Community involvement is an important part of student life at Columbia International College (CIC). We encourage our students to give back to the community by volunteering with various organizations and groups across the City of Hamilton.
Throughout the year, students are able to take part in fun and rewarding community service trips that allow them to better understand issues facing the community, such as poverty and homelessness. So far this year, our May and June graduates completed over 40,000 hours of community service, much more than the provincial minimum needed to graduate high school.
Sign up for community service trips
Students seeking community service hours can visit the Student Development Department (SD) in room S244 of the Ainsliewood building for a list of opportunities. Here’s how the sign up process works:
• Every Monday the week’s community service trips are posted in SD
• Students sign up occurs in this order:
Mondays -Those needing hours to graduate at the end of the current semester
Tuesdays– Those needing hours in order to graduate
Wednesdays – Anyone may sign up
Students are reminded to sign up early as there are a limited number of spaces for each trip. While priority is given to those needing hours, there are many volunteering opportunities to ensure that everyone is able to participate in the local community.
Independent community service
Students who are passionate about a certain issue or who are interested in volunteering for a particular organization can seek independent community service roles. Students must have independent roles approved by Columbia before they begin volunteering.
Opportunities within CIC
There are also a number of volunteering opportunities within the CIC community including:
o Tutoring
o Mentoring
o Orientation Leaders
o Executive Student Leadership
o Community Service Clubs
o International Cuisine Dinner planning teams
Visit Ms. Courtney in SD to find out more about community service and volunteering in the Hamilton community!