Service‑learning sparks early alumni
At the Gulf South Summit peers showcased scalable early‑engagement tactics: Morehead State’s ‘Make an Impact Day’ engaged 1,000+ first‑years, UTRGV outlined a tiered service‑learning framework, and Lone Star College used VR for perspective‑taking — all aimed at creating lifelong participation pathways. These are concrete models for converting first‑year civic experiences into long‑term alumni action. (x.com)
Morehead State runs Make an Impact Day through its First‑Year Seminar; the 2025 iteration took place Sept. 8–9 and included hands‑on projects such as blanket‑making, voter registration drives and a station where students wrote letters to alumni donors. (moreheadstate.edu) MSU has institutional backing for expanding service‑learning: the university received an EngageKY+ Volunteer Generation Fund grant of roughly $36,000 to scale campus‑community service initiatives and support programming infrastructure. (lanereport.com) UTRGV presented a decade‑built, practice‑based tiered Service‑Learning support framework at the Gulf‑South Summit that specifically names faculty professional development, community partner volunteer‑management tools, and coordinated support as core layers. (gulfsouthsummit.org) UTRGV’s Engagement Zone platform already lists more than 300 nonprofit partners and is the operational hub for connecting courses to community placements and for administering the tiered supports described in the Summit session. (utrgvtv.com) Lone Star College‑Tomball’s Experience/XR Lab launched campus VR programming with a 16‑headset Meta Quest setup and has run public VR series such as “Reality Reimagined” to expose students to immersive scenarios. (govtech.com) LSC‑Tomball’s Gulf‑South Summit presentation, titled around “building empathy using immersive technology,” was led by Clark Friesen and positions VR perspective‑taking as a pedagogical tool that, according to peer‑reviewed studies, can increase cognitive empathy and prosocial behavior—an evidence base institutions cited when aiming to convert early civic experiences into ongoing engagement. (gulfsouthsummit.org)
