Success Stories
Consistent with our vision for a just and sustainable world, INVST
Community Studies programs develop engaged citizens and leaders who
work for the benefit of humanity and the environment.
INVST COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
Alumni, General Statements:
"Why do I serve? I serve because I looked when they
said 'don't,' and now there's no turning back. I couldn't
live with myself if I didn't take some of this on."
-Carlos Windham (Community Leadership Program Class of 1993-1995)
"The INVST Community Leadership Program got me a job in
AmeriCorps that led to a position as an AmeriCorps leader, which
led me to medical school [and helped me to be successful in all
these areas.] I think so much of what I learned in the INVST
Community Leadership Program will really help my career as a doctor. The
Community Leadership Program prepared me for living amongst and
within a community, something medical school can't teach. It
taught me invaluable lessons regarding working in a group, recognizing
and celebrating each individual for their unique contribution,
how to plan and carry out social change. The INVST Community
Leadership Program is what made my experience at CU a memorable
and invaluable time of my life. I just wish there was a
Community Leadership Program here at my medical school. I
could use it, both to be involved and feel a part of something
powerful."
-Erica Lovett (Community Leadership Program Class of 1992-1994)
"Spending time at Georgetown University, I am realizing
that the education I got at CU with the INVST Community Leadership
Program is very unique and progressive. I think I gained
critical thinking and analyzing skills that students at GU, a
very 'prestigious' university, aren't necessarily getting. The
opportunity to spend a concentrated amount of time linking service
to academics is invaluable."
-Elizabeth Samworth (Community Leadership Program Class of
1993-1995)
"I fall back on the lessons/education I gained in the INVST
Community Leadership Program continually. In making a commitment
to serve, I find ways to incorporate positive change into all
aspects of my life and decision-making. I use active listening
skills daily, trying to communicate with people around me. I
remember concepts learned such as "interview with the other" when
relating to diverse groups. I've used facilitation
skills in volunteer projects as well as family interactions. I've
used community assessments when designing projects for volunteer
work. Grant proposal writing skills have helped me research
grants. Knowledge of strategic questioning has had a huge
impact on my personal life, as well. The INVST Community Leadership
Program has had the most profound impact on my life and the direction
it has taken, above any other experience in my life. The program
has affected my confidence, giving me the feeling that I can pursue
any type of work or goal with a solid foundation of knowledge.
The Community Leadership Program has made me committed to being
a positive force in the world and all aspects of my life. Without
the INVST Community Leadership Program experience, I know I would
not have this deep-felt commitment."
-Shannon Harker (Community Leadership Program Class of 1995-1997)
"I am a critical thinker to the highest degree and I'm
also an optimist. The INVST Community Leadership Program helped
me to stay 'open' to possibility. I just feel so grateful
for the tools the Community Leadership Program gave me -- I feel
like it keeps teaching me long after the experiences are past. I
feel the ripples reaching me now, four years from when I first
started. I am so proud to be a part of it."
-Cara Hopkins (Community Leadership Program Class of 1996-1998)
"The INVST Community Leadership Program is constantly a
source of reflection for how my life choices reflect and shape
my vision. The program helped me realize my vision of a
just society, and the INVST Community Leadership Program experience
continues to motivate me to work towards that vision. I'm
currently pursuing a career as a Public Defender, which has definitely
been influenced by my consciousness, born in the INVST Community
Leadership Program, of racism and classism in society."
-Jessica Curtis (Community Leadership ProgramClass of 1997-1999)
"This integrative program has harnessed my passion for
social justice and turned that energy into action. [The
experiences and education I had in the INVST Community Leadership
Program] gave me a base on which to build my life of activism. The
readings, experiences and classroom discussions gave me knowledge--deep
knowledge--of the challenges facing our planet today, and how
I can be a force for change in the face of those challenges."
-Molly Harlow (Community Leadership Program Class of 1994-1996)
"The INVST Community Leadership Program has given me the
courage to step outside my comfort zone. It has taught me
to be patient, attentive and compassionate when entering a new
environment or community, especially one that is divided and in
turmoil. My INVST Community Leadership Program experiences
and commitment have continued to be a standard against which I
measure my life. [I gained] the working knowledge that I
can make a difference in the lives of those around me, that all
things are interconnected and therefore we must realize our indebtedness
to the web of life. I also learned to allow time for play,
well-being, exploration and discovery."
-Adam VanIwaarden (Community Leadership Program Class of 1998-2000)
"I feel confident in my ability to 'make a living while
making a difference' as a result of my INVST Community Leadership
Program experience. As I transition in life, even in the
most overwhelming or desperate circumstances, I have my vision
and the visions of so many who inspired me throughout my Community
Leadership Program experience as a focus. My experience
in the program prepared me for my work as a Peace Corps volunteer
in all aspects: meeting facilitation, fundraising, grant
writing, needs assessment, community analysis, entering a community,
communication skills. Most importantly, the INVST Community
Leadership Program taught me to focus on the process as a product
in itself. This has been invaluable for me in an environment
where people are dependent on aid, expect gifts, and don't
believe in their ability to create, achieve or produce. The INVST
Community Leadership Program showed me numerous examples of other
people making choices in their lives consistent with their visions. The
program gave me understanding, tools and experiences in organizing,
community building, organizational structure and sustainability,
and theories in international development, peace and environmental
sustainability, all of which are relevant to my work as a Peace
Corps volunteer and will influence my future work in agro-ecology. My
INVST Community Leadership Program experience prepared me to be
patiently determined, to have realistic expectations, and still
believe."
-Lisa Luttbeg (Community Leadership Program Class of 1998-2000)
"On an everyday basis, I refer back to things I learned
in the INVST Community Leadership Program, such as communication,
working in a non-profit, all the skills and all the information
from classes such as Critical Thinking in Development and Implementing
Social Change. I use what I learned in the INVST Community
Leadership Program in my job all of the time, from fundraising,
to facilitating board meetings, to writing good press releases,
to what I want to do in life! I know that I will never be
satisfied doing something I don't believe in or that is
not making a difference."
-Amy LaBorde (Community Leadership Program Class of 1999-2001)
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"In my activism, I've grown to appreciate the INVST
Community Leadership Program's emphasis on 'doing your homework.' I
strive to engage in responsible activism, considering all sides,
backing up my arguments with research and empirical evidence when
I can, and encouraging others to do the same. I continue
to use strategic questioning, time management and organizational
skills. I try to be patient, understanding, even-handed – I
learned the value of those qualities by living and learning in
an intentional community with 10 others for two years. The
INVST Community Leadership Program holds students to a higher
standard than other campus programs. Our students learn
to be 'unstoppable,' how to go after what others deem impossible,
how to design and implement solid plans and achieve greatness! INVSTers
know how to create their dreams and visions here on Earth!"
-Sabrina Sideris (Community Leadership Program Class of 1998-2000)
"I strongly feel that my life would look very different
without the impact of the INVST Community Leadership Program. It
has really helped me to be more aware of events going on around
me, and encouraged me to be an active participant in my community.
I don't think it's possible for me to ever pursue
anything that doesn't contribute to making the world a better
place, and still find it fulfilling."
-Christine Lee (Community Leadership Program Class of 1997-1999)
"I'm a researcher, writer and organizer at the Institute
for Food and Development Policy /Food First! Our mission
is to address the root causes of hunger and poverty and to fight
for the human right to food. My work requires me to integrate
domestic and global problems, to identify and change policies
that lead to hunger and poverty in the U.S. and abroad. The
INVST Community Leadership Program gave me a social understanding
of the real human struggle facing the poor in the U.S. and globally. The
people I met in Denver, the Dineh, Jamaicans, Mexicanos and in
the INVST community… meeting these people and reading alternative
literature helped me shape my understanding of the world and the
systems that govern it. Most importantly, the INVST Community
Leadership Program helped me believe in a grander vision for the
world-- one that is rooted in grassroots community, justice, and
sustainability. INVST Community Studies is truly a collaborative
effort of dedicated human beings working on building a more just
and peaceful world."
-Christine Ahn (Community Leadership Program Class of 1994-1996)
"The INVST Community Leadership Program, for me, was a
wonderful starting point in my effort to serve humanity. I often
think of it as a great spring board--not the end, but the beginning--for
my development as a 'community member,' a 'responsible leader,'
and a 'global citizen.' [The program] gave me the confidence
to be an active participant. The INVST Community Leadership
Program gave me an excuse (or the legitimacy) to be brave enough
to ask to participate, to speak up, to be engaged in my surroundings,
and to take responsibility. Its uniqueness, in my experience,
is its emphasis on service, or the giving of one's self,
as an act of social change. In addition, helping young people
channel their idealism and energy into constructive channels,
as well as helping them develop practical skills, is indispensable
to any society. The INVST Community Leadership Program was
the beginning of my desire to use science to benefit humanity."
-Catherine Moravec (Community Leadership Program Class of
1993-1995)
"I think the INVST Community Leadership Program is unique
because it really does combine two essential things – thought
and action. It is so comprehensive, so confronting, so challenging
and yet so invigorating and refreshing that I feel like just now,
five years later, seeds are blossoming from those experiences
and blessing me in ways I never could have imagined."
-Cara Hopkins (Community Leadership Program Class of 1996-1998)
"The INVST Community Leadership Program has been the subtle
shift that has changed my entire reality. It ripped the
shutters off painful truths I was scared of facing and had me
become very aware of what filters I put my perceptions of world
through. The program allowed me to make conscious choices about
what filter I choose. I find myself sharing things I learned
in the INVST Community Leadership Program almost weekly. I
am either sharing direct experiences or sharing insights the program
helped elucidate. Additionally, I feel that the INVST Community
Leadership Program helped make the path I wanted to walk clearer. It
is still my path, I just feel that some of the understandings
I got from the INVST Community Leadership Program allowed me to
walk it with more grace and less mistakes. Or maybe just
more grace about the mistakes! The conversations that I
had in the INVST Community Leadership Program gave me the courage
and the clarity to really powerfully direct who I am and what
I declare my life to be. It gave me a foundation for which
I could choose my life path--everything from how I speak to strangers
on the bus, to my career as a Naturopathic Doctor, to my communication
level with people nearest and dearest to me. I feel like
the Community Leadership Program was teaching me how to be a human. I
think that most educational facilities (High School, Colleges,
etc.) focus only on expanding our knowledge, which is good and
useful, but not complete. Most places are scared to have
the types of conversations that we had. Nobody had ever
asked me before, 'Who do you want to be in this world?' I
feel as though the INVST Community Leadership Program was the
reason I went to college--I just didn't know it until my
junior year."
-Pam Yenkinson (Community Leadership Program Class of 1997-1999)
"I use knowledge and skills from the INVST Community Leadership
Program to inform my lifestyle choices, communication and relationship
skills, and theoretical and intellectual pursuits. One thing
the program has taught me is not to separate these aspects of
my life."
-Nick Hedlund (Community Leadership Program Class of 2000-2002)
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From Alumni, Letter of Support:
"In 1999, when I was interviewing for my first job, the
organization that would eventually hire me was amazed (and a bit
perplexed) at the extent of experience on my resumé. What
they particularly expressed interest in was my time with the INVST
Community Leadership Program. In short, I was hired as the
Director of Student Organizing at a national organization due
to my volunteer and academic accomplishments, largely owed to
my involvement in the INVST Community Leadership Program. Only
a month after graduating from the University of Colorado, I arrived
at that position prepared with four years of non-profit experience
and the skills to make my position successful. I am now
the Director of Public Education for a statewide non-profit agency,
which, coincidentally, is the same organization where I completed
my internship as a first-year student in the Community Leadership
Program. Almost seven years after joining the program, my
acquired skills in group facilitation, conflict resolution, community
building, public relations, fundraising and grassroots organizing
still prove invaluable in my daily role as program manager, community
leader and non-profit professional. [The INVST Community
Leadership Program] provided me with diverse career options; I
consciously chose to work in the non-profit world—other
fellow alums have taken different paths. Whatever line of
work we have chosen or decide to choose, I think we all share
a common thread-- a life-long commitment to civic engagement. There
are not many, if any, universities in the United States that can
make claim to such a distinctive and exceptional program."
-Stefanie Carroll (Community Leadership Program Class of 1997-1999)
Community Partners:
"It is clear that the INVST Community Leadership Program
is providing students with the skills they need to be effective
community leaders. The students who choose to intern with
us are consistently dedicated and accountable, with an extraordinary
willingness and ability to undertake projects. We have also
been continually impressed with the INVST Community Studies students' holistic
understanding of and compassion for the world. Our relationship
with the program has been vital to the great success of our organization."
-Jill Conrad, Board Chair of Project YES (Youth Envisioning Social change)
"The Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center has enjoyed
a close and rewarding relationship with INVST Community Studies
since its inception over a decade ago. We have greatly benefited
from having student interns from the Community Leadership Program
nearly every semester. The University is to be commended
for creating and offering such a unique and meaningful program,
a program that introduces students to, and truly equips them for
effective participation in service-oriented occupations. Many,
many young people are idealistic, caring and dedicated. They
wish to find a way to "make a difference." INVST
Community Studies enables them to do that by providing them with
a solid foundation of course work and intern opportunities geared
specifically to service-oriented and social-change work. We
have heard more than one student say that they chose the University
of Colorado specifically because of INVST Community Studies. Every
semester, we look forward to new students from the program becoming
interns. They are always remarkable young people, eager
to learn, dedicated, and anxious to be of service. We always
know they are getting excellent preparation from the quality faculty
at INVST Community Studies. It is our honor to be partners
in this opportunity to help prepare students."
-Betty Ball, Nonviolence Education Coordinator, Rocky Mountain Peace and
Justice Center
"By far the most successful student volunteers have come
from INVST Community Studies. I believe the program's
superior design results in students who are remarkably capable
and mature."
-Ginger Tayler, Former Volunteer Coordinator at the Emergency
Family Assistance Association
"I am writing on behalf
of People’s Clinic to thank a special
group of University of Colorado students
for their untiring efforts to spread
word of our great services while raising
money to support prenatal and child health
programs (that together provide services
to over 4.000 people annually). Last
year, a group of six who are part of
CU’s INVST Community Leadership
Program showed up at our door wanting
to help the clinic. The CU students – Amy
Hutmacher, Lara Machando, Libby McCaffrey,
David Meens, Sharon Waisman and Taliah
Weber – took the stroller and rolled
with it, so to speak. Together
they planned and carried out a first –time
event entitled, “Shake, Rattle
and Stroll,” that went beyond all
of our expectations and raised over $3,000
for the clinic. It is activities
like this that bring the community together
and ensure People’s Clinic continues
to provide much needed health care for
people in our community who are without
healthcare insurance. Thanks CU
and INVST Community Studies."
-
Kimberly
Bowman, Development Director, Peoples
Clinic of Boulder
National Research:
In 1995, the INVST Community Leadership Program was chosen and highlighted
by the Corporation for National Service and RAND, a nationally-renowned
research organization. Maryann Jacobi Gray, Ph.D., of RAND offered
these comments:
"Several [INVST Community Leadership Program] students
told us that their higher education experiences before [they participated
in INVST Community Studies] had been disappointing or even alienating,
and some had [dropped] out of college for several semesters. After
joining the INVST Community Leadership Program, these students
renewed their commitment to higher education. They credit
the program with fulfilling their goals by offering a close community
of peers and scholars, intellectual rigor, and action orientation."
The INVST Community Leadership Program also was highlighted among
service-learning courses and programs at six colleges throughout
the country for a national research study which resulted in the
publication entitled A Practitioner's Guide to Reflection
in Service-Learning (Eyler, J., Dwight Jr., G., and
Schmiede, A. 1996. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt
University.). Janet Eyler, Ph.D.,
described INVST in the following way:
"INVST Community Leadership Program students were so articulate
and had so many examples of useful reflection activities to share
that we had to work hard to make sure that quotes and examples
from other schools were well represented; it would have
been easy to complete the Reflection Guide with material mostly
from the University of Colorado. It quickly became clear
as we analyzed the interview data from nearly 70 students across
the country, that INVST Community Studies was among the
most effective at integrating academic study with service experiences. INVST
Community Leadership Program students consistently discussed the
impact of their program experiences on their understanding of
social issues and on their ability to apply what they were learning
in the classroom to their work in the community."
Parents:
"As parents of a recent graduate of the INVST Community
Leadership Program (Class of 2002), we have had the opportunity
to witness first hand the excellence and innovation demonstrated
in the INVST CLP. By providing students with community service
internships (engaging their hearts) and academic coursework
(engaging their minds), the INVST CLP prepares students as community
leaders working to address problems for the benefit of humanity
and the environment. The wisdom of INVST is in realizing
that by encouraging students to look beyond themselves towards
the community, the country, the environment and the world, they
are able to connect with a sense of their own purpose. In
this day and age, any program able to cultivate a sense of purpose,
responsibility and leadership needs to be supported. It
is interesting to watch ordinary students begin to work as a team
for the good of the community, learn how decisions by consensus
are difficult but rewarding, and studying the INVST
CLP curriculum. Ordinary students become ordinary no more. For
example, our son Nick was inspired to create an individually structured
major, to challenge himself to the Honors Program, to write an
Honors Thesis (which one of his professors said was the best undergraduate
thesis he had read in his 25 year career at the University),
won the Jacob Van Ek Scholar award for academics and service
to the community, and graduated Summa Cum Laude and with
Distinction. We feel strongly that students deserve to have
programs that speak to the best in them."
-Bea and John Hedlund
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"I am the father of a 2003 INVST Community Leadership Program
graduate. I spent fourteen years teaching in higher education,
and I can't remember ever seeing a single student change
as much as my daughter did after her experience with the INVST
CLP. She came to Colorado a typical self-centered teenager,
and graduated as a caring adult, interested in making a difference
in this world. I have no doubt that she will! In a
nutshell, the INVST CLP has taught her what it takes to be a community
leader. She had the opportunity to learn about and participate
in the political process, and I can see her running for office
some day. She understands how to write grants, facilitate
a group, and to work in a non-profit environment. She also
learned many skills that have provided excellent preparation for
the next steps in her life, such as resumé writing and
interview skills. During her second year in the program,
she learned how to identify the needs of a community and developed
the skills to implement a program to meet those needs. These
are skills that normal students don't usually experience. When
she graduated, I felt as though Elly was so much more prepared
for the real world than most students her age… I
know because of her experience with the INVST CLP that she is
going to do something amazing with her life. She's
already been busy using her knowledge and commitment to inspire
me, and other members of our family, to be more responsible citizens. What
more could a parent hope for?"
-Louis Goetz
"Kate Prescott (Community Leadership Program Class of 1995-1997),
our first daughter, has been part of the program and it has been
the singular best learning experience during her time at CU. We
strongly endorse the objectives of the program and believe that
the interactive teaching is the way of the future. Kate's
involvement has given her a voice in social change that we, as
parents, believe to be important to the future. We applaud
your dedication and efforts."
-David and Peggy Prescott
Please help us celebrate our success stories by making
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support our efforts.
Read INVST Community
Studies Electives success stories.
Read INVST Youth Council for
Public Policy success stories.
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INVST Community Studies