26 saw from her boat was a spray of mist emerge from the water — a tell-tale sign that a whale is nearby. Moments later, two fin whales, a mama and calf, appeared. They swam in unison, gliding effortlessly through the waves.

This was the closest Arellano had ever been to the majestic creatures, and “it was awesome,” she said. “It was nature in its purest form, and I was observing it.”

Arellano wasn’t out on a boat in the Pacific Ocean for a day of leisure. She was there as part of her Community Service Internship, collecting data on whales and dolphins for the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Over the course of seven months, she recorded pages of notes on their behavior and snapped pictures of every marine mammal she came across.

“I learned how to multi-task really fast,” Arellano said. She’s always dreamed of becoming a marine biologist, and the internship showed her how this could become a reality. “It helped me develop more professional skills and also gave me confidence,” Arellano said. “Now, when I’m struggling in a class, I remember my time at the aquarium and know that I can make it far.”

Students at the University of Redlands forge their own individual academic paths, but community service learning is a tie that binds. To graduate, every Bulldog must complete a meaningful service internship to fulfill their Community Engagement and Reflection (CER), formerly known as a Community Service Activity Course (CSAC).

“We’ve treated it like an internship since day one,” Community Service-Learning Director Tony Mueller said. “It’s much more than an activity. A lot of learning is done through reflection and thinking about what you’ve been doing.”

Every year, between 500 and 700 students complete their service internships, and it is entirely up to them to decide where to fulfill their hours. Animal shelters, hospitals, and schools are popular choices, and many stay on campus to work with University-run initiatives like the Big Buddies mentoring program and Jasper’s Corner Homework Club. The internship also doesn’t have to happen during the academic year — some students wait until the summer to serve at a nonprofit in their hometown.

This flexibility always stood out to Rep. Pete Aguilar ’01. While in the Office of Community Service Learning, he saw firsthand how Mueller and the staff trusted students and listened to their ideas for community service, allowing them to “be creative while achieving their goals,” Aguilar said.

Mueller also works closely with faculty members who incorporate community service into their curriculums. Dr. Mara Winick found a winning formula more than a decade ago with her Principles of Management, Organizational Behavior course. Each semester, she finds clients, most of them nonprofits, and matches them with teams of students. Together, the teams learn their client’s needs and help with everything from social media marketing campaigns to filling out 501(c)(3) paperwork.

“Redlands students have got heart,” Winick said. “They really want to make a difference and apply what they’ve been learning.”

That includes design thinking, how to use consulting tools, and ways to tackle problems with innovative solutions. By the time they graduate, these students have an impressive set of skills they can put on a résumé or tout in an interview.

Service internships “open a lot of doors,” Mueller said, and give students “an experience they normally wouldn’t get to have.” Some are hired on at a nonprofit for the summer or full-time, showing that community service is “not just a feel good requirement.” It prepares people for careers and even helps them stay in school — research has shown that having meaningful relationships on or near campus keeps students in college.

The Office of Community Service Learning opened in 1991, and Mueller still hears from alumni who graduated decades ago but remember their experience like it was yesterday. This is a testament to the “extraordinary” program that Mueller and his team have built, Winick said, which she believes is “essential to who we are as a university.”

Aguilar agrees, and views community service as a vital part of a liberal arts education. “You are teaching people how to interact in the community and how to be good citizens,” he said. “I can’t think of anything that prepares you more to roll up your sleeves and dig in and try to make your community a better place.”

Read the full story in our Och Tamale Magazine.