Colgate students lend a hand during a service learning trip to St. Kitts and Nevis, sponsored by the Max A. Shacknai COVE
This year marks the 13th anniversary of the Max A. Shacknai Center for Outreach Volunteerism and Education (COVE).
“Cocurricularly with the academic experience, the Max Shacknai COVE is one place on campus where students are able to work in the community as equal partners with neighbors toward social change outcomes and increased capacity for all parties,” said Krista Saleet, COVE director. “The goal is to promote an ethic of lifelong service and social responsibility for our graduates through ongoing direct service opportunities, alternative break service trips, service-learning courses, and critical reflection exercises.”
Betsy Levine Brown ’01, who was instrumental in the founding of the COVE, remembers the days before it existed: “As a student, I was the head of Volunteer Colgate. We implemented great programs, but they weren’t connected to broader service.” Brown recalls that there were other pockets of volunteer opportunities throughout the campus.
Brown and others — including Jenny Indig ’03, Adrienne Forgette ’01, Ingrid Hale ’89, Marnie Terhune, and Adam Weinberg — saw a need to streamline the many pockets of volunteerism and service learning that existed throughout campus. “We realized that many of our peer schools were doing this better,” Brown said. After site visits and research at those peer institutions and many conversations with staff, faculty, and alumni, they developed and presented a strategic proposal for the COVE to the Board of Trustees, which was adopted in the spring of 2001.
The COVE’s original mission is alive today and includes four key components:
- direct service opportunities, allowing students to make tangible contributions in the community
- campus impact, supporting the notion that students involved in COVE programs have the will and power to encourage their peers to get involved
- student growth, centering on the preparedness in mindset and skill that the COVE gives to students
- social change, helping students to build mutually beneficial partnerships and leave the community better than they found it
“The university and the COVE together train leaders to be the cornerstones of their communities. It is important, then, for students to have an understanding of community building, social change, and peer social responsibility,” Saleet said.
“The COVE has provided a framework for broader, deeper connections, where faculty, students, and staff are engaged in supporting the community,” Brown said. She is proud of the program’s growth, noting that programs and student participation have doubled over the past 13 years.
Today, the center oversees 40 volunteer groups and 900 students who walk away from their experiences with critical consciousness and a tangible understanding of social change theory. Involved students have the opportunity to put academic theory into practice in their community.
In 2013, Jonah Shacknai ’78 endowed the COVE with a generous gift in memory of his son Max, who passed away in 2011. “This gift was an extraordinary opportunity to remember and honor Max,” he said. “Max loved helping people. He was a great friend and always made time to help others.”
Thanks to Jonah’s generous gift, the COVE has been able to develop new initiatives and programs, for example, service learning programs that bring together academics, local service, and global service. This semester, Colgate is offering a course related to Somalia, and the curriculum includes weekly service trips to the Refugee Center in Utica. The course will culminate in a trip to South Africa to meet and serve refugees there.
“Through their involvement with the COVE, students graduate with the knowledge that it is important to make a difference in the world, whatever career path they may pursue,” Shacknai said.