Advancing Quality & Meaningfulness in College Service Experiences: A Case Study from Gonzaga University

ABSTRACT This article provides a framework and strategies to position students as co‐creators of service initiatives rather than just participants and outlines the myriad benefits of this approach for advancing impact. Scholarship on student engagement in community service often focuses on the what and why of program design while bypassing the “how.” This increases the risk that initiatives will have limited programmatic and community impact. This article offers principles to guide the delivery of community service initiatives in higher education. These considerations provide a playbook for stakeholders to draw on in the design and delivery of service opportunities while meeting contemporary student expectations for what community service should look like.